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whimsyfaerie's review
1.0
- 1 star ༉‧₊˚
check tw !! .*•
0/5 spice ୨ৎ
i don’t even know how to begin with this review, but let me just preface this by saying these are my opinions, so please do not attack me for them!! i was really hoping to fall in love with an emotion of great delight because i rarely read books with muslim rep, let alone written by muslim authors, but let me just say: i couldn’t be more disappointed.
the writing was atrocious. it literally lacked everything: depth, feeling, description, etc. i felt like i was reading something a third grader wrote. like mafi would write, "the car sped away," and then under that line, she would write, "with a great roar, the car sped away." why are we repeating sentences?? just choose one: either the non-descriptive sentence or the slightly more descriptive sentence. i’m sorry, i just couldn’t stand her writing style. ://
all of the characters were so, so one-dimensional. just like the writing, they lacked everything needed to create solid, relatable characters. shadi was crazy annoying and had absolutely zero character development. why was she constantly praying for her father to die?? i couldn’t stand her, oh my god.
as a muslim girly myself, i feel like i have the credentials to speak up on the muslim representation, and let me just tell you: it was appalling. this book contained nothing but (harmful) stereotypes and an abundance of misrepresentation. i am actually disgusted by that conversation about burqa’s, i don’t even want to talk about it. why did literally every muslim character in this book do the exact opposite of what our religion teaches us?? i am just so fcking angry and upset that even though this book is written by a muslim, we still can’t get good muslim rep.
anyways, i truly would not waste your time by reading this book. if you do want to read a book that contains good muslim representation, i recommend love from a to z by s.k. ali !! i’m hoping that the rest of tahereh mafi’s books have much better representation (and writing) than this one does…
check tw !! .*•
0/5 spice ୨ৎ
i don’t even know how to begin with this review, but let me just preface this by saying these are my opinions, so please do not attack me for them!! i was really hoping to fall in love with an emotion of great delight because i rarely read books with muslim rep, let alone written by muslim authors, but let me just say: i couldn’t be more disappointed.
the writing was atrocious. it literally lacked everything: depth, feeling, description, etc. i felt like i was reading something a third grader wrote. like mafi would write, "the car sped away," and then under that line, she would write, "with a great roar, the car sped away." why are we repeating sentences?? just choose one: either the non-descriptive sentence or the slightly more descriptive sentence. i’m sorry, i just couldn’t stand her writing style. ://
all of the characters were so, so one-dimensional. just like the writing, they lacked everything needed to create solid, relatable characters. shadi was crazy annoying and had absolutely zero character development. why was she constantly praying for her father to die?? i couldn’t stand her, oh my god.
as a muslim girly myself, i feel like i have the credentials to speak up on the muslim representation, and let me just tell you: it was appalling. this book contained nothing but (harmful) stereotypes and an abundance of misrepresentation. i am actually disgusted by that conversation about burqa’s, i don’t even want to talk about it. why did literally every muslim character in this book do the exact opposite of what our religion teaches us?? i am just so fcking angry and upset that even though this book is written by a muslim, we still can’t get good muslim rep.
anyways, i truly would not waste your time by reading this book. if you do want to read a book that contains good muslim representation, i recommend love from a to z by s.k. ali !! i’m hoping that the rest of tahereh mafi’s books have much better representation (and writing) than this one does…
mamalovesfour's review
2.0
The writing was beautiful so I wanted to love it, but I couldn't follow the storyline.
inditravis's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
madiganinwonderland's review against another edition
2.0
I suppose my expectations were too high for this book, but even if I wasn't going into it as an avid Mafi fan, this book just seemed to be more like a stream of consciousness or a diary than an actual book. I'm not sure what the end goal/message was that we're meant to take away from it. It's an ok book, and a tragic subject, but if you're just gonna start explaining the days during events, you gotta make an end point that makes sense. This didn't. This just felt like we reached the end of someone's diary before they switched to a new journal. Things would happen, fairly "big" things, but we would continue on after they happened to another seemingly random point. It just didn't make sense, it made it tedious to read. Anyway, was definitely disappointed.
mythology_nerd333's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
sophiedianee's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 ⭐️ I mean I love Tahereh Mafi, and there where some good lessons in this but it mostly just felt unfinished.
whomever_0's review
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
2.5
I didn't like how abrupt the ending felt. It really felt like nothing was really resolved.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Islamophobia
annuhfloor's review against another edition
4.0
I wanted more Noah, the feelings were real with this story, just so curious if the rep of this story was done properly, anyway Mafi knows how to write pain with beautiful wording.