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anika222's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
For the first 50 pages, I thought I might not finish this book, but I was pleasantly surprised to get drawn in and want to see where the story was going. I think there's a lot going for this book, not the least of which is the Muslim protagonist who is trying to figure out how all aspects of her life intersect with her faith. I appreciated that we got simple explanations of various Muslim traditions so that I as a non-Muslim could understand the context, and the explanations were woven well into the narrative. The storyline was interesting and I truly couldn't really tell where it was going most of the time, which kept meet interested and wanting to know more.
A few drawbacks for me were I didn't love the writing style, especially at the beginning. It lacks emotion and we don't get to see how Janna understands and processes her world. It reads almost like a play - with stage direction and dialogue - but missing that emotional inner dialogue. I also struggled with so many characters who had very little to do with the storyline, and basically no character development for anyone besides Janna. The plot also seemed to meander quite a bit and it felt like many plot elements were introduced but never really developed. I think the author may have felt like the book needed to be a lot of things and would have done better to streamline the theme and focus the plot (or make it a book series.)
A few drawbacks for me were I didn't love the writing style, especially at the beginning. It lacks emotion and we don't get to see how Janna understands and processes her world. It reads almost like a play - with stage direction and dialogue - but missing that emotional inner dialogue. I also struggled with so many characters who had very little to do with the storyline, and basically no character development for anyone besides Janna. The plot also seemed to meander quite a bit and it felt like many plot elements were introduced but never really developed. I think the author may have felt like the book needed to be a lot of things and would have done better to streamline the theme and focus the plot (or make it a book series.)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Death
Minor: Fatphobia and Body shaming
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