A review by plant_murderer
The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar

5.0

If I could give a book ten stars, this would get them all and I'd still feel that I was selling the book short. This book is beautiful, from the cover, to the poetry in the shape of the countries that our two heroines Rawiya and Nour pass through, to the themes of loss and family and what home means. It's about what it means to be who you are, and to know yourself and to love people and places, the value in belonging and in the people we belong with.... even in it's smallest details in stone collecting, in both Nour and Rawiya having many names and some of the places having several names, and even the stars are called different things by different people and guys if I am gushing it's because someone should gush about this. The writing is just stunningly good, like... Nour has synesthesia, which makes her describe things in ways that are perfect and specific to her but which feel right even if i've never seen a smell or a sound. The narrative takes even it's most momentary characters seriously, and there are things in this book that broke my heart, and things that scared me, and things that I raged at. How many ways can I say that this is brilliant? As a final note I offer the suggestion that you use both the map that came with the book and google maps at least a little, because it's interesting and I had fun orienting myself at points along the way . I don't have to tell you that I recommend this book most highly, it is possibly my favorite book if 2018, and we're only halfway through the year.