Scan barcode
A review by thepretentiouspoet
An Emotion of Great Delight by Tahereh Mafi
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I have some very mixed feelings about this book.
For one, I think that it has been marketed incorrectly. The blurb states that it is a book about the Muslim experience post-9/11, and that it centres on one family's response to the outpouring of hate in America directed at Muslims. 9/11 is touched on, and the role of Islam in Shadi's life is a fairly prominent feature, but it is definitely not a story about those things. It is a story of a girl trapped between the death of her brother, her father's ill health, her mother's suffering mental health, and the resentment that has brewed between her and her sister, the strains of a broken friendship, the isolation of being a teenage girl shouldering familial responsibilities among personal and global tragedy, and the isolation of simply being a teenage girl.
I think, as a result of this, the focus in this book was very divided. I didn't know what this was meant to be a story about - flitting between family troubles, friendship troubles, some kind of forbidden romance between Shadi and Ali, a very anti-climatic friendship with Noah, and the occasional themes of Islam and Islamophobia, it was very hard to actually grasp what I as a reader was meant to gain from reading this story. Which is fine - not every book needs to have something to say. But for a book that covered such a range of topics, it was jarring to have the themes be so constantly reprioritised within the narrative - I was so interested to read about Shadi's hatred and love for her father, who she blames for her brother's death and subsequently wishes death upon, but then we would be swept into a chapter in which Shadi and Ali have some meaningless platitude-filled argument over why they should or shouldn't be together.
Shadi as a character was very interesting, and I loved reading about her. The use of lyrical repetition in the writing style was beautiful, and it really aided Shadi's voice. Which is why the inane relationship with Ali annoyed me so much - Shadi is fascinating, and yet she becomes another all-too-malleable female character whenever Ali entered a chapter. If the romance had been cut from this book, it would have been far stronger.
And finally: the book was too short. It covered so many topics with incredible nuance and depth, and yet it stumbles into an ending around the 250-page mark with some cliched kiss-and-make-up scene. Why the story ended there, I do not know. All the situations that I was interested to read more about were left unresolved, and we are left only with an image of Shadi being just another female YA protagonist. It did a massive disservice to the book - if it had been 100 pages longer and able to fully explore the incredibly interesting themes brought up through every character Shadi interacted with that wasn't Ali, then it would have been a masterpiece.
As such, I cannot rate it higher than 4 stars, and I am remiss to even give it that. It was a fantastic book excluding the bizarre ending and really unnecessary romance, and it is so sad that it didn't achieve all the things that it so easily could have. I think it's a great book, but with some obvious caveats to that. Would still recommend, broadly, and will definitely read it again.
For one, I think that it has been marketed incorrectly. The blurb states that it is a book about the Muslim experience post-9/11, and that it centres on one family's response to the outpouring of hate in America directed at Muslims. 9/11 is touched on, and the role of Islam in Shadi's life is a fairly prominent feature, but it is definitely not a story about those things. It is a story of a girl trapped between the death of her brother, her father's ill health, her mother's suffering mental health, and the resentment that has brewed between her and her sister, the strains of a broken friendship, the isolation of being a teenage girl shouldering familial responsibilities among personal and global tragedy, and the isolation of simply being a teenage girl.
I think, as a result of this, the focus in this book was very divided. I didn't know what this was meant to be a story about - flitting between family troubles, friendship troubles, some kind of forbidden romance between Shadi and Ali, a very anti-climatic friendship with Noah, and the occasional themes of Islam and Islamophobia, it was very hard to actually grasp what I as a reader was meant to gain from reading this story. Which is fine - not every book needs to have something to say. But for a book that covered such a range of topics, it was jarring to have the themes be so constantly reprioritised within the narrative - I was so interested to read about Shadi's hatred and love for her father, who she blames for her brother's death and subsequently wishes death upon, but then we would be swept into a chapter in which Shadi and Ali have some meaningless platitude-filled argument over why they should or shouldn't be together.
Shadi as a character was very interesting, and I loved reading about her. The use of lyrical repetition in the writing style was beautiful, and it really aided Shadi's voice. Which is why the inane relationship with Ali annoyed me so much - Shadi is fascinating, and yet she becomes another all-too-malleable female character whenever Ali entered a chapter. If the romance had been cut from this book, it would have been far stronger.
And finally: the book was too short. It covered so many topics with incredible nuance and depth, and yet it stumbles into an ending around the 250-page mark with some cliched kiss-and-make-up scene. Why the story ended there, I do not know. All the situations that I was interested to read more about were left unresolved, and we are left only with an image of Shadi being just another female YA protagonist. It did a massive disservice to the book - if it had been 100 pages longer and able to fully explore the incredibly interesting themes brought up through every character Shadi interacted with that wasn't Ali, then it would have been a masterpiece.
As such, I cannot rate it higher than 4 stars, and I am remiss to even give it that. It was a fantastic book excluding the bizarre ending and really unnecessary romance, and it is so sad that it didn't achieve all the things that it so easily could have. I think it's a great book, but with some obvious caveats to that. Would still recommend, broadly, and will definitely read it again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Islamophobia and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Self harm, Terminal illness, Car accident, Death, and Medical content
Minor: Hate crime