A review by salicer
A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena

4.0

While the pacing was a bit unbalanced at times and quick in its ending, I found this book to be otherwise superb. It broke my heart and forced me to look past my expectations for the characters in its pages. On the one hand, Bhathena forces the reader to look into the deep, prickly parts of femininity in Saudi Arabia. To an extent this is easy; we've more or less heard this story with different words in op-eds, open letters, and news reports. But Bhathena also makes the reader see through the eyes of the men in the story, and this is deeply uncomfortable. It is necessary to fully understand the scope of the sorrow in the story, but still an exercise in endurance and patience at times. The shifts in the point of view ensure that no point of view or turn of thought lies unexplored, even if it means exploring the slimier, venomous thoughts and expectations certain characters bring to a story like this. Truly, it's a good and authentic read, uncomfortable as it is, if a bit fast paced.