I'd like to start this off by thanking the team at Readers First and Hot Key Books for sending me a copy of How It All Blew Up.
How It All Blew Up follows Amir Azadi, an eighteen-year-old who is forced to run away after a classmate attempts to blackmail him for being gay. Scared about coming out to his Muslim family, Amir hops on a plane and heads across the globe on a summer of finding himself. Though he knew coming out wouldn't be easy... he didn't know it would end with him and his family in an interrogation room.
Though I am not necessarily the target audience for How It All Blew Up, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I may have stepped away from YA fiction as a genre, but this is the type of book that makes me miss it. Not only was it funny with nods to modern culture, but it was also extremely eye-opening. I think this is the type of book that can teach a wide audience a lot.
I found it really interesting that between the 'main' chapters of what Amir was getting up to during his summer of finding himself, there were small segments that were from the view-point of his family members. It was a great way to break up the book and add more layers to what was an extremely heartwarming story.
This was an easy read with a huge lesson intertwined. Definitely a book I'd recommend!
How It All Blew Up follows Amir Azadi, an eighteen-year-old who is forced to run away after a classmate attempts to blackmail him for being gay. Scared about coming out to his Muslim family, Amir hops on a plane and heads across the globe on a summer of finding himself. Though he knew coming out wouldn't be easy... he didn't know it would end with him and his family in an interrogation room.
Though I am not necessarily the target audience for How It All Blew Up, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I may have stepped away from YA fiction as a genre, but this is the type of book that makes me miss it. Not only was it funny with nods to modern culture, but it was also extremely eye-opening. I think this is the type of book that can teach a wide audience a lot.
I found it really interesting that between the 'main' chapters of what Amir was getting up to during his summer of finding himself, there were small segments that were from the view-point of his family members. It was a great way to break up the book and add more layers to what was an extremely heartwarming story.
This was an easy read with a huge lesson intertwined. Definitely a book I'd recommend!