In this coming-of-age story, we follow Amir Azadi, an 18 year old Iranian Muslim who is gay. He fears his family would reject him should he come out to them and after being found out and blackmailed by two boys at school, he decides the only thing he can do is run... To Rome. We see how Amir navigates himself in Rome and how him running away impacts his relationship with his traditional family.
The story itself opens up with the family being detained at an airport, as a result of a ‘fight’ onboard a plane. As they are being questioned, the author takes us back thirty days prior to the detainment.
I actually really enjoyed this book. The story being told in flashbacks and then from different points of view really added to the pace of the book. It allowed us to gain an insight to all the characters in the book, rather than just the protagonist. It also offered a unique perspective of coming out as a Queer Muslim, something which is vastly underrepresented in fiction.
I’ve seen some criticism online as to how this isn’t a Muslim story as the character isn’t practicing, nor is it a focus in the book but I actually really thought that that made the character more relatable. I think there are many people out there who come from an Islamic background who don’t practice the faith but still identify, just as you have those who may be Christian but not practice daily. Again, it’s subjective to what you believe but personally, I didn’t see the issue.
I actually would’ve liked this book to be longer, it definitely could’ve been and I still would’ve read it! It’s one of those reads that doesn’t take a lot of thinking, but does get you thinking by the time you’re done which is such an important quality for a YA book to have!
More on Instagram: @sazloureads
The story itself opens up with the family being detained at an airport, as a result of a ‘fight’ onboard a plane. As they are being questioned, the author takes us back thirty days prior to the detainment.
I actually really enjoyed this book. The story being told in flashbacks and then from different points of view really added to the pace of the book. It allowed us to gain an insight to all the characters in the book, rather than just the protagonist. It also offered a unique perspective of coming out as a Queer Muslim, something which is vastly underrepresented in fiction.
I’ve seen some criticism online as to how this isn’t a Muslim story as the character isn’t practicing, nor is it a focus in the book but I actually really thought that that made the character more relatable. I think there are many people out there who come from an Islamic background who don’t practice the faith but still identify, just as you have those who may be Christian but not practice daily. Again, it’s subjective to what you believe but personally, I didn’t see the issue.
I actually would’ve liked this book to be longer, it definitely could’ve been and I still would’ve read it! It’s one of those reads that doesn’t take a lot of thinking, but does get you thinking by the time you’re done which is such an important quality for a YA book to have!
More on Instagram: @sazloureads