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kaulhilo's review
1.0
a very pointless book that worked very hard at being very casually offensive? sometimes i feel like y’all effectively hate islam going by all these live laugh love type books
hmmitsvenus's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Read for the 2024 Asian Readathon. Prompt 1: Read a book written by an Asian author.
An Emotion of Great Delight was a wonderful exploration into the life of one Muslim teen living in a post-9/11 world, while navigating complicated family relationships, friendships, society and love.
I loved the writing in this book. It was so beautiful and atmospheric, and the writing flowed really well, so I breezed through this book super easily and I really understood Shadi's feelings. I especially loved the descriptions of Shadi and her family's grief and sadness; sad and gut-wrenching, just my favourite. I also really loved the explorations into the topics of complicated family relationships and religion in this book. It was interesting. And the romance! Super cute. I'm not normally a huge fan of romance, but I ate this one up.
In all honesty, though, I did think that this book was too short. Despite its rather limited length, this book tries to tackle a lot of very complicated topics, which I think could have been done better if only this book was a little bit longer and we'd gone into more detail. The ending was also incredibly abrupt and open-ended; there was really no clear resolution.
Even so, I think this book still deserves four stars simply because of how much I enjoyed it. I really loved the writing. I had fun reading this book; plain and simple.
An Emotion of Great Delight was a wonderful exploration into the life of one Muslim teen living in a post-9/11 world, while navigating complicated family relationships, friendships, society and love.
I loved the writing in this book. It was so beautiful and atmospheric, and the writing flowed really well, so I breezed through this book super easily and I really understood Shadi's feelings. I especially loved the descriptions of Shadi and her family's grief and sadness; sad and gut-wrenching, just my favourite. I also really loved the explorations into the topics of complicated family relationships and religion in this book. It was interesting. And the romance! Super cute. I'm not normally a huge fan of romance, but I ate this one up.
In all honesty, though, I did think that this book was too short. Despite its rather limited length, this book tries to tackle a lot of very complicated topics, which I think could have been done better if only this book was a little bit longer and we'd gone into more detail. The ending was also incredibly abrupt and open-ended; there was really no clear resolution.
Even so, I think this book still deserves four stars simply because of how much I enjoyed it. I really loved the writing. I had fun reading this book; plain and simple.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Islamophobia
naikaii's review
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
abbyl819's review
3.0
This story is definitely very character driven, as it felt like there was no plot. The writing and scenes were very emotional at times and Shadi and her situation had me tearing up at times because I definitely felt for her. However, the end felt very sudden and inconclusive, and it seemed like nothing had even happened yet. I wish it was longer, because it seemed like it was over before it even started.
eryn_elenath's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
brookey8888's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I enjoyed this, but I think that to much was happening and none of it get wrapped up or flushed out. I appreciate the topics discussed in this, all of them being hard and difficult conversations, but half of them weren’t even concluded. This also just felt off to me? I’m not Muslim so I can’t speak on the
Representation And the some of the topics discussed, but it just didn’t seem All that well done to me. I know the author is Muslim so maybe that’s her experience, but read reviews from Muslim readers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Islamophobia, Car accident, Grief, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
minayaayy's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
sarahreads143's review
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
whimsyfaerie's review
1.0
- 1 star ༉‧₊˚
check tw !! .*•
0/5 spice ୨ৎ
i don’t even know how to begin with this review, but let me just preface this by saying these are my opinions, so please do not attack me for them!! i was really hoping to fall in love with an emotion of great delight because i rarely read books with muslim rep, let alone written by muslim authors, but let me just say: i couldn’t be more disappointed.
the writing was atrocious. it literally lacked everything: depth, feeling, description, etc. i felt like i was reading something a third grader wrote. like mafi would write, "the car sped away," and then under that line, she would write, "with a great roar, the car sped away." why are we repeating sentences?? just choose one: either the non-descriptive sentence or the slightly more descriptive sentence. i’m sorry, i just couldn’t stand her writing style. ://
all of the characters were so, so one-dimensional. just like the writing, they lacked everything needed to create solid, relatable characters. shadi was crazy annoying and had absolutely zero character development. why was she constantly praying for her father to die?? i couldn’t stand her, oh my god.
as a muslim girly myself, i feel like i have the credentials to speak up on the muslim representation, and let me just tell you: it was appalling. this book contained nothing but (harmful) stereotypes and an abundance of misrepresentation. i am actually disgusted by that conversation about burqa’s, i don’t even want to talk about it. why did literally every muslim character in this book do the exact opposite of what our religion teaches us?? i am just so fcking angry and upset that even though this book is written by a muslim, we still can’t get good muslim rep.
anyways, i truly would not waste your time by reading this book. if you do want to read a book that contains good muslim representation, i recommend love from a to z by s.k. ali !! i’m hoping that the rest of tahereh mafi’s books have much better representation (and writing) than this one does…
check tw !! .*•
0/5 spice ୨ৎ
i don’t even know how to begin with this review, but let me just preface this by saying these are my opinions, so please do not attack me for them!! i was really hoping to fall in love with an emotion of great delight because i rarely read books with muslim rep, let alone written by muslim authors, but let me just say: i couldn’t be more disappointed.
the writing was atrocious. it literally lacked everything: depth, feeling, description, etc. i felt like i was reading something a third grader wrote. like mafi would write, "the car sped away," and then under that line, she would write, "with a great roar, the car sped away." why are we repeating sentences?? just choose one: either the non-descriptive sentence or the slightly more descriptive sentence. i’m sorry, i just couldn’t stand her writing style. ://
all of the characters were so, so one-dimensional. just like the writing, they lacked everything needed to create solid, relatable characters. shadi was crazy annoying and had absolutely zero character development. why was she constantly praying for her father to die?? i couldn’t stand her, oh my god.
as a muslim girly myself, i feel like i have the credentials to speak up on the muslim representation, and let me just tell you: it was appalling. this book contained nothing but (harmful) stereotypes and an abundance of misrepresentation. i am actually disgusted by that conversation about burqa’s, i don’t even want to talk about it. why did literally every muslim character in this book do the exact opposite of what our religion teaches us?? i am just so fcking angry and upset that even though this book is written by a muslim, we still can’t get good muslim rep.
anyways, i truly would not waste your time by reading this book. if you do want to read a book that contains good muslim representation, i recommend love from a to z by s.k. ali !! i’m hoping that the rest of tahereh mafi’s books have much better representation (and writing) than this one does…