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marleefayek's review against another edition
emotional
sad
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? It's complicated
4.5
This is such a beautifully written story, the words almost like poetry. The author uses strong imagery, and metaphor -- it's moving, powerful and poetic. The title matches the story very elegantly. The main character goes on a bit of a coming of age journey, but it doesn't feel cliche or done before-- very original, compelling, heartfelt and bittersweet. I loved seeing the world through their eyes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Violence, and Rape
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Pregnancy
siriface's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Death of parent, Death, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Racism
hilaryreadsbooks's review
4.0
“In this world we were born into nothing but everything is ours: the sidewalk, the yellow markers in the road. The rain falls through the leaves and kisses us just so. What no one will ever understand is that the world belongs to orphans, everything becomes our mother. We’re mothered by everything because we know how to look for the mothering…”
Three Muslim American sisters are orphaned when their father is murdered. They are taken in by their abusive uncle, who gives them the bare minimum, instead taking and spending the money that their family left behind for them. Though these hardships, these sisters cling together even as their small family sometimes threatens to fall apart: through love, discoveries of self, leavings and separations, and grief. My heart ached for the pain these sisters went through, ached for the different ways each of them had to become more than the children that they were.
Asghar’s poetic background comes through here. Their prose is gorgeous; it swells with imagery and lyricism. There were moments when the novel felt like it wanted to become a long-form novel-in-verse: there are short, sparse vignettes, and even poems and blank or blacked out parts of texts, that pull into a slow, fractured storytelling.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse
ambereen's review
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Murder, Abandonment, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Child abuse, Rape, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Racism, and Emotional abuse
bookishbrenbren's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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? No
5.0
Kausar and her two older sisters are orphaned, stuck with an uncle who neglects them and keeps them in a shabby apartment, expecting them to care for themselves, despite their young age. Kausar grows up with a lot of feelings of guilt, worships her sisters who are more than sisters, sometimes mothers, sometimes brothers, sometimes whatever they need to be for each other.
A beautiful, heartbreaking story that fans of Safia Elhillo, Akwaeke Emezi, Ocean Vuong, books in verse, or novels written by poets, generally speaking. I love everything about this book - it's easily one of the best I've read this year. I hope this book will find the people who need it.
I especially love the fresh style of writing this story is told in, incorporating occasional verse, interview-type dialogue, and other things my simple novel-model-reader mind cannot name. The writing itself is excellent, growing more mature as the character ages, for example. At times, the length of the chapters adjusts to the length of the thoughts of Kausar, sentences growing shorter and choppier with panic and dreamy and fuzzy with episodes of dissociation. I didn't really understand the ending, I don't know that it fit well with the main character's arc, but it didn't lessen my appreciation for the story at all.
I also love so much the way the author captured the unique love-adoration-worship that younger sisters have for their older sisters - and the ways sisters/siblings are so open and vulnerable to each other that they also tend to be the ones who can harm us the most, the deepest, the worst, the quickest, the easiest. It's a relationship/connection that deserves to get more attention in literature.
My only complaint is that the pacing did feel a bit off, with the beginning (30%) feeling achingly slow (especially because it's such heartbreaking content) and the rest of the book flying. Secondly, the book is very sad, it's dark. That's not a critique as, obviously, some stories must be dark to be told at all, but beware if you tend to hate books that are not (sad + happy ending) or (sad + hopeful), but are just honest and open and sad (still, it's brilliant writing - keep that in mind) you may not enjoy this one.
A beautiful, heartbreaking story that fans of Safia Elhillo, Akwaeke Emezi, Ocean Vuong, books in verse, or novels written by poets, generally speaking. I love everything about this book - it's easily one of the best I've read this year. I hope this book will find the people who need it.
I especially love the fresh style of writing this story is told in, incorporating occasional verse, interview-type dialogue, and other things my simple novel-model-reader mind cannot name. The writing itself is excellent, growing more mature as the character ages, for example. At times, the length of the chapters adjusts to the length of the thoughts of Kausar, sentences growing shorter and choppier with panic and dreamy and fuzzy with episodes of dissociation. I didn't really understand the ending, I don't know that it fit well with the main character's arc, but it didn't lessen my appreciation for the story at all.
I also love so much the way the author captured the unique love-adoration-worship that younger sisters have for their older sisters - and the ways sisters/siblings are so open and vulnerable to each other that they also tend to be the ones who can harm us the most, the deepest, the worst, the quickest, the easiest. It's a relationship/connection that deserves to get more attention in literature.
My only complaint is that the pacing did feel a bit off, with the beginning (30%) feeling achingly slow (especially because it's such heartbreaking content) and the rest of the book flying. Secondly, the book is very sad, it's dark. That's not a critique as, obviously, some stories must be dark to be told at all, but beware if you tend to hate books that are not (sad + happy ending) or (sad + hopeful), but are just honest and open and sad (still, it's brilliant writing - keep that in mind) you may not enjoy this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Death of parent, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Bullying, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Cursing, and Animal death
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