Scan barcode
acorny's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Beautiful, heartbreaking, and felt so real. This one hit a nerve for sure, I cried for all the characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Bullying, Addiction, Miscarriage, Car accident, and Child death
Minor: Death of parent and Grief
cass_ward's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Addiction, Car accident, Drug use, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Islamophobia, and Alcohol
annreadsabook's review against another edition
- 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
If anyone asks me why I'm crying in the club, it's because of Part 4 of this book.
A Place for Us follows an Indian Muslim family living in California—the family experiences love, loss, and hardship across the years as the children come to understand themselves through the lens of their heritage and faith. Amar struggles to find a place within his family beside his high-achieving eldest sister, while Hadia deals with her own inner turmoil as the oldest child who bears the weight of her family’s needs and expectations. Each of the family members, but particularly Amar and Hadia, grapples with understanding their faith both as a means of connecting with community and as a personal commitment.
Something I loved about A Place for Us was the way in which Mirza depicts the parents’ relationship to their children. Mirza’s characterization of Rafiq, the patriarch, was so compelling in its depth and care—he is strict and often unbending in ways his children sometimes find alienating, but his love for his children nevertheless shines through. Similarly, we see Amar striving time and again to please his parents despite feeling, in many ways, constricted and underestimated by them. Mirza has crafted a beautifully three-dimensional portrait of a family trying (and often failing) to do right by each other.
If you loved Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You or other books that are slow-paced and character-driven, this is right up your alley!
A Place for Us follows an Indian Muslim family living in California—the family experiences love, loss, and hardship across the years as the children come to understand themselves through the lens of their heritage and faith. Amar struggles to find a place within his family beside his high-achieving eldest sister, while Hadia deals with her own inner turmoil as the oldest child who bears the weight of her family’s needs and expectations. Each of the family members, but particularly Amar and Hadia, grapples with understanding their faith both as a means of connecting with community and as a personal commitment.
Something I loved about A Place for Us was the way in which Mirza depicts the parents’ relationship to their children. Mirza’s characterization of Rafiq, the patriarch, was so compelling in its depth and care—he is strict and often unbending in ways his children sometimes find alienating, but his love for his children nevertheless shines through. Similarly, we see Amar striving time and again to please his parents despite feeling, in many ways, constricted and underestimated by them. Mirza has crafted a beautifully three-dimensional portrait of a family trying (and often failing) to do right by each other.
If you loved Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You or other books that are slow-paced and character-driven, this is right up your alley!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Death, Racism, Addiction, and Islamophobia
Minor: Car accident
prrrrrsh's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Absolutely loved this book, until the last section. Very moving, honest and raw. An intimate look into a Muslim american family and the ways that our actions and words affect those closest to us. The only thing that knocked it down half a star for me was the the final part, when the POV switched to the father’s. I felt like it over-explained and lost some of the emotion that came from the character’s actions in the first sections of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Car accident, Drug use, and Islamophobia
More...