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marmaladereads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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
3.5
After his father's sudden death, Hazeem is so lost in grief that he loses the will to live the rest of his life - so much so that he inadvertently gives the rest of it away to his friends and loved ones and sets off a time conundrum. This prompts a visit from Time personified (a strange, genderless Sandra Bullock looking character who refers to themselves using the royal We) who takes Hazeem on a journey to revisit his past failings with his friends, his father, his grief, and ultimately make peace with life and death. Part A Christmas Story, part Groundhog Day, I thought this was an interesting concept that lent itself well to a character driven exploration of grief and understanding oneself. I really enjoyed the representation of Hazeem as a Queer Muslim teenager, and his various friendships, all of which are similarly diverse. There are some really great heartfelt moments in the book, especially between Hazeem and Yamany, who is non-binary, when they talk about how they experience different levels of discriminations despite both being Queer teenagers of color, and between Hazeem and his dad, when they talk about Toxic Masculinity and what makes for a life well lived.
Other parts of the book didn't really work for me. A lot of the concept was high handed and took away from Hazeem's emotional journey. A lot of the time spent trying to explain humanity to Time using logic or physics or chemistry or whatnot seemed overly philosophical and drawn out, and felt detached from the main story. Similarly, the Christmas Story concept was interesting, but in many of the scenes, Hazeem was patching his past self perform some actions, in effect the reader became an observer of an observer of a scene, which to me felt really emotionally detached from the scene and the characters for the first half of the book instead of becoming invested in those friendships. I also didn't feel like Hazeem really learned much from certain scenes, like his weeks or years exploring the world by himself. He went on this long journey to see the world and then came out of it largely unchanged. Similarly with the thousands of iterations of the days he spent with his dad. I felt like those moments served very little purpose.
Overall I think this book might work well for younger readers (ages 14-16), the concept is cute and original, and there are certainly some heartfelt moments that stand out, but the overall structure of the book could be a bit tighter.
Also - and this is entirely a personal thing - but this book has a talking hamster and I can't stand talking animals. Nothing against the book, just a personal pet peeve of mine.
Other parts of the book didn't really work for me. A lot of the concept was high handed and took away from Hazeem's emotional journey. A lot of the time spent trying to explain humanity to Time using logic or physics or chemistry or whatnot seemed overly philosophical and drawn out, and felt detached from the main story. Similarly, the Christmas Story concept was interesting, but in many of the scenes, Hazeem was patching his past self perform some actions, in effect the reader became an observer of an observer of a scene, which to me felt really emotionally detached from the scene and the characters for the first half of the book instead of becoming invested in those friendships. I also didn't feel like Hazeem really learned much from certain scenes, like his weeks or years exploring the world by himself. He went on this long journey to see the world and then came out of it largely unchanged. Similarly with the thousands of iterations of the days he spent with his dad. I felt like those moments served very little purpose.
Overall I think this book might work well for younger readers (ages 14-16), the concept is cute and original, and there are certainly some heartfelt moments that stand out, but the overall structure of the book could be a bit tighter.
Also - and this is entirely a personal thing - but this book has a talking hamster and I can't stand talking animals. Nothing against the book, just a personal pet peeve of mine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Car accident, and Death
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia
Minor: Physical abuse and Animal death
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