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your_true_shelf's review
emotional
hopeful
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? Yes
5.0
I adored this book with every piece of my heart. How an author so young can write the relationships in this book so incredibly, wow. Especially between a father and son. I can't imagine never reading this book again, it will definitely be read more times!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse and Alcoholism
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Racism, and Miscarriage
rishel's review against another edition
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Islamophobia
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Xenophobia, and Racism
foxowl2005's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Islamophobia, Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
Moderate: Misogyny, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, and Racism
Minor: Cancer
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
audreylee's review against another edition
emotional
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
3.75
3.5 stars. A book of family betrayals, love, tenderness, and forgiveness. The story bounced along much as memories do, dwelling first on this memory from age 5 and that one from age 16. It was a beautifully wrought picture of a family in all its glories and shames. I so wanted that specific resolution...but that is a me problem.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Racism
rubybooks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A Place for Us is a book I had seen featured on social media a bit, but I didn't really know what it was about. However, I recognised the title so when I saw the audiobook available I downloaded it straight away. I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook - I was sucked into the story easily, and I liked listening to both the narrators.
The story begins at the wedding of Hadia, who is part of an Indian-American Muslim family. At her wedding, her younger brother Amar returns and sees his family members for the first time in years. After they are introduced, the narration switches to earlier in time, when siblings Hadia, Huda and Amar are children. There are multiple points of view, so the reader really gets to know the characters' motivations. We don't really hear from Huda, but Hadia and Amar's experiences are at the heart of the story. I also enjoyed hearing from their parents, Rafiq and Layla, especially actions by both of them resulted in Amar's estrangement.
Amar had long felt disconnected within his family - he was a stubborn child and always pushed back against his father. He had a hard time dealing with love and its consequences, which only intensified the downward spiral he was in. Hadia, on the other hand, was not a rebellious child at all. She struggled with working hard and getting little recognition compared to what she would get if she was a boy. She definitely wasn't perfect, but I related a lot to Hadia in so many different ways, so I loved her sections of the book. Their mother, Layla, wanted so much for her children but was not always successful when she thought she was doing the right thing. Her husband Rafiq was often angry and did not know how to deal with his children, but realisations do come later.
This novel is so focused on family, culture, religion and identity. I loved the writing in this book - it was so beautiful and really helped me get to know the characters. The characters are all flawed and so compelling to read about - every single relationship has a different dynamic. The ending of this book was just amazing, and it made me very emotional. A Place for Us was such a great exploration of feelings and it is so full of emotion. I loved all these characters, and seeing how they developed over the years worked so well with the structure of the book.
I'd definitely recommend this book, especially if you like multi-generational character-driven stories! If you're looking for a book full of action, this probably isn't for you, but the story is so well done and I was invested throughout. Because of the different points of view, there was a bit of repetition and overlap of ideas, but aside from that I loved reading this book. Content warnings for discussions of racism, Islamophobia, terrorism, grief, death, alcohol and drug abuse.
The story begins at the wedding of Hadia, who is part of an Indian-American Muslim family. At her wedding, her younger brother Amar returns and sees his family members for the first time in years. After they are introduced, the narration switches to earlier in time, when siblings Hadia, Huda and Amar are children. There are multiple points of view, so the reader really gets to know the characters' motivations. We don't really hear from Huda, but Hadia and Amar's experiences are at the heart of the story. I also enjoyed hearing from their parents, Rafiq and Layla, especially actions by both of them resulted in Amar's estrangement.
Amar had long felt disconnected within his family - he was a stubborn child and always pushed back against his father. He had a hard time dealing with love and its consequences, which only intensified the downward spiral he was in. Hadia, on the other hand, was not a rebellious child at all. She struggled with working hard and getting little recognition compared to what she would get if she was a boy. She definitely wasn't perfect, but I related a lot to Hadia in so many different ways, so I loved her sections of the book. Their mother, Layla, wanted so much for her children but was not always successful when she thought she was doing the right thing. Her husband Rafiq was often angry and did not know how to deal with his children, but realisations do come later.
This novel is so focused on family, culture, religion and identity. I loved the writing in this book - it was so beautiful and really helped me get to know the characters. The characters are all flawed and so compelling to read about - every single relationship has a different dynamic. The ending of this book was just amazing, and it made me very emotional. A Place for Us was such a great exploration of feelings and it is so full of emotion. I loved all these characters, and seeing how they developed over the years worked so well with the structure of the book.
I'd definitely recommend this book, especially if you like multi-generational character-driven stories! If you're looking for a book full of action, this probably isn't for you, but the story is so well done and I was invested throughout. Because of the different points of view, there was a bit of repetition and overlap of ideas, but aside from that I loved reading this book. Content warnings for discussions of racism, Islamophobia, terrorism, grief, death, alcohol and drug abuse.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Islamophobia, Grief, Miscarriage, Death, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse
anjbhat's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
4.5 shimmering stars not unlike the ones the father in this story, Rafiq, taught his children to turn to when in pain; stars I cannot help but round up to 5. The rating I give to books that I'll think of long after I've finished it and perhaps forever.
Like the family Mirza writes about with such compassion and grace, this is not a book without flaws and yet I love it wholly. Even if there is just a little something more I want from the story, I can't deny that as it stands, this novel was evocative, lyrical, devastating... and thus entirely unforgettable. When I was just five pages in it struck me that I would cry; already the writing was so imbued with a gentle sorrow, the kind we have all carried with us before. I felt my eyes mist up throughout but the tears really streamed down my face the whole of the final chapter.
Like the family Mirza writes about with such compassion and grace, this is not a book without flaws and yet I love it wholly. Even if there is just a little something more I want from the story, I can't deny that as it stands, this novel was evocative, lyrical, devastating... and thus entirely unforgettable. When I was just five pages in it struck me that I would cry; already the writing was so imbued with a gentle sorrow, the kind we have all carried with us before. I felt my eyes mist up throughout but the tears really streamed down my face the whole of the final chapter.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism
Minor: Islamophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, and Miscarriage
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