Reviews

Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Nazemian

happyeverabigail's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

This was so incredible and is going to stick with me for a long time. The magic of this writing to cover stories, while fiction very much based on reality, including homophobia, racism, oppressive governments, deportation, and more, and with an overarching tone of resiliency and hope was masterful to me. I normally go into content warnings like those worried how much this is going to rip my heart out but even when certain moments are nothing but tragic or make me cry there is so much wisdom about a person not being a single moment or forever bitter from a lost love (because as hopeful as this is it’s still based in reality, some relationships truly do become lost). I am a major HEA romance reader and I was kept safe in this story. 

The love these 3 generations of fathers/sons have for each other was so powerful at times. They each had their moments of misunderstanding each other but with the alternating POVs you knew how strong their familial bond and love for each other was and that’s what carried them through. I found each POV so interesting even the very serious one of the 3. 

I don’t often read YA but if anyone ever asks me for a YA rec going forward this is going to be top of my list. 

miracl3gro's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

hanhantap's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Xenophobia

Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, Police brutality, and Death of parent

erine05_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative inspiring sad tense 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

4.0

bettielovesbooks's review

5.0

Abdi always here breaking my heart, but in the best way, what a beautiful, beautiful book that tells the story of three boys/men in differents eras, all tied together and to Iran, so much love for each other and for their country, but so much heartbreak and sacrifice, just like in life, but life being being more difficult yes when you are gay in a homophobic time or in a homophobic place, but always fighting for freedom, love, and family.

chrisalex1210's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

maddiereadswords's review

4.5

Ok, this one got me!! I already knew going into this that I love Abdi Nazemian's writing (and to be honest I had really high hopes for this one because inter-generational queer historical fiction is something I will literally never get enough of), but this one really blew me away. I fell in love with all three of the POV characters, and even though they could all frustrate me at times, they all felt real and complicated and compelling. 

The only thing I can really complain about is that I do wish we had gotten to see Babak meet Saeed's mother because I think having the parallel between their partnership and Saeed's relationship with Moud's mother would have been really powerful, but overall this is such a fantastic book. It's a beautiful story about the power of family and love across generations, and there's such love for Iranian culture both within the country and the diaspora while also letting the book sit in the complicated places where identity and culture meet. It's a beautifully told story that I'm going to be thinking about for a very long time.

rimestock's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I don't know if it's intentional or not, but the narrative voice of each POV was a bit too similar, and combined with all of them being in 1st person, I'm not sure if I liked that or not.

That said, I did enjoy reading this book. My favorite overall was Bobby's story. Moud's was fine (although the secondhand embarrassment I got from his boyfriend Shane was absolutely brutal). And Saeed is dead last only because he's the token heterosexual lol (granted, the story wouldn't have worked if he wasn't, but still).

climbing_bookstacks's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This was such a poignantly beautiful story. 

evaosterlee's review against another edition

hopeful informative reflective tense 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

4.25