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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5
A heartbreaking debut about an interracial couple torn apart by the burdens of parental expectations and the heavy cultural pressures working against them. Nur is a British Pakistani man who meets and falls in love with Yasmina, a young Black aspiring journalistst. The two try living for themselves and hiding their relationship from their parents but when years go by, the secrecy ends up taking a toll. Slow to start for me, the story really built up to a suspenseful conclusion as the couple fails to let outside pressures impede on their love. Great on audio narrated by Nathaniel Curtis with a beautiful cover. This was a wonderful look at the challenges of romantic love with someone outside your culture/race. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ALC.
A heartbreaking debut about an interracial couple torn apart by the burdens of parental expectations and the heavy cultural pressures working against them. Nur is a British Pakistani man who meets and falls in love with Yasmina, a young Black aspiring journalistst. The two try living for themselves and hiding their relationship from their parents but when years go by, the secrecy ends up taking a toll. Slow to start for me, the story really built up to a suspenseful conclusion as the couple fails to let outside pressures impede on their love. Great on audio narrated by Nathaniel Curtis with a beautiful cover. This was a wonderful look at the challenges of romantic love with someone outside your culture/race. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ALC.
Wonderful premise for a novel - a love story between two adults who share the same faith, friends, education, and family upbringing. Despite having these things in common, the relationship is under the strain of familial expectation and racism. The pacing feels glacial because even though the issue of race is introduced early on in the book, it takes Nur four years (and the author 2/3 of the book) to actually address it with the family. As a result the book seems much more about the buildup to an event and its rapid resolution than it does about the family's feelings about the relationship. I personally found all the flashbacks and flashforwards difficult to follow because the characters did not really seem to develop or evolve over the four years.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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:
Yes
3,5⭐️
Sometimes there is an emptiness inside him so large it would take the entire world to fill.
Nur, a British Pakistani guy, finally told his parents about the relationship he have been hiding from them for 4 years. He’s dating Yasmina, a British Sudanese Girl, and finally have the courage to tell about it to his parents.
The story tell us about Nur’s present life, how he trying to make his family understand his decision on dating Yasmina. It also brought you back to 4 years before the present timeline of Nur and telling you the story about how Nur met Yasmina. The story seems like a simple love story, but it wasn’t exactly like that. While we get to know Nur and Yasmina love story, we also get to see a much dire problem that exists inside Muslim community and Asian community. How, Nur as the good son, was actually worried of the prejudice he would get if his parents and people from his community find out that he date a black girl.
Outside of the racial problem, we also get to see Nur’s problem as an individual. He still fighting his own demon and the angst that always got the better of him or being the main factor that cause him to made stupid decisions.
The ending was already predictable when I reach half of this book. I really enjoyed this book even tho Nur’s character made me mad and frustrated.
Sometimes there is an emptiness inside him so large it would take the entire world to fill.
Nur, a British Pakistani guy, finally told his parents about the relationship he have been hiding from them for 4 years. He’s dating Yasmina, a British Sudanese Girl, and finally have the courage to tell about it to his parents.
The story tell us about Nur’s present life, how he trying to make his family understand his decision on dating Yasmina. It also brought you back to 4 years before the present timeline of Nur and telling you the story about how Nur met Yasmina. The story seems like a simple love story, but it wasn’t exactly like that. While we get to know Nur and Yasmina love story, we also get to see a much dire problem that exists inside Muslim community and Asian community. How, Nur as the good son, was actually worried of the prejudice he would get if his parents and people from his community find out that he date a black girl.
Outside of the racial problem, we also get to see Nur’s problem as an individual. He still fighting his own demon and the angst that always got the better of him or being the main factor that cause him to made stupid decisions.
The ending was already predictable when I reach half of this book. I really enjoyed this book even tho Nur’s character made me mad and frustrated.
AHHHHH I LOVED THIS BOOK UNTIL THE LAST CHAPTER
This was an amazing love story that was brought to ruin because of the lack of courage and selfish acts of our main character Nur.
I loved all the characters in the book. Nur is the eldest son of a Pakistani Muslim household, and although I am neither Pakistani nor Muslim, I lowkey understand the pressures he goes through as the eldest son of a South Asian family. He has anxiety due to his habit of overthinking and isn't the best with his words despite graduating with an English major and aspiring to become an author.
Yasmina is the eldest daughter of a Sudanese Muslim household. Her family is pretty chill, but she also has her own issues regarding her younger sister. Yasmina's dialogue throughout the book made me fall in love with her personality (also because as I read the book, the image of what she looked like in my head was absolutely gorgeous).
They met at Nur's ex's party and they hit it off from there. Their love story felt natural and made me smile as I read the book. They were quite literally meant for each other, but Nur basically had a thought in the back of his head that told him it was never meant to be due to the color of their skin. Although I liked Nur's character, I despised him as a person for some of his reckless words and cowardly actions. ESPECIALLY WITHIN THE LAST CHAPTER.
The other side character progressed the story perfectly. One of my favorite aspects of the book was seeing these side-character relationships grow and diminish with Nur; specifically with Rahat and Imran.
This story could have ended with a perfect romantic ending - but it didn't. Maybe that's exactly the type of ending this generation of Muslims, South Asians, etc. need. I just wish Nur did more.
Can't wait for more work by Kasim Ali :D
Overall Score: 4.5/5
This was an amazing love story that was brought to ruin because of the lack of courage and selfish acts of our main character Nur.
I loved all the characters in the book. Nur is the eldest son of a Pakistani Muslim household, and although I am neither Pakistani nor Muslim, I lowkey understand the pressures he goes through as the eldest son of a South Asian family. He has anxiety due to his habit of overthinking and isn't the best with his words despite graduating with an English major and aspiring to become an author.
Yasmina is the eldest daughter of a Sudanese Muslim household. Her family is pretty chill, but she also has her own issues regarding her younger sister. Yasmina's dialogue throughout the book made me fall in love with her personality (also because as I read the book, the image of what she looked like in my head was absolutely gorgeous).
They met at Nur's ex's party and they hit it off from there. Their love story felt natural and made me smile as I read the book. They were quite literally meant for each other, but Nur basically had a thought in the back of his head that told him it was never meant to be due to the color of their skin. Although I liked Nur's character, I despised him as a person for some of his reckless words and cowardly actions. ESPECIALLY WITHIN THE LAST CHAPTER.
The other side character progressed the story perfectly. One of my favorite aspects of the book was seeing these side-character relationships grow and diminish with Nur; specifically with Rahat and Imran.
This story could have ended with a perfect romantic ending - but it didn't. Maybe that's exactly the type of ending this generation of Muslims, South Asians, etc. need. I just wish Nur did more.
Can't wait for more work by Kasim Ali :D
Overall Score: 4.5/5
challenging
emotional
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes