Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Home Is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo

12 reviews

readingwithkaitlyn's review

reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Islamophobia, Racism, Bullying, Hate crime, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Death of parent, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Blood, Car accident, Classism, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

9/11 mention.

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.25

 In honour of Celebrate Teen Literature Day (13 April) I thought I’d read a YA book from my TBR. And since it’s also National Poetry month, Home is Not a Country, a YA novel in verse, was the obvious pick. It’s the story of Nima, a Sudanese-American girl who lives with her working class single mother in the suburbs. Thanks to racism, Islamophobia and xenophobia, plus good old teenage angst Nima often feels that she doesn’t belong and wonders what her life would be like if she wasn’t in America. A dash of magical realism allows her to find out, and possibly learn a little bit more about her family history than she might have cared to know. I’m not always a fan of magical realism but I think it worked really well here, allowing Nima to experience at least part of her parents’ past and to learn, in something akin to a first hand way, that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence. The style and structure of this book provided a fresh look at some of my favourite themes including immigration, identity, family, friendship, community and mother-daughter relationships. The language managed to be both lush and urgent. Very glad to have read this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia and Racism

Moderate: Grief and Violence

mattyb's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, and Bullying

Moderate: Islamophobia, Kidnapping, and Xenophobia

bookbuyingwithkatie's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Trafficking, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Death of parent, Abandonment, Bullying, and Racism

ocean's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Self harm, and Grief

nonbinarylibrarianwitch's review

emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Bullying, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Grief, Hate crime, and Racism

Minor: Racial slurs, Car accident, and Infidelity

amandalorianxo's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow. It’s moments like these where I don’t know if what I will write will be enough to convince people that this a book worth reading. For those us who are fans of Elizabeth Acevedo’s work, @safiamafia writing is similar but holds her own as we get to know Nima & her family. Roughly 211 pages of emotion, what if’s and a mere inkling about what happens when a teenager wants to know so much but is unable to seek out answers in a way others easily can. Nima is the child of Aisha, a single mom who is not ashamed of where she comes from nor the Arabic language in which she speaks. I saw a lot of Nima in myself - despite the fact that she’s fourteen - we both struggled in speaking the language our mothers want us to be fluent in and the accompanying jeers / racial tension from the American born kids. There’s a little bit of a supernatural spin to this story that I don’t want to give away but I highly recommend picking this up the next time you are at the library or at your local bookstore. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Islamophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Grief, Death of parent, and Bullying

Minor: Car accident, Torture, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse

sun_hearth's review

emotional 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? Yes

5.0

I can’t see myself rating this book anything less than 5 stars since I heavily relate to a lot of things talked about this book, especially when it comes to living in the US as the child of immigrant parents and having to deal with the racism and other things that comes with being POC, I can’t say much on the topic is Islamophobia since my family isn’t Muslim but mainly on the experiences of being an immigrant child in the US and trying your best to not disappoint your family and wanting to be better

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Islamophobia, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Violence

_goldenbooks's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Islamophobia

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Death of parent and Infidelity

betweentheshelves's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

5.0

I went into this not knowing much about it, and just wow. Apparently I'm in a novel in verse kick, and I would highly recommend the audiobook (again). The author reads it, and it's done so well. The story here is heart-achingly beautiful, about a girl who doesn't really know where she fits in when suddenly, she's not close with her best friend Haitham.

Elhillo explores what could have been by going into the past. Nima's afraid she's disappearing, but maybe she just needs to confront what got her to where she is. There are gorgeous lines in this book, and you're sucked in right from the beginning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia

Moderate: Hate crime, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, and Medical content