Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - The Thirty Names of Night

The Thirty Names of Night is stunning -- beautiful writing, well structured, nuanced and well-developed characters and a clear setting. The story alternates between two perspectives -- that of a young Syrian-American trans man living in contemporary-ish Little Syria in NYC, and that of Laila Z, a Syrian American artist who painted and drew birds and who disappeared decades prior. Both are written in second person, with Nadir addressing his deceased mother and Laila Z's chapters in epistolary format. This book had me in tears more than once (in the best possible way), and Joukhadar has handled many themes here -- immigration, loss, xenophobia, the pain of contorting oneself to fit gendered expectations, struggles with religion, grief, internalized and external trans- & homophobia, family (birth and chosen) -- so beautifully. I am immensely grateful to Zeyn Joukhadar for this book, and look forward to reading more from him.

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seawarrior's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative 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

5.0

This is such a beautiful book. Multiple times I re-read passages to ensure I fully absorbed their words and weight. The pages shine with poetry and reflections on grief, and end more rewardingly than I had dared to hope. I highly suggest reading.

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baponthecob's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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? N/A

4.0

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booknerdnative's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This is a stunning story about identity and discovering oneself. This book was so reflective and open, and offered some really great conversations. I think this one would be great for book club! I really love books with two storylines and points of view that eventually find a connection point, and this one weaved this connection together perfectly. It was beautifully written, but definitely more consumable than a lot of literary fiction titles I've read. It was compulsively readable, making this one palatable for many readers. Which is great, because I think this will be a really important and eye opening story for so many readers.

I want to first say that as a cishet person, I cannot directly speak to the experience of being trans and have tried to be aware of that in my review. One thing I really found influential about this narrative, is being able to walk with our protagonist (who is unnamed at the start of the novel), as they discover their true self. I have read more books with trans folks at the center, in which they are more settled in their identity, & I really appreciated this look into someone finding the openness within themselves to be who they are and embrace themselves fully. This book has a lot of inner dialogue, and dialogue between characters surrounding sexuality and gender that I found to be really reflective and important to the overall conversation. I also really love that this book brings to light the notion that we can still be figuring out who we are even in adulthood. There is no timeline to gender, sexuality, or self discovery.

This book also discusses immigration -the cast is multi-generational, mostly Syrian-American, living in post-9/11 New York City.

It's also full of art, nature, avian passion, and beauty.

It has an epistolary element as well, if that's something you enjoy!

I just think this book has so much to offer, and i really hope that more people read it.

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