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zombiezami's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Grief, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Medical content, Blood, Gaslighting, Sexism, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Transphobia
Minor: War, Mass/school shootings, Colonisation, and Dementia
Colorismlaurareads87's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, and Transphobia
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
Minor: War
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