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madzie's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
My favorite part of this book was how Joukhadar explores transness, gender, and queerness with beautiful insights and understandings. He boldly tells stories of how queer people have always existed and will always exist despite being silenced or staying silent for protection. With a large cast of queer characters, I love how the book deals with how other people see queerness and how it is a fight to be one’s authentic self. The nuances of how queerness is viewed in society and then in smaller relationships with friends and family is masterfully detailed as Joukhadar demonstrates how people can react to it, thinking that you owe them something, but how we have to journey to accept that we only owe it to ourselves to be authentically us. Then, Joukhadar takes this a step further to connect to the intersectionality of oppression and what the majority of society believes those they have put under them should be. Despite this, Joukhadar reminds his readers of hope and the courage of fighting for oneself, one's identity, and what one believes in. In the end, he highlights lessons, purposes, and identities that are highly important for us to consider and carry with us in our lives.
Other deep and profound themes are handled wonderfully in this novel, exploring grief and moving on, as well as how humans continue to affect one another, the appreciativeness of what we take for granted, and the beautiful connection of humanity to nature, reminding us that nothing ever truly fits into a box. All of these interact with each other to show us how magnificent life can be and how we become who we are.
I could go on and on about this novel, but the bottom line is: read it; it's stunning.
Graphic: Transphobia, Grief, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Islamophobia, and Death
Moderate: Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexism
Minor: Sexual content
dananana's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Death of parent, Dysphoria, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Dementia, Transphobia, and Racism
dianna_reads's review
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Death of parent and Grief
Moderate: Transphobia, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry
singlier's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Oh my goodness. I loved this book. It is beautiful: a reflective mingling of past and present explored through alternating POVs of a two Syrian artists: one, a sapphic immigrant who fled Syrian during the French/Syrian war and the other, a closeted trans man struggling under the grief of his mother's death. It is a story about loss, which means it is a story about love: lost loves, familial love, love of our communities, love of ourselves. On the five-year anniversary of his mother's death, the man finds the journal of the Syrian immigrant and discovers his life and her life are irreparably intertwined through their shared obsession of a rare bird: a bird his mother died before she could prove it was real. What follows is a parallel narrative between past and present, unfolding the lives of both artists as they attempt to unravel their own identities admist the complex and varied social pressures of their varied eras.
The only reason this book isn't a full five stars for me is that, despite how beautiful it is to read, it is SLOW. It's a very reflective piece, and I loved the real-world history that went into the creation of this book, but even I at times found myself skipping ahead to get to the next piece of the mystery. I still do highly recommend it.
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Dysphoria, Grief, Blood, Classism, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and War
noah_silver's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
However, at some points I found it a bit slow and am still confused about some turns of the story. It might be due to listening to it as an audio book and maybe not catching everything. I was also not completely convinced of the audio book narrator's styles.
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Islamophobia, Racism, Animal death, Grief, Death of parent, and Dysphoria
Minor: Miscarriage, Homophobia, Child death, Transphobia, and War
Description of menstruation; gyn appointmentdanaaliyalevinson's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Dysphoria, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, and Transphobia
emzireads's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Death of parent, Islamophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Xenophobia, Body shaming, and Body horror
caidyn's review
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Grief and Transphobia
Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Islamophobia, and Homophobia
rexpostfacto's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Deadnaming, Racial slurs, Medical trauma, Transphobia, Grief, Islamophobia, Homophobia, Racism, and Xenophobia
puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Racism, Medical content, Transphobia, Sexism, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Islamophobia, and Hate crime
Minor: Pregnancy and Sexual harassment