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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
fast-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
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 stars.
This is a tough book to read. It deals with racism, ntolerance, child grooming, far right groups, rape, grief and loss, single parent families, terrorism, and guilt.
This also could have been so much more.
It was set up to be a dark gritty rabbit hole of violence and intolerance but it tended to just hover over the surface and for me, that's where it let me down.
It follows a Josh, a boy who has absorbed himself into his school work and is getting brilliant results, after his father was killed in a London train bombing by terrorism.
He seems to be sought out by a far right hate group after being introduced by a couple of other boys in school who show him videos on their phone of the hatred and violence they get up to.
So begins the grooming of Josh and the befriending and brain washing that leaves you feeling that this is probably how things actually happen and how vulnerability leads to anger and hatred in the wrong hands.
It was a very quick read and I loved pretty much every character that was put on the page. I liked how Ahmed was so similar to Josh, to imprint on the reader how we are all the same and we all suffer loss in life, and in fact some are far worse than others and being from another country/ different classes/ being a different skin tone/ speaking with a different accent/ a religion or not makes no difference to the fact that everybody hurts or loves or gets angry during childhood if only you took the time to talk to each other.
The book was very well written and was a very quick read but I wanted more. I felt that it wasn't gritty enough.
This is a tough book to read. It deals with racism, ntolerance, child grooming, far right groups, rape, grief and loss, single parent families, terrorism, and guilt.
This also could have been so much more.
It was set up to be a dark gritty rabbit hole of violence and intolerance but it tended to just hover over the surface and for me, that's where it let me down.
It follows a Josh, a boy who has absorbed himself into his school work and is getting brilliant results, after his father was killed in a London train bombing by terrorism.
He seems to be sought out by a far right hate group after being introduced by a couple of other boys in school who show him videos on their phone of the hatred and violence they get up to.
So begins the grooming of Josh and the befriending and brain washing that leaves you feeling that this is probably how things actually happen and how vulnerability leads to anger and hatred in the wrong hands.
It was a very quick read and I loved pretty much every character that was put on the page. I liked how Ahmed was so similar to Josh, to imprint on the reader how we are all the same and we all suffer loss in life, and in fact some are far worse than others and being from another country/ different classes/ being a different skin tone/ speaking with a different accent/ a religion or not makes no difference to the fact that everybody hurts or loves or gets angry during childhood if only you took the time to talk to each other.
The book was very well written and was a very quick read but I wanted more. I felt that it wasn't gritty enough.
Really great to see the methods that right wing groups use to bring in new members and how easy it can be to fall into the logic traps presented.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Islamophobia, Grief
Moderate: Violence, War
challenging
tense
fast-paced