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bookcaptivated's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Abandonment, Blood, Racism, Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Xenophobia, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Islamophobia, Gun violence, Animal death, Misogyny, and War
Minor: Death of parent
mezzythedragon's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Islamophobia and Racism
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Suicide attempt
dinipandareads's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
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
4.0
I read this book as part of the blog tour hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours. Special thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
TL;DR: This was a complex and emotional coming-of-age story about family, identity, and belonging. It shines a pointed light on the impact of the Syrian War on the Syrians in Syria, Syrian refugees, and Syrian Americans. This story is rich in culture and is packed with love for Syria as highlighted by the experiences of Khadija and Leene, two Syrian teenagers whose families may come from the same country but have entirely different life experiences. I loved how they learn from each other and grow together and the strength of the friendship that they form was really heartwarming! This took me on a complex journey of emotions and overall, I thought it was a great debut novel!
There is a lot to love and appreciate in The Next New Syrian Girl—from the richness of the culture, the complex family relationships (especially mother-daughter and brother-sister) and sociocultural expectations, the heartwarming friendships, and the budding soft romance. I feel like this is on the longer side for a contemporary and the author does pack a lot of themes into these pages, but I think Shukairy does a great job weaving an emotional, realistic, heartwrenching and hopeful story. Told through dual perspectives, we follow Khadija and Leene as they navigate being Syrian American and a Syrian refugee respectively and as they fight their inner monsters and deal with the direct and indirect impacts of the war that tore their country apart. We see their experiences as two Hijabi teenagers living in a country where they are treated with vile hatred, bigotry, and racism all based on how they look, what they wear, and where people assume they come from. But we also see them deal with really rough family situations, survivor's guilt, and PTSD.
Khadija was admittedly not a very easy character to like and her portions of the story were surprisingly tougher to read than Leene's, despite the horrors that Leene and her mother had to endure to end up where they are. Khadija is bitter, combative, and abrasive—she's constantly on the defence and keeps most people at arm's length aside from her best friend Nassima and Younes (sort of). Her attitude made her POV very difficult to get through at times but she grew on me by the end, as she experiences *a lot* of personal growth. Most of her attitude stems from the horribly antagonistic relationship full of miscommunications and misunderstandings with her mother; plus, she has an almost non-existent relationship with her father and a careless relationship with her younger brother, Zain. She constantly deals with barbs from her mother about needing to be the "perfect Syrian daughter" according to her standards and continuously falls short. Shukairy portrays their relationship in a very unfiltered light and we get to see the messiness of Khadija's experience trying to balance feeling and being Syrian enough for herself and for everyone else while lunging for independence where and when she can. I came to really respect her strength and how she grew from being that short-tempered and judgemental teenager at the start.
Leene on the other hand is quintessentially the perfect Syrian daughter who respects her elders, cares for her mother in every way she can, and is soft-spoken and demure. But she's hiding a big secret underneath the surface and the more we get to know her, the more we see she's not really that "perfect Syrian girl" people see on the surface. Leene was an easy character to sympathise with. She and her mother have had to endure the unimaginable and her strength was admirable but her willingness to show vulnerability, especially with Khadija, was too. She doesn't want to be seen as a refugee or someone to be pitied for all the loss and trauma she experienced, and she has a really fierce and determined fighting strength that I really respected! I had a feeling her story arc would go the way it did and while I felt this particular part of her story felt very rushed and packed in at the very end, it was a hopeful ending that left my heart feeling light—a welcome reprieve from the heaviness felt for much of the story (not in a negative way at all though)! I loved the friendship that she developed with Khadija—it's always heartwarming to see how two people from such contrasting backgrounds can find common ground, respect and love for each other. I appreciated how the author also had them address their misconceptions about each other which only served to strengthen their friendship!
There were only a few things that I wished had been done differently. I wished the situation with Zain had been done better because it felt very shoehorned in and again, rushed. I also felt there was a lack of nuance to many of the side characters who were there simply to push the story along. As. I mentioned, the last 30% of the book felt very rushed as so much was packed into it and by the time the story came to an end, there was not much time left to process or digest everything that happened. That said, I think this was still a strong debut novel that I'm glad I got the chance to read. I would definitely recommend it to those who want to learn more about the Syrian war, about Syrians living abroad both as refugees and those born and raised in those countries, as well as if you love stories that are rich in culture as well as family drama (lol).
TL;DR: This was a complex and emotional coming-of-age story about family, identity, and belonging. It shines a pointed light on the impact of the Syrian War on the Syrians in Syria, Syrian refugees, and Syrian Americans. This story is rich in culture and is packed with love for Syria as highlighted by the experiences of Khadija and Leene, two Syrian teenagers whose families may come from the same country but have entirely different life experiences. I loved how they learn from each other and grow together and the strength of the friendship that they form was really heartwarming! This took me on a complex journey of emotions and overall, I thought it was a great debut novel!
There is a lot to love and appreciate in The Next New Syrian Girl—from the richness of the culture, the complex family relationships (especially mother-daughter and brother-sister) and sociocultural expectations, the heartwarming friendships, and the budding soft romance. I feel like this is on the longer side for a contemporary and the author does pack a lot of themes into these pages, but I think Shukairy does a great job weaving an emotional, realistic, heartwrenching and hopeful story. Told through dual perspectives, we follow Khadija and Leene as they navigate being Syrian American and a Syrian refugee respectively and as they fight their inner monsters and deal with the direct and indirect impacts of the war that tore their country apart. We see their experiences as two Hijabi teenagers living in a country where they are treated with vile hatred, bigotry, and racism all based on how they look, what they wear, and where people assume they come from. But we also see them deal with really rough family situations, survivor's guilt, and PTSD.
Khadija was admittedly not a very easy character to like and her portions of the story were surprisingly tougher to read than Leene's, despite the horrors that Leene and her mother had to endure to end up where they are. Khadija is bitter, combative, and abrasive—she's constantly on the defence and keeps most people at arm's length aside from her best friend Nassima and Younes (sort of). Her attitude made her POV very difficult to get through at times but she grew on me by the end, as she experiences *a lot* of personal growth. Most of her attitude stems from the horribly antagonistic relationship full of miscommunications and misunderstandings with her mother; plus, she has an almost non-existent relationship with her father and a careless relationship with her younger brother, Zain. She constantly deals with barbs from her mother about needing to be the "perfect Syrian daughter" according to her standards and continuously falls short. Shukairy portrays their relationship in a very unfiltered light and we get to see the messiness of Khadija's experience trying to balance feeling and being Syrian enough for herself and for everyone else while lunging for independence where and when she can. I came to really respect her strength and how she grew from being that short-tempered and judgemental teenager at the start.
Leene on the other hand is quintessentially the perfect Syrian daughter who respects her elders, cares for her mother in every way she can, and is soft-spoken and demure. But she's hiding a big secret underneath the surface and the more we get to know her, the more we see she's not really that "perfect Syrian girl" people see on the surface. Leene was an easy character to sympathise with. She and her mother have had to endure the unimaginable and her strength was admirable but her willingness to show vulnerability, especially with Khadija, was too. She doesn't want to be seen as a refugee or someone to be pitied for all the loss and trauma she experienced, and she has a really fierce and determined fighting strength that I really respected! I had a feeling her story arc would go the way it did and while I felt this particular part of her story felt very rushed and packed in at the very end, it was a hopeful ending that left my heart feeling light—a welcome reprieve from the heaviness felt for much of the story (not in a negative way at all though)! I loved the friendship that she developed with Khadija—it's always heartwarming to see how two people from such contrasting backgrounds can find common ground, respect and love for each other. I appreciated how the author also had them address their misconceptions about each other which only served to strengthen their friendship!
There were only a few things that I wished had been done differently. I wished the situation with Zain had been done better because it felt very shoehorned in and again, rushed. I also felt there was a lack of nuance to many of the side characters who were there simply to push the story along. As. I mentioned, the last 30% of the book felt very rushed as so much was packed into it and by the time the story came to an end, there was not much time left to process or digest everything that happened. That said, I think this was still a strong debut novel that I'm glad I got the chance to read. I would definitely recommend it to those who want to learn more about the Syrian war, about Syrians living abroad both as refugees and those born and raised in those countries, as well as if you love stories that are rich in culture as well as family drama (lol).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, War, Suicide attempt, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Islamophobia, and Grief
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