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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
slow-paced
Although this book was not presented as YA, I tagged it as such because the protagonist is a 12-year-old girl and the alternative protagonist is a 16-year-old girl. Set against the backdrop of the Arab Spring, this story is really about family and history and hope. Although Nour and her family's movements are necessarily dictated by the unrest, her thoughts and feelings [and Rawiya's story] seem to exist on another plane.
Well that's fine, I wasn't using my heart anyway. Thank you, Zeyn Joukhadar, for ripping it into pieces. At least you were kind enough to stitch it back up along the way too, tears and all.
Where do I begin?
Nour is an incredible narrator - you are there with her every step of the way through every horror and joy, and the reader has to look with her. You can't gloss over the atrocities, the crisis of her family and in Syria. It is intense, and it's supposed to be. But you are also there for the wonders - the stars, the warm moments of love, and Nour's strength and hope. She had a rich inner life that authors sometimes struggle to give to child narrators.
The intertwined storylines work perfectly together in guiding the reader through the subtle winding of both girls' journeys. The story of Rawiya and al-Idrisi helps to both ground and lift the contemporary story - there's a touch more humor and magic on this side of time that would have felt wrong with Nour, but keeps you enthralled through the harder reading. I loved the magical realism. I admired Rawiya's cleverness and bravery. Rawiya's story has more neat edges to balance the complexity of Nour's. The current of love and friendship reaching through time, to me, made both stories feel more real. Hope feeds hope.
And I haven't even gotten to the fact that Joukhadar's descriptive writing is stunning. I mean wow. So many beautiful quotes and settings and turns of phrase. I will read this again, after time passes. More importantly, I took note of some of the suggested reading at the end, both for historical curiosity and to seek out more works by Syrians.
Definitely in my top 5 of the year. Worth every tear and jaw clench.
Where do I begin?
Nour is an incredible narrator - you are there with her every step of the way through every horror and joy, and the reader has to look with her. You can't gloss over the atrocities, the crisis of her family and in Syria. It is intense, and it's supposed to be. But you are also there for the wonders - the stars, the warm moments of love, and Nour's strength and hope. She had a rich inner life that authors sometimes struggle to give to child narrators.
The intertwined storylines work perfectly together in guiding the reader through the subtle winding of both girls' journeys. The story of Rawiya and al-Idrisi helps to both ground and lift the contemporary story - there's a touch more humor and magic on this side of time that would have felt wrong with Nour, but keeps you enthralled through the harder reading. I loved the magical realism. I admired Rawiya's cleverness and bravery. Rawiya's story has more neat edges to balance the complexity of Nour's. The current of love and friendship reaching through time, to me, made both stories feel more real. Hope feeds hope.
And I haven't even gotten to the fact that Joukhadar's descriptive writing is stunning. I mean wow. So many beautiful quotes and settings and turns of phrase. I will read this again, after time passes. More importantly, I took note of some of the suggested reading at the end, both for historical curiosity and to seek out more works by Syrians.
Definitely in my top 5 of the year. Worth every tear and jaw clench.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-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:
No
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-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:
No
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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:
No
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No