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katykelly's review
4.0
Cultural and sexual identity... in a family and school setting.
With shades of Heartstopper, this multi-racial queer love story set in Ireland covers a lot of ground.
NIshat is 17 and Bengali, she works hard at her Catholic school, has a close relationship with her sister Priti, and is about to come out to her parents. Their reaction, to try and ignore it and ask her to 'make a different choice', hurts.
While reeling from this, Nishat meets an old school friend Flavia, to whom she is instantly attracted. But soon also develops a rivalry with, as both girls decide to start henna businesses for their class competition. Nishat has been raised in a culture dedicated to such creations, Flavia has seen it done at a wedding. Nishat cannot let her win this.
Confusion over feelings, over culture, over identity results. Nishat herself comes across as self-absorbed and I became quite annoyed at her treatment of friends, her sister and others. Priti was much more likeable and grounded, a wonderful sibling relationship there when she manages to bring Nishat back to the real world. The love story is sweet, though nothing that hasn't been seen before, though with a mixture of racial backgrounds made visits to family homes and seeing their cultures intriguing.
I could see this on a screen, lots of good roles for friends and family, with bullies and contemporary issues to play out, it's also about coming out and standing up for yourself and for others.
For ages 13 and above.
With shades of Heartstopper, this multi-racial queer love story set in Ireland covers a lot of ground.
NIshat is 17 and Bengali, she works hard at her Catholic school, has a close relationship with her sister Priti, and is about to come out to her parents. Their reaction, to try and ignore it and ask her to 'make a different choice', hurts.
While reeling from this, Nishat meets an old school friend Flavia, to whom she is instantly attracted. But soon also develops a rivalry with, as both girls decide to start henna businesses for their class competition. Nishat has been raised in a culture dedicated to such creations, Flavia has seen it done at a wedding. Nishat cannot let her win this.
Confusion over feelings, over culture, over identity results. Nishat herself comes across as self-absorbed and I became quite annoyed at her treatment of friends, her sister and others. Priti was much more likeable and grounded, a wonderful sibling relationship there when she manages to bring Nishat back to the real world. The love story is sweet, though nothing that hasn't been seen before, though with a mixture of racial backgrounds made visits to family homes and seeing their cultures intriguing.
I could see this on a screen, lots of good roles for friends and family, with bullies and contemporary issues to play out, it's also about coming out and standing up for yourself and for others.
For ages 13 and above.
miasweeney00's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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
4.25
jazz_literary_cafe's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
janagaton's review
2.0
unpopular opinion but I was just so. bored. lol, i had to crank it up to 3x speed just to finish the audiobook. don't get me wrong, it had good discussions about family acceptance & cultural differences, but i couldn't care less about the high school project nor the high school drama.
boisdelaire's review
3.0
★★★ ─── 3 stars.
very light spoilers?
this might honestly be a case of "it's not you, it's me". and i wanted to love this book so badly like so many people did, and in a certain way i enjoyed it but it wasn't enough. i needed something more, maybe something more mature at my age now, but i feel like it's not the only problem i had with certain subplots?
i won't be criticizing the foundations of the plot and what it aspired to speak about because it's not my place to do so, but there were so many repetitions and it got me bored around 50% and it never peaked up after that... repetitions in the messages without diving in the issues and confronting the people creating them, in the inner monologues "she hadn't talked to me this much these past few days" for example, we get that nishat and her mother aren't on the best terms, but it never got more deep. we never had a fight, a conversation to make the reader THINK about it, and not only through nishat's eyes. it was the author's choice, of course, but it left me unsatisfied.. everytime a subject was brought up, it stayed at surface level and that was it. maybe the writing style had a part in that? i expected more from the main relationship as well, i clearly didn't see any of the tension and the attraction between the two girls, it seemed a bit forced to be honest.
nishat's was a very selfish character, she was going through a lot and he kept on getting worse unfortunately for her and she had to think about herself before anyone else, but one of the sentences truly shocked me, it went along the lines like she hadn't seen how bad her sister was hurting, and then flávia comes in the room and nishat's thinks that it was worth it anyway to not think about that. GIRL. if you want people to actually care about you, you've got to be there for them as well. and i mean, you went through A LOT, this high school should be banned because they weren't doing anything during the bullying scandal but your sister was.. come on.
i feel so bad for writing all of this because there's definitely a need for these books in the book landscape. more diversity overall !! please !! the themes were so deep i can't SAY i enjoyed the ride, but it was easy to read and fast-paced and you root for the main character because she claims her difference unapologetically and proudly and it's beautiful to read about that and her culture. :)
very light spoilers?
this might honestly be a case of "it's not you, it's me". and i wanted to love this book so badly like so many people did, and in a certain way i enjoyed it but it wasn't enough. i needed something more, maybe something more mature at my age now, but i feel like it's not the only problem i had with certain subplots?
i won't be criticizing the foundations of the plot and what it aspired to speak about because it's not my place to do so, but there were so many repetitions and it got me bored around 50% and it never peaked up after that... repetitions in the messages without diving in the issues and confronting the people creating them, in the inner monologues "she hadn't talked to me this much these past few days" for example, we get that nishat and her mother aren't on the best terms, but it never got more deep. we never had a fight, a conversation to make the reader THINK about it, and not only through nishat's eyes. it was the author's choice, of course, but it left me unsatisfied.. everytime a subject was brought up, it stayed at surface level and that was it. maybe the writing style had a part in that? i expected more from the main relationship as well, i clearly didn't see any of the tension and the attraction between the two girls, it seemed a bit forced to be honest.
nishat's was a very selfish character, she was going through a lot and he kept on getting worse unfortunately for her and she had to think about herself before anyone else, but one of the sentences truly shocked me, it went along the lines like she hadn't seen how bad her sister was hurting, and then flávia comes in the room and nishat's thinks that it was worth it anyway to not think about that. GIRL. if you want people to actually care about you, you've got to be there for them as well. and i mean, you went through A LOT, this high school should be banned because they weren't doing anything during the bullying scandal but your sister was.. come on.
i feel so bad for writing all of this because there's definitely a need for these books in the book landscape. more diversity overall !! please !! the themes were so deep i can't SAY i enjoyed the ride, but it was easy to read and fast-paced and you root for the main character because she claims her difference unapologetically and proudly and it's beautiful to read about that and her culture. :)
gracepizza40's review
celialoiz's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
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? Yes
3.0
frogyberries's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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? Yes
5.0
arvella's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25