Reviews

I really wanted to like this one. I love the idea of a book about 20-something female friendships, which is how this was marketed. The overall message was definitely how important female friendships are, but you don’t actually see the characters’ friendships for the vast majority of the book.

All of this could be okay, but the writing was just really not good. The dialogue felt like watching a bad teen Netflix drama and the prose could get cringey as well.

There were parts of the story/certain relationships that I really loved, but I wanted more from the author even in those parts.

Finally, I didn’t love how men were depicted generally. It’s not my place to criticize how an Arab woman depicts Arab men. It made me a bit uncomfortable that all the Arab men were various levels of shitty people, but I recognize it’s the author’s choice to depict misogyny in her own culture and that’s completely fair. But then why were the white men SO GREAT? Go ahead and write a story where one of the themes is misogyny in your own culture, but why pretend it doesn’t exist in others? It felt very unbalanced and unrealistic.

Content Warnings

steffski's review against another edition

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4.0

I understand this one is controversial. But I really appreciated the tension between religion/culture/self and how young people are trying and failing to navigate that. I think she sheds light on a reality that we don't often know how to put words on, and that life does feel like a string of interconnected "impossible" things.

There were moments when the book was slow and the middle could have been so much shorter.

mariachiara's review against another edition

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emotional reflective fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

amchardonnay's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

theythemsam's review

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5.0

This was such a beautiful book on friendship, love, grief, heartbreak, culture, and religion😭.

There are so many scenes I loved in this book that simultaneously broke my heart. Kees fight with Harry literally had me hold my breath. I wanted to hold Jenna in my arms when that night happened to her. Malak experienced so much joy and hurt in Cairo and I wish her and Jacob ended up together but I understand why not, which was a great ending for them. I love that Jenna is friends with Lewis again. I wanted to fight Ali for abusing Malak light that and gaslighting her. Harry and Kees relationship was the most beautiful and emotional to me.

jesskco's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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