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A review by celia_thebookishhufflepuff
A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar
5.0
It is quite possible that I am the first person to check out [b:A Map of Home: A Novel|6657026|A Map of Home A Novel|Randa Jarrar|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348494688s/6657026.jpg|3228403] from my school library, despite the fact that it was published ten years ago. This is shocking to me, considering it is a book that I feel like a good number of people in my school could relate to, far more than I could.
I picked this up because it seemed like one of the shortest books on the featured shelves. My favorite librarian determines those shelves, and she always picks amazing books. This was no exception. I absolutely love how realistic it is, and I love how author [a:Randa Jarrar|1086397|Randa Jarrar|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1458195232p2/1086397.jpg] creates main character Nidali as just short of an unreliable narrator.
In AP English, we are focusing on immigrant stories right now. Most of what we read was autobiographical, and although [b:A Map of Home: A Novel|6657026|A Map of Home A Novel|Randa Jarrar|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348494688s/6657026.jpg|3228403] is not, as far as I know, a true story, it certainly similarly to the excerpts I've been reading in AP lang. I loved reading this as we were finishing up our immigration unit in class, because it really put everything in perspective for me. We hadn't actually read a full novel this unit, so [b:A Map of Home: A Novel|6657026|A Map of Home A Novel|Randa Jarrar|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348494688s/6657026.jpg|3228403] was the perfect way for me personally to wrap up and tie in what we were doing in class.
Jarrar has put a lot into Nidali. The principal character in this work never seemed to fail as a character. She had the exact right amount of flaws to be relateable to the reader, and she grows into such an amazing person. I cannot remember the last time I read a book that spans a person's whole childhood in such an accurate and vivid way. From the very beginning, she demonstrates knowledge of right and wrong, even when her "right" is her parents' "wrong." She questions everything that she is not allowed to do because she is a girl, or because she is Muslim, or because her father says so. This leads up to the climactic ending when she finally decides she's had enough. I'm not sure if this was intentional on the part of Jarrar, but this quality also seems to lead to Nidali's ability to help her mother and brother come into their own as well.
The one thing I thought was interesting and wonderfully done about the writing style was how, near the end, the perspectives switch between first and second person each chapter. At first, this bothered me a little bit, because I kind of hate reading novels in second person, but as I read on, I began to see how perfect this syntax actually was for the pace of the story. When Jarrar writes in second person point of view, she depicts things happening very quickly, and almost without warning. However, when she uses regular first person, she urges the reader to really pay attention to what is going on in the scenes. I absolutely agree with this style, and I believe Jarrar incorporates these changes in exactly the right places in the novella. She doesn't need the second person point of view because she wants the reader to focus on everything that happens in Kuwait and Egypt; however, it is necessary when the family arrives in America because Nidali is growing older, and the way she views things changes everything around her.
Overall, I cannot find anything to criticize in relation to this book. It is beautifully written, with a main character who is powerful and also very human, and it uses perspective switches exactly when needed. It was the perfect length and said exactly what it needed to say. There was nothing exaggerated or fabricated. I'm incredibly glad that I took the time to read it.
I picked this up because it seemed like one of the shortest books on the featured shelves. My favorite librarian determines those shelves, and she always picks amazing books. This was no exception. I absolutely love how realistic it is, and I love how author [a:Randa Jarrar|1086397|Randa Jarrar|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1458195232p2/1086397.jpg] creates main character Nidali as just short of an unreliable narrator.
In AP English, we are focusing on immigrant stories right now. Most of what we read was autobiographical, and although [b:A Map of Home: A Novel|6657026|A Map of Home A Novel|Randa Jarrar|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348494688s/6657026.jpg|3228403] is not, as far as I know, a true story, it certainly similarly to the excerpts I've been reading in AP lang. I loved reading this as we were finishing up our immigration unit in class, because it really put everything in perspective for me. We hadn't actually read a full novel this unit, so [b:A Map of Home: A Novel|6657026|A Map of Home A Novel|Randa Jarrar|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348494688s/6657026.jpg|3228403] was the perfect way for me personally to wrap up and tie in what we were doing in class.
Jarrar has put a lot into Nidali. The principal character in this work never seemed to fail as a character. She had the exact right amount of flaws to be relateable to the reader, and she grows into such an amazing person. I cannot remember the last time I read a book that spans a person's whole childhood in such an accurate and vivid way. From the very beginning, she demonstrates knowledge of right and wrong, even when her "right" is her parents' "wrong." She questions everything that she is not allowed to do because she is a girl, or because she is Muslim, or because her father says so. This leads up to the climactic ending when she finally decides she's had enough. I'm not sure if this was intentional on the part of Jarrar, but this quality also seems to lead to Nidali's ability to help her mother and brother come into their own as well.
The one thing I thought was interesting and wonderfully done about the writing style was how, near the end, the perspectives switch between first and second person each chapter. At first, this bothered me a little bit, because I kind of hate reading novels in second person, but as I read on, I began to see how perfect this syntax actually was for the pace of the story. When Jarrar writes in second person point of view, she depicts things happening very quickly, and almost without warning. However, when she uses regular first person, she urges the reader to really pay attention to what is going on in the scenes. I absolutely agree with this style, and I believe Jarrar incorporates these changes in exactly the right places in the novella. She doesn't need the second person point of view because she wants the reader to focus on everything that happens in Kuwait and Egypt; however, it is necessary when the family arrives in America because Nidali is growing older, and the way she views things changes everything around her.
Overall, I cannot find anything to criticize in relation to this book. It is beautifully written, with a main character who is powerful and also very human, and it uses perspective switches exactly when needed. It was the perfect length and said exactly what it needed to say. There was nothing exaggerated or fabricated. I'm incredibly glad that I took the time to read it.