A review by bookreviewswithkb
The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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

4.5

[ 4.5/5 🌺🌺🌺🌺🌷 ] this book should have been longer. it’s a masterpiece but i wanted more

this is a book about what happens to us when we hold in our pain, when we refuse to let out the things that have hurt us. maybe it’s in the name of protecting others or of protecting ourselves. but in the end, it creates more pain. so many of us have only been taught it’s not okay to feel emotions, it’s not okay to have struggles with mental health, that it’s not okay to talk about the things that are bothering us, but look where that’s left us. i don’t have to name the many atrocities in our society occurring every single day; how many of them stem from our inability to be honest, to see the humanity in each other, to feel our feelings and express them in healthy ways, to heal from our past? 

maybe if Afaf’s mother received the care she needed for her depression, she wouldn’t have inflicted her pain onto those she loved most in the world. maybe if the shooter was able to talk about the wounds from his childhood, he wouldn’t have felt the need to unleash his anger on innocent Muslim students. maybe if Afaf could express what was happening to her at home, she wouldn’t have tried to seek comfort in white boys who saw her as a prize. 

what do we have to lose by turning towards our emotions?
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