A review by joannaautumn
The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf

3.0

” If there is anything I have learned from observing humans, Pink said, it is that families are complicated things.”

This is a middle-grade novel that has a theme of family and friendship at its core.
It’s a story of a girl named Suraya, but it is also the story of her mother, and her grandmother. A story about how our actions and beliefs affect others, how important compassion is along with everyday kindness, how complex family relations can be, and the multiple ways people deal with grief and loneliness.

Life changes for Suraya when her grandmother dies and leaves her a parting gift in form of a pelesit, who quickly becomes Suraya’s only friend. Through their relationship, we get to see the high points and low points of having a friend nobody can see or know about. In school Suraya isn’t treated well, she is bullied because she comes from a poor family, making it hard to make friends in such surroundings. But even as all the cruel things are done to her she never wishes ill will towards her abusers, there is a key message of power and the consequences of power abuse.

”Power is an addiction. A small taste is often enough for people to crave another, and then another, and then another, and those who have it will do anything to get more of it.”

The main villain is no different than the bullies, his goal is to acquire power and rule over the rest at his liking, uncaring towards anyone other than himself. I don’t think it is a coincidence that he is presenting himself as a religious figure either.

Hanna Alkaf managed to write a fast-paced character-driven book that carries across an important message while punishing hypocrisy and selfishness. It’s only a plus how she handled both the family issues and the slow development of her characters, definitely one of the better MG-novels I have read 3,75/5.
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This was so sweet, review to come.