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rianainthestacks 's review for:
The Weight of Our Sky
by Hanna Alkaf
TW: Graphic violence, death, racism, grieving, mental illness (OCD)
I love the title of Hanna Alkaf’s The Weight of Our Sky. And after you read it, I think you will too. This phrase comes from a Malaysian saying that is brought up several times in the book, “Di mana bumi dipijak, di situ langit dijunjung,” basically meaning “where we plant our feet is where we must hold up the sky.” And as Melati says:
We live and die by the rules of the land we live in. But this country belongs to all of us! We make our own sky, and we can hold it up— together.
Plot:
The Weight of Our Sky is set during and surrounding the 13 May Incident and race riots in Malaysia in 1969. As the Opposition parties made gains in the general election, racial tensions came to a rise on the 13th. Melati, our Malay protagonist, gets caught in these riots while she is in town with her best friend. From there, Melati ends up being separated from her mother and it becomes increasingly difficult to try and make her way back.
Adding to all of this the fact that Melati has OCD means that for her, it is both an internal and external struggle to survive and keep her mother safe. Because not much was known about mental illness at this time in Malaysia, Melati does not know why she has OCD symptoms and she ends up believing that she is possessed by a Djinn. Her obsessions manifest in graphic visions of her mother dying in infinitely grotesque ways. The one thing that really seems to help these thoughts stay at bay, along with her accompanying compulsions, is music. In particular, The Beatles.
While trying to make her way back to her mother, Melati meets a Chinese family that is able to help her. And, more than help, they seem to show understanding and care towards her regardless of the rising racial tensions throughout Kuala Lumpur at the time. But Melati is scared that even so, they wouldn’t be able to accept her if they knew about her Djinn.
Characters:
Alkaf places an intimate focus on Melati, allowing us to get a real sense of how OCD affects her. We know how often she obsesses over her mother’s safety, how she must endure the never ending visions of her mother’s death, how she exhausts herself daily to push these thoughts and images away and keep them from actually happening, and how guilty she always feels when something bad happens anyways.
As the rioting continues, we begin to see how the stress of Melati’s environment makes her OCD tendencies worse. However, Melati must also overcome a lot to survive and save those she cares about. In doing so, she begins to feel like, for the first time, that maybe she can fight back against her Djinn.
Because Alkaf focuses so closely on Melati, we don’t get to see the other characters be fleshed out very much (this also may have something to do with the length of the novel, as it is on the shorter side at 288 pages). However this didn’t really bother me that much because Melati’s character was done so well, plus it was honestly refreshing to get a single person’s POV the whole time since so many of the books I read are multiple POVs now.
Background:
I love how this is a YA #ownvoices book released in the US that has a Malaysian MC and focuses on Malaysian history and culture. I honestly don’t know too much about Malaysia and I definitely don’t know much about the country’s history, so I had no idea about the events that this book was based on before reading it. However, this book encouraged me to look more into this particular historical event.
I really appreciate that while the author of this book stays very true to the horrific events that occurred in these riots, she makes sure to also show how the goodness and hope in some people was able to shine through in these dark times. Some people were willing to put themselves in danger in order to help someone else, and even in cases where they were helping someone of a different race like what happened in The Weight of Our Sky. I think this story really points out how sometimes it is in the bleakest times and when people are going through a lot of adversity that they will really be able to find their true strength and bravery and finally be able to take a stand.
Playlist:
I made a music playlist inspired by this book. I included all The Beatles songs that are mentioned, but I also included some of my own choices that I feel really express some of the ideas in The Weight of Our Sky. This playlist is on Apple Music but I have also copied a text version of the list below:
1. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by The Beatles
2. Trapped in my Mind by Kid Cudi
3. She Loves You by The Beatles
4. Migraine by Twenty One Pilots
5. We Can Work it Out by The Beatles
6. Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson
7. Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles
8. Music by Mystery Skulls
9. Twist and Shout by The Beatles
10. He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother by The Hollies
11. Imagine by John Legend
12. Here Comes the Sun by Yuna
Final Thoughts:
I read Hanna Alkaf’s The Weight of Our Sky as a buddy read with my friend Kat <3! As always, it was lots of fun to get to discuss with her each part in more depth and share view points. Overall, I really liked this one, and in particular the attention to detail with Melati and the historical background. I give this one a 4/5 stars.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
I love the title of Hanna Alkaf’s The Weight of Our Sky. And after you read it, I think you will too. This phrase comes from a Malaysian saying that is brought up several times in the book, “Di mana bumi dipijak, di situ langit dijunjung,” basically meaning “where we plant our feet is where we must hold up the sky.” And as Melati says:
We live and die by the rules of the land we live in. But this country belongs to all of us! We make our own sky, and we can hold it up— together.
Plot:
The Weight of Our Sky is set during and surrounding the 13 May Incident and race riots in Malaysia in 1969. As the Opposition parties made gains in the general election, racial tensions came to a rise on the 13th. Melati, our Malay protagonist, gets caught in these riots while she is in town with her best friend. From there, Melati ends up being separated from her mother and it becomes increasingly difficult to try and make her way back.
Adding to all of this the fact that Melati has OCD means that for her, it is both an internal and external struggle to survive and keep her mother safe. Because not much was known about mental illness at this time in Malaysia, Melati does not know why she has OCD symptoms and she ends up believing that she is possessed by a Djinn. Her obsessions manifest in graphic visions of her mother dying in infinitely grotesque ways. The one thing that really seems to help these thoughts stay at bay, along with her accompanying compulsions, is music. In particular, The Beatles.
While trying to make her way back to her mother, Melati meets a Chinese family that is able to help her. And, more than help, they seem to show understanding and care towards her regardless of the rising racial tensions throughout Kuala Lumpur at the time. But Melati is scared that even so, they wouldn’t be able to accept her if they knew about her Djinn.
Characters:
Alkaf places an intimate focus on Melati, allowing us to get a real sense of how OCD affects her. We know how often she obsesses over her mother’s safety, how she must endure the never ending visions of her mother’s death, how she exhausts herself daily to push these thoughts and images away and keep them from actually happening, and how guilty she always feels when something bad happens anyways.
As the rioting continues, we begin to see how the stress of Melati’s environment makes her OCD tendencies worse. However, Melati must also overcome a lot to survive and save those she cares about. In doing so, she begins to feel like, for the first time, that maybe she can fight back against her Djinn.
Because Alkaf focuses so closely on Melati, we don’t get to see the other characters be fleshed out very much (this also may have something to do with the length of the novel, as it is on the shorter side at 288 pages). However this didn’t really bother me that much because Melati’s character was done so well, plus it was honestly refreshing to get a single person’s POV the whole time since so many of the books I read are multiple POVs now.
Background:
I love how this is a YA #ownvoices book released in the US that has a Malaysian MC and focuses on Malaysian history and culture. I honestly don’t know too much about Malaysia and I definitely don’t know much about the country’s history, so I had no idea about the events that this book was based on before reading it. However, this book encouraged me to look more into this particular historical event.
I really appreciate that while the author of this book stays very true to the horrific events that occurred in these riots, she makes sure to also show how the goodness and hope in some people was able to shine through in these dark times. Some people were willing to put themselves in danger in order to help someone else, and even in cases where they were helping someone of a different race like what happened in The Weight of Our Sky. I think this story really points out how sometimes it is in the bleakest times and when people are going through a lot of adversity that they will really be able to find their true strength and bravery and finally be able to take a stand.
Playlist:
I made a music playlist inspired by this book. I included all The Beatles songs that are mentioned, but I also included some of my own choices that I feel really express some of the ideas in The Weight of Our Sky. This playlist is on Apple Music but I have also copied a text version of the list below:
1. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by The Beatles
2. Trapped in my Mind by Kid Cudi
3. She Loves You by The Beatles
4. Migraine by Twenty One Pilots
5. We Can Work it Out by The Beatles
6. Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson
7. Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles
8. Music by Mystery Skulls
9. Twist and Shout by The Beatles
10. He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother by The Hollies
11. Imagine by John Legend
12. Here Comes the Sun by Yuna
Final Thoughts:
I read Hanna Alkaf’s The Weight of Our Sky as a buddy read with my friend Kat <3! As always, it was lots of fun to get to discuss with her each part in more depth and share view points. Overall, I really liked this one, and in particular the attention to detail with Melati and the historical background. I give this one a 4/5 stars.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆