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A review by allthatissim
The Beauty of the Moment by Tanaz Bhathena
4.0
Full review on: Flipping Through the Pages
[b:The Beauty of the Moment|35526671|The Beauty of the Moment|Tanaz Bhathena|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1537665555s/35526671.jpg|56945532] was such an interesting and delightful tale. Initially, I thought this to be a simple YA contemporary romance novel but once I dived into it, it proved to be way more than that. [a:Tanaz Bhathena|15066301|Tanaz Bhathena|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1488711722p2/15066301.jpg] has handled all the different themes in the story quite well and I fell in love with it.
WONDERFUL MAIN CHARACTERS
This book has a wonderful set of characters. Our main characters are truly likeable and relatable, though they are complex ones.
Susan Thomas is an Indian Girl who moves from Saudi Arabia to Canada for her final year of high school. She faces all kind of challenges while trying to fit into her new school and the new culture. She always had been the perfect daughter – achieving the highest scores in all subjects and always tried to meet her parents’ expectations. Her parents wanted her to be a doctor or engineer, but secretly she wished to be an artist. Malcolm Vakil is a Parsi boy dealing with his own problems and reputations. He is trying to come out of his bad reputation which he got because of his indulgence in drugs and alcohol after his mom died. He also has a father who has been abusive to him in the past and now they have a tough relationship.
There are many amazing side characters too. I adored Mahtab, Malcolm’s younger sister. She always took care of Malcolm as if she was his elder sister instead of another way around. Alisha, Susan’s best friend back in Saudi Arabia, is the BFF we all want in our lives. Though now she and Susan were countries apart, their relationship also got affected but I loved how the author has handled this change. Susan’s mother was quite a strict one and to some level, she showed the strictness of a typical Indian woman. She wanted to live her unfulfilled dreams through her. Malcolm’s uncle, Mancher, certainly was a favourite character. He was funny and gave some really good advice to Malcolm about love and life.
IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE AND DIVERSITY
The immigrant experience has been handled quite well by the author. Susan lived in Saudi Arabia till now and suddenly when she moves to Canada, she struggles to fit in the new culture. She constantly compares her life in Saudi Arabia with Canada, how her school was different, how the courses and teachers were different, how girls were not allowed to do certain things.
These lines are really impactful. Though I don’t have any immigration experience, I was totally able to relate to it. In India, it’s not just about the country. Even with the different states, we often get to hear this thing.
I am really happy to see the number of diverse characters YA books have these days. This book too has almost all the diverse characters and it makes the story more relatable to me. Susan is an Indian Christian, Malcolm is an Indian Parsi. Malcolm’s friends are also from different religions. Having all these different religions in a single story truly represents my country which is so diverse.
COMING-OF-AGE ELEMENT
This story is definitely a coming-of-age story. I loved the character growth of both Susan and Malcolm. Susan wanted to be an artist but always was afraid to talk about this to her parents. But the differences between her parents’ relationship finally make her realise what she wants to really do and stand out in front of her parents. She learned to accept herself. She learned to make new friends and finally understood the fact that nothing in the world is guaranteed.
Malcolm’s journey was quite amazing too. After he met with Susan, he started seeing things differently and tried to be mature. He started working harder towards achieving his goals. I loved the way he tried to improve his relationship with his step-mother and father. That really gave him the push he needed for appreciating himself more.
BEAUTIFUL ROMANCE
I totally adored the romance between Susan and Malcolm. It was not the typical high-school romance. It was amazing to see how they both proved to be a good influence on each other. They made each other strong and made each other realise their own worth. Within each other’s company, they tried to be better and encouraged each other to achieve the goals they wanted to.
The author has beautifully shown the hard way of love too. She showed that love is not always easy and it doesn’t necessarily give you what you always want. Rather it’s a difficult path to follow. And I loved the way the author has played out the ending of the story.
OVERALL
I totally loved this story and I applaud the author for including so many important things in the story. This is a fantastic story about first love, loss, relationships and achieving your dreams and to grow up in that process. I would definitely recommend this if you love YA contemporaries 🙂
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[b:The Beauty of the Moment|35526671|The Beauty of the Moment|Tanaz Bhathena|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1537665555s/35526671.jpg|56945532] was such an interesting and delightful tale. Initially, I thought this to be a simple YA contemporary romance novel but once I dived into it, it proved to be way more than that. [a:Tanaz Bhathena|15066301|Tanaz Bhathena|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1488711722p2/15066301.jpg] has handled all the different themes in the story quite well and I fell in love with it.
WONDERFUL MAIN CHARACTERS
This book has a wonderful set of characters. Our main characters are truly likeable and relatable, though they are complex ones.
Susan Thomas is an Indian Girl who moves from Saudi Arabia to Canada for her final year of high school. She faces all kind of challenges while trying to fit into her new school and the new culture. She always had been the perfect daughter – achieving the highest scores in all subjects and always tried to meet her parents’ expectations. Her parents wanted her to be a doctor or engineer, but secretly she wished to be an artist. Malcolm Vakil is a Parsi boy dealing with his own problems and reputations. He is trying to come out of his bad reputation which he got because of his indulgence in drugs and alcohol after his mom died. He also has a father who has been abusive to him in the past and now they have a tough relationship.
There are many amazing side characters too. I adored Mahtab, Malcolm’s younger sister. She always took care of Malcolm as if she was his elder sister instead of another way around. Alisha, Susan’s best friend back in Saudi Arabia, is the BFF we all want in our lives. Though now she and Susan were countries apart, their relationship also got affected but I loved how the author has handled this change. Susan’s mother was quite a strict one and to some level, she showed the strictness of a typical Indian woman. She wanted to live her unfulfilled dreams through her. Malcolm’s uncle, Mancher, certainly was a favourite character. He was funny and gave some really good advice to Malcolm about love and life.
IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE AND DIVERSITY
The immigrant experience has been handled quite well by the author. Susan lived in Saudi Arabia till now and suddenly when she moves to Canada, she struggles to fit in the new culture. She constantly compares her life in Saudi Arabia with Canada, how her school was different, how the courses and teachers were different, how girls were not allowed to do certain things.
“I have been called too Saudi for India even though I don’t have a passport from the Kingdom, and too Indian for Saudi Arabia even though in my birth country I am treated like a foreigner.”
These lines are really impactful. Though I don’t have any immigration experience, I was totally able to relate to it. In India, it’s not just about the country. Even with the different states, we often get to hear this thing.
I am really happy to see the number of diverse characters YA books have these days. This book too has almost all the diverse characters and it makes the story more relatable to me. Susan is an Indian Christian, Malcolm is an Indian Parsi. Malcolm’s friends are also from different religions. Having all these different religions in a single story truly represents my country which is so diverse.
COMING-OF-AGE ELEMENT
This story is definitely a coming-of-age story. I loved the character growth of both Susan and Malcolm. Susan wanted to be an artist but always was afraid to talk about this to her parents. But the differences between her parents’ relationship finally make her realise what she wants to really do and stand out in front of her parents. She learned to accept herself. She learned to make new friends and finally understood the fact that nothing in the world is guaranteed.
Malcolm’s journey was quite amazing too. After he met with Susan, he started seeing things differently and tried to be mature. He started working harder towards achieving his goals. I loved the way he tried to improve his relationship with his step-mother and father. That really gave him the push he needed for appreciating himself more.
BEAUTIFUL ROMANCE
I totally adored the romance between Susan and Malcolm. It was not the typical high-school romance. It was amazing to see how they both proved to be a good influence on each other. They made each other strong and made each other realise their own worth. Within each other’s company, they tried to be better and encouraged each other to achieve the goals they wanted to.
The author has beautifully shown the hard way of love too. She showed that love is not always easy and it doesn’t necessarily give you what you always want. Rather it’s a difficult path to follow. And I loved the way the author has played out the ending of the story.
OVERALL
I totally loved this story and I applaud the author for including so many important things in the story. This is a fantastic story about first love, loss, relationships and achieving your dreams and to grow up in that process. I would definitely recommend this if you love YA contemporaries 🙂
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