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A review by kingrosereads
The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar
emotional
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Cute sapphic coming-of-age YA about a Muslim Bengali girl in an all-girl Irish Catholic school.
The story follows 16-year-old Nishat, a child of two immigrant Bengali parents growing up in Dublin. Nishat is dealing with recently coming out to her parents as gay and struggling with their reaction. Nishat is given the ultimatum either be herself and bring shame to her family or go back into the closet. At school, Nishat deals with racism and eventually being outed. Nishat experience homophobia, casual appropriation of her culture, and harassment from her classmates. And to top it off, the girl she likes is her rival for a school competition.
The way that this book was advertised to me was that it was a cute sapphic YA romance, but it’s more of a coming-of-age. The two most distinctive relationships Nishat has are with Flávia (her crush) and Priti (her younger sister). I think her relationship with Priti was more in-depth and shelled out more than her relationship with anyone else. I loved their banter and close relationship. It shows them tease each other, fight, and make-up. I think Nishat and Flávia had decent chemistry, but not enough for me to think a romance is blooming. It’s strange to me she could like Flávia given all that is happening. The comments about how you can’t culturally appropriate art and Nishat not being a real artist was enough for me to immediately veto her as a love interest. I could see it being left open for a relationship at the end but before then? No.
Nishat’s development is also done extremely well. I hated that everyone made her feel like crap about her emotions and that she too busy to care about anyone else. Given she receives harassment on the daily and is then outed, I think Nishat gets a pass on being a little neglectful with her friends and sister. Is she a little childish in her mission to win the competition? Yeah, she’s 16, but I also see her reaction as being valid. I love her cute, adorable, and totally relatable panic about Flávia and whether or not she liked girls and over analyzing conversations and eye contact. Ahhh to be a teen with a crush.
I think the serious tones were handled very well. I also like this complicated love that Nishat has with her culture. Though she criticizes the Bangladesh politics and stance on the LGBTQIA+ community she still celebrates the good parts of her culture: food, henna, clothing, language, etc.
I adore her parents. I can say my parents and siblings were completely fine when I came out, but I can’t say the same about my grandmother, who’s one of the most important person in my life. Like Nishat’s parents, my grandmother didn’t want to acknowledge it and she wanted to pretend I never came out. But eventually, like Nishat’s parents, she came around. And I think it’s a special thing to have in this book. Because it’s not your stereotypical brown immigrant disowning a child but it’s also not this hearts, flowers, and rainbows. I found it to be more realistic and hopeful, particularly for queer brown girls who might read this book.
I obviously can’t speak for its authenticity of representation, but I trust that Jaigirdar knows her stuff. I love that this book is unapologetically desi, just like Nishat. It’s very clear that this book was written for a desi audience. It’s one of the few books I’ve read by a South Asian author that doesn’t spend time explaining the food or clothing or the (in this case) Bengali vocabulary. I would’ve liked a little help with the few French and Portuguese sentences but Google Translate came in clutch.
Definitely read this book. Check trigger warnings! It’s a great read that was hard for me to put down. Nishat is my hero and part of me wished she punched Chyna, but it’s all good.
The story follows 16-year-old Nishat, a child of two immigrant Bengali parents growing up in Dublin. Nishat is dealing with recently coming out to her parents as gay and struggling with their reaction. Nishat is given the ultimatum either be herself and bring shame to her family or go back into the closet. At school, Nishat deals with racism and eventually being outed. Nishat experience homophobia, casual appropriation of her culture, and harassment from her classmates. And to top it off, the girl she likes is her rival for a school competition.
The way that this book was advertised to me was that it was a cute sapphic YA romance, but it’s more of a coming-of-age. The two most distinctive relationships Nishat has are with Flávia (her crush) and Priti (her younger sister). I think her relationship with Priti was more in-depth and shelled out more than her relationship with anyone else. I loved their banter and close relationship. It shows them tease each other, fight, and make-up. I think Nishat and Flávia had decent chemistry, but not enough for me to think a romance is blooming. It’s strange to me she could like Flávia given all that is happening. The comments about how you can’t culturally appropriate art and Nishat not being a real artist was enough for me to immediately veto her as a love interest. I could see it being left open for a relationship at the end but before then? No.
Nishat’s development is also done extremely well. I hated that everyone made her feel like crap about her emotions and that she too busy to care about anyone else. Given she receives harassment on the daily and is then outed, I think Nishat gets a pass on being a little neglectful with her friends and sister. Is she a little childish in her mission to win the competition? Yeah, she’s 16, but I also see her reaction as being valid. I love her cute, adorable, and totally relatable panic about Flávia and whether or not she liked girls and over analyzing conversations and eye contact. Ahhh to be a teen with a crush.
I think the serious tones were handled very well. I also like this complicated love that Nishat has with her culture. Though she criticizes the Bangladesh politics and stance on the LGBTQIA+ community she still celebrates the good parts of her culture: food, henna, clothing, language, etc.
I adore her parents. I can say my parents and siblings were completely fine when I came out, but I can’t say the same about my grandmother, who’s one of the most important person in my life. Like Nishat’s parents, my grandmother didn’t want to acknowledge it and she wanted to pretend I never came out. But eventually, like Nishat’s parents, she came around. And I think it’s a special thing to have in this book. Because it’s not your stereotypical brown immigrant disowning a child but it’s also not this hearts, flowers, and rainbows. I found it to be more realistic and hopeful, particularly for queer brown girls who might read this book.
I obviously can’t speak for its authenticity of representation, but I trust that Jaigirdar knows her stuff. I love that this book is unapologetically desi, just like Nishat. It’s very clear that this book was written for a desi audience. It’s one of the few books I’ve read by a South Asian author that doesn’t spend time explaining the food or clothing or the (in this case) Bengali vocabulary. I would’ve liked a little help with the few French and Portuguese sentences but Google Translate came in clutch.
Definitely read this book. Check trigger warnings! It’s a great read that was hard for me to put down. Nishat is my hero and part of me wished she punched Chyna, but it’s all good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Xenophobia, Racism, and Hate crime