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A review by dilliemillie
Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win by Susan Azim Boyer
3.5
Whew this is a messy teenage story! Jasmine is an Iranian American high school student feeling the pressure to get into her first choice school because of her big dreams. A disappointing competition result and an international crisis catapult her into a public election race and a lot of confusion. She has to examine and understand her relationship to her identity and her integrity, and makes a lot of realistic bad choices along the way. I didn't find her very lovable, but she's definitely relatable!
I would love to see the ratio of book dedicated to mistakes versus resolution adjusted. Jasmine spends nearly the entire book compounding her poor choices. Finally she stops for a moment, admits she has been deflecting responsibility, makes a couple of huge gestures, and voila everything is fixed! There's almost no time spent on her actual growth or learning, which is a disappointment for a book otherwise focused on character exploration.
Overall, there's a lot to love here: delicious food, music references, and plenty of little details highlighting the time period. Jasmine's family relationships are complicated and have a bigger impact on her than she consciously realizes, which make for a compelling story. This is a well crafted young adult book featuring a perspective that deserves more attention than it gets!
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I would love to see the ratio of book dedicated to mistakes versus resolution adjusted. Jasmine spends nearly the entire book compounding her poor choices. Finally she stops for a moment, admits she has been deflecting responsibility, makes a couple of huge gestures, and voila everything is fixed! There's almost no time spent on her actual growth or learning, which is a disappointment for a book otherwise focused on character exploration.
Overall, there's a lot to love here: delicious food, music references, and plenty of little details highlighting the time period. Jasmine's family relationships are complicated and have a bigger impact on her than she consciously realizes, which make for a compelling story. This is a well crafted young adult book featuring a perspective that deserves more attention than it gets!
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.