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A review by itadakinasu
A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena
Did not finish book.
I really wanted to like this book, and I was really hoping to get a glimpse into "modern" Saudi culture through Bhathena's A Girl Like That. Unfortunately, it wasn't able to hold my interest.
The risk of setting a YA novel in an underrepresented country is high, and I want to acknowledge that. No matter what you do as a writer, there are going to be more pitfalls if you set your story in Saudi Arabia than, say, Georgia, USA. Some examples:
1) The unfamiliar culture might make readers less able to relate to your character.
2) A weak story/character cast could come across as taking advantage of the setting for novelty's sake.
3) Authenticity might suffer if the author has never lived in the area for a long time.
4) Poorly-written or shallow characters could have negative impacts on readers' impressions of a culture, group, or country.
As someone who has never lived in or visited Saudi Arabia, I can't comment on the 3rd point. However, this story absolutely succumbed to point 2 and perhaps for some readers even point 4.
Zarin is a typical manic pixie dream girl. She's hot, wild, and doesn't give a shit. She takes tons of risks and drags random guys along for the ride, which leads them to some kind of awakening (where they realize it's ok to almost ruin their own lives as long as they can drive around with a hot girl like Zarin!) Obviously, this is not a socially acceptable way for a woman to behave in Saudi Arabia, so she has to avoid the religious police and hide this from her family. Yeah, she might be orphaned or have her entire future destroyed, but... *shrug* amirite?
Zarin isn't like other girls, Bhathena reminds us. She has a tragic backstory. She doesn't care about her aunt and uncle who took her in after the death of her parents. Plus, her aunt is abusive. She writes super in-depth essays on topics she likes. She likes guys. She blushes when a cute guy looks at her.
Meanwhile, other girls like and flirt with cute guys instead of blushing. Plus, they hang out with other girls. And their backstories aren't even that tragic. See, Zarin isn't like them, right??
Porrus is just a cardboard cutout of a guy that's tied to Zarin's ankle and gets dragged around behind her. He has no motivations or desires of his own and only exists to prop up and sweet talk Zarin with 99-cent bargain bin dialogue.
I knew this book wasn't for me early on, so I'm gonna save myself the trouble and pass on this one.
The risk of setting a YA novel in an underrepresented country is high, and I want to acknowledge that. No matter what you do as a writer, there are going to be more pitfalls if you set your story in Saudi Arabia than, say, Georgia, USA. Some examples:
1) The unfamiliar culture might make readers less able to relate to your character.
2) A weak story/character cast could come across as taking advantage of the setting for novelty's sake.
3) Authenticity might suffer if the author has never lived in the area for a long time.
4) Poorly-written or shallow characters could have negative impacts on readers' impressions of a culture, group, or country.
As someone who has never lived in or visited Saudi Arabia, I can't comment on the 3rd point. However, this story absolutely succumbed to point 2 and perhaps for some readers even point 4.
Zarin is a typical manic pixie dream girl. She's hot, wild, and doesn't give a shit. She takes tons of risks and drags random guys along for the ride, which leads them to some kind of awakening (where they realize it's ok to almost ruin their own lives as long as they can drive around with a hot girl like Zarin!) Obviously, this is not a socially acceptable way for a woman to behave in Saudi Arabia, so she has to avoid the religious police and hide this from her family. Yeah, she might be orphaned or have her entire future destroyed, but... *shrug* amirite?
Zarin isn't like other girls, Bhathena reminds us. She has a tragic backstory. She doesn't care about her aunt and uncle who took her in after the death of her parents. Plus, her aunt is abusive. She writes super in-depth essays on topics she likes. She likes guys. She blushes when a cute guy looks at her.
Meanwhile, other girls like and flirt with cute guys instead of blushing. Plus, they hang out with other girls. And their backstories aren't even that tragic. See, Zarin isn't like them, right??
Porrus is just a cardboard cutout of a guy that's tied to Zarin's ankle and gets dragged around behind her. He has no motivations or desires of his own and only exists to prop up and sweet talk Zarin with 99-cent bargain bin dialogue.
I knew this book wasn't for me early on, so I'm gonna save myself the trouble and pass on this one.