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A review by sinamile
In the Key of Nira Ghani by Natasha Deen
4.0
Rating: 3.25 🌟
ARC Review: receiver from Netgalley for an honest review
TW: ableist slurs,
I spent way too long staring at the screen trying to figure out what to say about this book. What I will say with certainty though is that this book should be read by #ownvoice readers from immigrant families, kids who will understand the struggle of moving from one country to another for a better life, understand the struggles of trying to fit in whole still trying to maintain your culture.
So my disclaimer is this: I don't know what it's like to move to a whole new country, I don't know what it's like being poor or close to it, I don't know what it's like being the only POC in a white-only place, so these things I will not touch on because it is not my place to discuss them. What I will discuss are aspects of the book that I feel I can relate to, however.
Okay, I have to admit that I did enjoy this book, that it was nice to read it and I got it done in a day (hours if you don't count the breaks I took). It's not a badly written book at all and like I said before, I did enjoy it. However, it does have a few issues.
1. The description of Emily's weight. It's not baaad, it's not even mean, but I don't know. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive about it, as a fat person, but idk. It just didn't sit in a comfortable way. Like I feel like there may have been a better way to describe her fatness. I mean, she likes to eat, sure, but I don't know. I just feel like there could've been a better way to say she's fat without the “she stuffs her face” feel of things.
2. The handling of Mckenzie is probably one of my least favourite things. This girl is awful to Nira from the start of the book. She says racist and ignorant things all the time and makes Nira feel awful about herself. It's natural for Nira to hate this girl, to not want or be friends with her. But then Mckenzie starts hanging out with them and then Nira's best friend Emily (who is white) comes at Nira like “she's not as bad as you think, just give her a chance” and mm, that feels condescend-y to me. Emily is white and Mckenzie and white, so when Mckenzi says ignorant and racist things, obviously Emily won't find it as problematic as Nira and obviously it'll be easier for her to forgive but mm. Without spoiling more than I might have, I don't really like how things went. Like I knew, I KNEW, that Mckenzie wasn't going to be the bad guy forever and there was going to be some “I'm only mean to you because of (meh excuse)” and it did happen and I wasn't unhappy but I wish that it had gone a different way.
3. Grandma. I'm not even going to go into it because SPOILER but I will say that I knew it, that I knew it would end the way it did and that hurts me. It was unnecessary, things didn't have to go the way the did, like things could've been fixed a different way, Nira could've worked her life out a different way. Again, I just felt that the last chapter was unnecessary!
But despite those thing, I liked this book actually. And also there are queer characters in the book and I love that Nira's parents and Grandmother are so chilled when it comes to relationships, like the “Is it a boy?...... A girl?” question every time they were curios about Nira having relationship issues was cool. I'm glad that we were able to see that the may be strict and almost hellish about school and Nira's academic future, but her sexuality isn't an issue.
Overall, a good read and I hope that young Guyanese Canadian kids will find this book and relate to its content.
ARC Review: receiver from Netgalley for an honest review
TW: ableist slurs,
Spoiler
death, cheatingI spent way too long staring at the screen trying to figure out what to say about this book. What I will say with certainty though is that this book should be read by #ownvoice readers from immigrant families, kids who will understand the struggle of moving from one country to another for a better life, understand the struggles of trying to fit in whole still trying to maintain your culture.
So my disclaimer is this: I don't know what it's like to move to a whole new country, I don't know what it's like being poor or close to it, I don't know what it's like being the only POC in a white-only place, so these things I will not touch on because it is not my place to discuss them. What I will discuss are aspects of the book that I feel I can relate to, however.
Okay, I have to admit that I did enjoy this book, that it was nice to read it and I got it done in a day (hours if you don't count the breaks I took). It's not a badly written book at all and like I said before, I did enjoy it. However, it does have a few issues.
1. The description of Emily's weight. It's not baaad, it's not even mean, but I don't know. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive about it, as a fat person, but idk. It just didn't sit in a comfortable way. Like I feel like there may have been a better way to describe her fatness. I mean, she likes to eat, sure, but I don't know. I just feel like there could've been a better way to say she's fat without the “she stuffs her face” feel of things.
2. The handling of Mckenzie is probably one of my least favourite things. This girl is awful to Nira from the start of the book. She says racist and ignorant things all the time and makes Nira feel awful about herself. It's natural for Nira to hate this girl, to not want or be friends with her. But then Mckenzie starts hanging out with them and then Nira's best friend Emily (who is white) comes at Nira like “she's not as bad as you think, just give her a chance” and mm, that feels condescend-y to me. Emily is white and Mckenzie and white, so when Mckenzi says ignorant and racist things, obviously Emily won't find it as problematic as Nira and obviously it'll be easier for her to forgive but mm. Without spoiling more than I might have, I don't really like how things went. Like I knew, I KNEW, that Mckenzie wasn't going to be the bad guy forever and there was going to be some “I'm only mean to you because of (meh excuse)” and it did happen and I wasn't unhappy but I wish that it had gone a different way.
Spoiler
3. Grandma. I'm not even going to go into it because SPOILER but I will say that I knew it, that I knew it would end the way it did and that hurts me. It was unnecessary, things didn't have to go the way the did, like things could've been fixed a different way, Nira could've worked her life out a different way. Again, I just felt that the last chapter was unnecessary!
But despite those thing, I liked this book actually. And also there are queer characters in the book and I love that Nira's parents and Grandmother are so chilled when it comes to relationships, like the “Is it a boy?...... A girl?” question every time they were curios about Nira having relationship issues was cool. I'm glad that we were able to see that the may be strict and almost hellish about school and Nira's academic future, but her sexuality isn't an issue.
Overall, a good read and I hope that young Guyanese Canadian kids will find this book and relate to its content.