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A review by segza
Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah
4.0
2019 is the year I finish books on my “on-hold” shelf.
I started this book 2.5 years ago and finally got around to getting it back from the lib and finishing it.
I enjoyed this, thought it was great to have a protagonist who was born in a western society (Australia) and is navigating high school while starting to wear the hijab. What I found frustrating is my same critique of Sadia (similar concept expect exploring removing the hijab), why do these girls ALSO have to be the absolute best at something (debate club here; basketball in Sadia) to truly feel accepted and accomplished in their broader society? It just seems to reinforce the idea that if you’re not a Christian cis heterosexual white male you can’t just be good at something, you have to be the best at it for your efforts to count and to be seen as anything beyond however society has labelled you. That said, there isn’t exactly a lot of high school fiction about unexceptional people period so I know that gripe is a bit unfair...
I’d recommend this book for the 8-16 age range. The story is a bit too juvenile for anyone much older than that.
I started this book 2.5 years ago and finally got around to getting it back from the lib and finishing it.
I enjoyed this, thought it was great to have a protagonist who was born in a western society (Australia) and is navigating high school while starting to wear the hijab. What I found frustrating is my same critique of Sadia (similar concept expect exploring removing the hijab), why do these girls ALSO have to be the absolute best at something (debate club here; basketball in Sadia) to truly feel accepted and accomplished in their broader society? It just seems to reinforce the idea that if you’re not a Christian cis heterosexual white male you can’t just be good at something, you have to be the best at it for your efforts to count and to be seen as anything beyond however society has labelled you. That said, there isn’t exactly a lot of high school fiction about unexceptional people period so I know that gripe is a bit unfair...
I’d recommend this book for the 8-16 age range. The story is a bit too juvenile for anyone much older than that.