A review by jenhurst
A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

2.0

I might’ve liked this had I read it in high school, but adult me reading this just didn’t enjoy this at all. The romance felt insta lovey to me. I get that people had been shitty to Shirin and she became rude/hard as a result and she was called out by her brother Navid and his friends about this but it felt like she never grew as a person to realize not everyone is a racist asshole. The book felt like majority of the plot was the love story between Shirin and ocean and I got why she liked him but I didn’t get why ocean liked her. Right from the start she was rude to him and constantly assuming the worst of ocean and he genuinely seemed like a good guy. They also didn’t seem to have anything in common. I wish we could’ve seen them bonding over music, movies, books, something but instead it felt like they were polar opposites. Shirin was mainly just annoying and whiny. The fact she’s Iranian though, was a plus and we need more own voices stories.