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A review by polkadotgirl
The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan
3.0
3/5 stars:
I was compelled to read this story as soon as I stumbled upon the sinopsis of the book because of the intersectionality of it: Rukhsana's family is from Bangladesh but they live in America, they are Muslim and Rukhsana is a lesbian. I thought the exploration of all those aspects together could be really interested and I was right, though the book still felt a little dissatisfying to me.
I'm aware that I'm not the biggest fan of YA contemporaries so maybe the fault doesn't lay in the book but in me. I tend to prefer either really hard-hitting contemporaries or lyrical ones where the writing is very poetic and even better if a contemporary can do both things at the same time. This book had neither of those things, although it did try to accomplish the first thing.
In the writing aspect I found the book too simple at times. I don't mean to say there's anything wrong with "simpler" writing it's just not what I like. Things were too blunt and a too "to the point" in the story. The narration was straight-forward and almost schematic: "We cooked and then we did the dishes. I went up to my room. I did my homework. I went to sleep because I had school the next day." This is typical of YA contemporaries but it doesn't speak to me at all.
Story-wise this book was somehow both lighter and heavier than I expected it to be considering its main theme. The book follows Rukhsana's struggles after her parents find out she is lesbian and don't approve of it. They take her to Bangladesh to try and arrange a marriage for her while she opposes this. After Rukhsana arrives in Bangladesh we meet her extended family and we get to know a bit more of some of the character's backgrounds and life stories. When this happens the book starts mentioning heavier topics like domestic abuse, rape, child sexual abuse, etc; without ever delving into it, which I found to be a mistake. I feel like the book would have benefited from deeper analysis and heavier conversations about most of the topics it mentioned, including Rukhsana's sexuality and how her family dealt with it.
I think the book went very quickly from one part of the story to another without real discussions or conversations had about important things so it never felt like there was real character development or even story development. It felt like there were plot points that had to happen because the author knew we had to go through those landmarks before the end of the book but there was no narrative sense to it, no connection between actions, to at least there was a lack of explanation and connections between certain things. For example, All these things happened and it's not like they didn't make sense at all it was just that they felt pretty incomplete. It felt like there was a need for a deeper exploration of all of them.
I feel bad though because all I've talked about are the things I didn't particularly like or the things that disappointed me, but there were things I liked about this book. I mean, a 3 star rating is not a terrible one.
I think Rukhsana was a good and likable main character, if at times a little under-developed. She felt like a teenager but it also felt like she was maturing because of the things she had to go through during the book.
I really, really liked Rukhsana's relationship with her brother. It was great to read the support he always gave her and how much Rukhsana trusted him throughout the whole book. Another relationship is really liked was Rukhsana's and her best friend's friendship. They were a very supportive group of friends while they also had real and important struggles. I really appreciated how at the end of the book there was a short discussion about how their friendship could improve if they tried to understand Rukhsana and her culture a little better.
While I cannot say I shipped them passionately, I think Ariana's and Rukhsana's relationship was cute and very much needed in a YA book.
Overall, this book was okay, it wasn't amazing -in my opinion- but it's a needed YA story that can do a lot of good for teenagers that might see themselves reflected in the story.
I was compelled to read this story as soon as I stumbled upon the sinopsis of the book because of the intersectionality of it: Rukhsana's family is from Bangladesh but they live in America, they are Muslim and Rukhsana is a lesbian. I thought the exploration of all those aspects together could be really interested and I was right, though the book still felt a little dissatisfying to me.
I'm aware that I'm not the biggest fan of YA contemporaries so maybe the fault doesn't lay in the book but in me. I tend to prefer either really hard-hitting contemporaries or lyrical ones where the writing is very poetic and even better if a contemporary can do both things at the same time. This book had neither of those things, although it did try to accomplish the first thing.
In the writing aspect I found the book too simple at times. I don't mean to say there's anything wrong with "simpler" writing it's just not what I like. Things were too blunt and a too "to the point" in the story. The narration was straight-forward and almost schematic: "We cooked and then we did the dishes. I went up to my room. I did my homework. I went to sleep because I had school the next day." This is typical of YA contemporaries but it doesn't speak to me at all.
Story-wise this book was somehow both lighter and heavier than I expected it to be considering its main theme. The book follows Rukhsana's struggles after her parents find out she is lesbian and don't approve of it. They take her to Bangladesh to try and arrange a marriage for her while she opposes this. After Rukhsana arrives in Bangladesh we meet her extended family and we get to know a bit more of some of the character's backgrounds and life stories. When this happens the book starts mentioning heavier topics like domestic abuse, rape, child sexual abuse, etc; without ever delving into it, which I found to be a mistake. I feel like the book would have benefited from deeper analysis and heavier conversations about most of the topics it mentioned, including Rukhsana's sexuality and how her family dealt with it.
I think the book went very quickly from one part of the story to another without real discussions or conversations had about important things so it never felt like there was real character development or even story development. It felt like there were plot points that had to happen because the author knew we had to go through those landmarks before the end of the book but there was no narrative sense to it, no connection between actions, to at least there was a lack of explanation and connections between certain things. For example,
Spoiler
the change between Rukhsana's parents rejection of her sexual orientation and their final embracing of it, or Rukhsana's grandmother's story, or Ariana and Rukhsana's relationship milestones like their break up and their getting back together.I feel bad though because all I've talked about are the things I didn't particularly like or the things that disappointed me, but there were things I liked about this book. I mean, a 3 star rating is not a terrible one.
I think Rukhsana was a good and likable main character, if at times a little under-developed. She felt like a teenager but it also felt like she was maturing because of the things she had to go through during the book.
I really, really liked Rukhsana's relationship with her brother. It was great to read the support he always gave her and how much Rukhsana trusted him throughout the whole book. Another relationship is really liked was Rukhsana's and her best friend's friendship. They were a very supportive group of friends while they also had real and important struggles. I really appreciated how at the end of the book there was a short discussion about how their friendship could improve if they tried to understand Rukhsana and her culture a little better.
While I cannot say I shipped them passionately, I think Ariana's and Rukhsana's relationship was cute and very much needed in a YA book.
Overall, this book was okay, it wasn't amazing -in my opinion- but it's a needed YA story that can do a lot of good for teenagers that might see themselves reflected in the story.