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A review by emeliestegbornblixt
A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi
4.0
This was great. I absolutely adored Shirin as our main character. I'm not quite sure why, but she felt so real to me, so nuanced. Her perspectives and interests made her a really interesting character who was convincing as a muslim teenager without in any way falling into the stereotypes associated with that. She's ONE example of what it CAN be like to be a muslim girl, rather than THE image of what it means to be a muslim girl. She's not necessarily an aspirational character, but she's real.
Her relationship with her brother was one of my favorite aspects of this book. Just in general all the great boys in this story made my heart happy. And Ocean really worked as the love interest. The portrayal of his simultaneous ignorance and openness was so pure and gave me so much hope for what I want to see in the world. If everyone was as willing as him to admit when they fucked up the world would be a much better place.
That said, the romance and plot had that special kind of melodrama that just screams YA - which doesn't make it bad or anything, but it does mean this isn't getting a full five stars from me. But other than that I absolutely loved this.
Her relationship with her brother was one of my favorite aspects of this book. Just in general all the great boys in this story made my heart happy. And Ocean really worked as the love interest. The portrayal of his simultaneous ignorance and openness was so pure and gave me so much hope for what I want to see in the world. If everyone was as willing as him to admit when they fucked up the world would be a much better place.
That said, the romance and plot had that special kind of melodrama that just screams YA - which doesn't make it bad or anything, but it does mean this isn't getting a full five stars from me. But other than that I absolutely loved this.