You might want to hate this book. It features the typical whiny teen girl who puts popularity and self-preservation over being real and being honest. The plot turns are (mostly) predictable and you can't wait for her to figure out what you, the readers, realize early on. But ... this novel is more complex than it seems, and Jamilah is written so realistically that she feels like you could reach through the pages and talk with her. Her struggle -- between "faking it" as a run of the mill Australian tenth grader and owning up to her Lebanese Muslim culture, in a country struggling with diversity and stereotypes, resounds as if it were America today. Jamilah sees her father as a tyrant, but she loves him, and (bless Mrs. Abdel-Fattah) her dad is drawn with dimensions which take the entire book to discover. The whole family unit is strong, and brings surprises -- her rebellious brother isn't a complete turd, and her activist sister makes a choice you don't see coming. The book challenges preconceptions about the Muslim faith and makes clear that living as a first generation immigrant in any nation can create a sense of dualism. There is a boy (of course) and while some of that goes the way I thought it would, some does not. The ending is both predictable yet refreshing, as Jamilah has to decide whether to own her true self or the bleached blonde persona she has fabricated. It was a story I thoroughly enjoyed, and one I chose to pick up and read whenever I had a free minute. Now, if we could only get certain national leaders to understand the concepts layered in this delightful YA novel. Brava, Randa.
No comments:
Post a Comment