A YA Novel that Gets Into the Heart of Several Topical Issues!
This book starts with an Iranian family who are in interrogation at an airport after causing a scene on an airplane. 18 year-old Amir Azadi had run away from home and staying in Rome when his parents and his younger sister, 13 year-old Soraya, arrived and brought him back. The family is put into separate rooms and when questioned, everything starts to come out, including hostilities about their ethnicity.
Amir has been dealing with several personal issues, which include living up to his parents' cultural expectations. Unfortunately, he knows he's gay so he does everything he can to keep up with appearing as the "ideal Iranian son." After being blackmailed by a couple of his classmates, Amir panics and runs away from home.
This YA novel is different in that readers get the points-of-view from the entire Azadi family. The father refuses to say a word, the mother tries to defend her family while maintaining all of the secrets, and Soraya explains everything to the police in order to protect her family. Meanwhile, is seems like more has happened to Amir than he's willing to admit at first.
This YA novel merges typical adolescent issues with cultural expectations (of a Middle Eastern family). However, something else is going on. What else happened to Amir, and what else does his family know?
Amir has been dealing with several personal issues, which include living up to his parents' cultural expectations. Unfortunately, he knows he's gay so he does everything he can to keep up with appearing as the "ideal Iranian son." After being blackmailed by a couple of his classmates, Amir panics and runs away from home.
This YA novel is different in that readers get the points-of-view from the entire Azadi family. The father refuses to say a word, the mother tries to defend her family while maintaining all of the secrets, and Soraya explains everything to the police in order to protect her family. Meanwhile, is seems like more has happened to Amir than he's willing to admit at first.
This YA novel merges typical adolescent issues with cultural expectations (of a Middle Eastern family). However, something else is going on. What else happened to Amir, and what else does his family know?