“I didn’t have to go with them. It all happened so quickly, and the fact that they flew all the way out to Italy—that meant something to me.”
How it All Blew Up is a YA/new adult novel about a Persian young man who flees to Rome rather than face his parents when they find out he’s gay.
The entire book is a bit hard to read even though Amir is 18 because he leaves home on graduation day. He’s technically an adult and thus his older friends, including a couple that each hits on him individually, are not corrupting a minor but...it’s hard not to feel protective of him. Luckily his other friends in the crowd look out for him and try to help him and he slowly reveals his story.
Amir and Jackson were secretly hooking up for several months, until two kids in their class blackmail Amir with photos of one of their car trysts. Unable to raise the funds and thus knowing his parents would be told as punishment, Amir flies off to New York City rather than attending graduation. One misunderstanding leads to another and he hops a plane to Rome where he’s able to make $2,000 go pretty far. He meets Neil, an American who owns a bookstore and is soon befriending Jahan, a fellow Persian gay.
The Rome story is nice other than worrying about sketcho older dudes, but the rest of the book takes place in three interrogation rooms—Amir’s father is in one, and the reader learns early on that he’s been profiled and interrogated another time. Amir is in his own room, spilling his Roman adventure, and his mother and sister are in a third room. I could say a lot about how scary it would be to have one’s son in the interrogation room worrying about what sort of crazy thing could go down, but the story resolves without any unlawful detention.
I can only imagine the bravery it would take to come out to your parents in Amir’s shoes. Watching and waiting for clues how they might take the news. Worrying about the possibility of being disowned. Yet thinking about jaunting off to Rome is truly a pleasure in the midst of month eleven of the COVID pandemic. This novel pulls at the heartstrings. But it is ultimately optimistic.
How it All Blew Up is a YA/new adult novel about a Persian young man who flees to Rome rather than face his parents when they find out he’s gay.
The entire book is a bit hard to read even though Amir is 18 because he leaves home on graduation day. He’s technically an adult and thus his older friends, including a couple that each hits on him individually, are not corrupting a minor but...it’s hard not to feel protective of him. Luckily his other friends in the crowd look out for him and try to help him and he slowly reveals his story.
Amir and Jackson were secretly hooking up for several months, until two kids in their class blackmail Amir with photos of one of their car trysts. Unable to raise the funds and thus knowing his parents would be told as punishment, Amir flies off to New York City rather than attending graduation. One misunderstanding leads to another and he hops a plane to Rome where he’s able to make $2,000 go pretty far. He meets Neil, an American who owns a bookstore and is soon befriending Jahan, a fellow Persian gay.
The Rome story is nice other than worrying about sketcho older dudes, but the rest of the book takes place in three interrogation rooms—Amir’s father is in one, and the reader learns early on that he’s been profiled and interrogated another time. Amir is in his own room, spilling his Roman adventure, and his mother and sister are in a third room. I could say a lot about how scary it would be to have one’s son in the interrogation room worrying about what sort of crazy thing could go down, but the story resolves without any unlawful detention.
I can only imagine the bravery it would take to come out to your parents in Amir’s shoes. Watching and waiting for clues how they might take the news. Worrying about the possibility of being disowned. Yet thinking about jaunting off to Rome is truly a pleasure in the midst of month eleven of the COVID pandemic. This novel pulls at the heartstrings. But it is ultimately optimistic.