I absolutely sped through this novel in a couple hours the night before (morning of? *sweats nervously*) release. I started it thinking, "just a few pages" and then I'm suddenly swept away in the story of Amir and his fears and experiences.
Amir's life is messy and his coming out story might be triggering for some people, so please check the content warnings! He's dealing with a lot, but he's also just a cool character. He edits Wikipedia pages in his free time! He really likes Mean Girls! He flies to Italy because he's scared of being outed to his parents on graduation night by a kid who's blackmailing him.
There are a lot of critiques out there that are criticizing how this is not a Muslim story because the character does not practice frequently nor is it a focus of the book. #OwnVoices reviewers are absolutely able to criticize based on their own experiences, but as someone who is not Muslim, Iranian, or a gay teenage boy, I don't really think it's my place to criticize Ahmadi's portrayal.
I think what's important to recognize is that Amir is not just Muslim. Or just Iranian. Or just gay. He is a human being and we will never be able to appropriately quantify his identity or full self through small discrete units like this. Maybe the marketing was misleading. But ultimately, How It All Blew Up is still a story revolving around a Muslim, Iranian, and gay teenage boy, regardless of how the amount the story focuses on each aspect.
Amir is not always rational, and this is part of what makes him human. He writes off his family as not being able to understand his identity right off the bat. Which is a big generalization (there are queer & out Muslims!) but is absolutely something any person considering coming out would be fearful of, regardless of how accepting or not your family is.
I don't think How It All Blew Up is a perfect story. But it is an honest and real one, with an extraordinary use of past/present point of view with very poignant themes. I enjoyed, and maybe you will too.
Amir's life is messy and his coming out story might be triggering for some people, so please check the content warnings! He's dealing with a lot, but he's also just a cool character. He edits Wikipedia pages in his free time! He really likes Mean Girls! He flies to Italy because he's scared of being outed to his parents on graduation night by a kid who's blackmailing him.
There are a lot of critiques out there that are criticizing how this is not a Muslim story because the character does not practice frequently nor is it a focus of the book. #OwnVoices reviewers are absolutely able to criticize based on their own experiences, but as someone who is not Muslim, Iranian, or a gay teenage boy, I don't really think it's my place to criticize Ahmadi's portrayal.
I think what's important to recognize is that Amir is not just Muslim. Or just Iranian. Or just gay. He is a human being and we will never be able to appropriately quantify his identity or full self through small discrete units like this. Maybe the marketing was misleading. But ultimately, How It All Blew Up is still a story revolving around a Muslim, Iranian, and gay teenage boy, regardless of how the amount the story focuses on each aspect.
Amir is not always rational, and this is part of what makes him human. He writes off his family as not being able to understand his identity right off the bat. Which is a big generalization (there are queer & out Muslims!) but is absolutely something any person considering coming out would be fearful of, regardless of how accepting or not your family is.
I don't think How It All Blew Up is a perfect story. But it is an honest and real one, with an extraordinary use of past/present point of view with very poignant themes. I enjoyed, and maybe you will too.