I enjoyed this book! It was a quick read with likable characters and a story that I haven’t seen before.
I really appreciated the authors choice of structure to tell the story. The mix of snippets from the interviews from different members of the Azadi mixed with flashbacks provided kept the a fast pace of the book. I liked that we were able to hear from Amir’s family about what was happening as well as from Amir, particularly from his sister I really liked her sections. The alternation of these sections kept me reading as I wanted to know what was going to happen next and how exactly the Azadi family ended up in the interviews in the first place.
I think the representation this book provides is wonderful. This is the first book that I have seen with a gay Iranian Muslim main character and I’m sure there are readers out there who will be able to see themselves in the character of Amir. I love that Amir was able to find a community of gay men, including Jahan who is also Iranian, that Amir can relate to and learn about the LGBT+ from. As the story goes on, Amir learns that the new group of friends he made aren’t perfect and instead all have their own complicated pasts and problems just like him and every one else. I think it was a great way to show how easily it is to idealize people or situations that you don’t really know well but that things aren’t perfect anywhere in the world.
The only thing that didn’t really sit well with me was the hook up between Giovanni and Amir, the age difference was a bit too much for me to be comfortable with. It wasn’t framed as a great experience for Amir but I still felt that it wasn’t completely necessary to the story.
I really appreciated the authors choice of structure to tell the story. The mix of snippets from the interviews from different members of the Azadi mixed with flashbacks provided kept the a fast pace of the book. I liked that we were able to hear from Amir’s family about what was happening as well as from Amir, particularly from his sister I really liked her sections. The alternation of these sections kept me reading as I wanted to know what was going to happen next and how exactly the Azadi family ended up in the interviews in the first place.
I think the representation this book provides is wonderful. This is the first book that I have seen with a gay Iranian Muslim main character and I’m sure there are readers out there who will be able to see themselves in the character of Amir. I love that Amir was able to find a community of gay men, including Jahan who is also Iranian, that Amir can relate to and learn about the LGBT+ from. As the story goes on, Amir learns that the new group of friends he made aren’t perfect and instead all have their own complicated pasts and problems just like him and every one else. I think it was a great way to show how easily it is to idealize people or situations that you don’t really know well but that things aren’t perfect anywhere in the world.
The only thing that didn’t really sit well with me was the hook up between Giovanni and Amir, the age difference was a bit too much for me to be comfortable with. It wasn’t framed as a great experience for Amir but I still felt that it wasn’t completely necessary to the story.