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Ali A (82 KP) rated How It All Blew Up in Books

Sep 8, 2020  
How It All Blew Up
How It All Blew Up
Arvin Ahmadi | 2020 | Young Adult (YA)
5
5.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
How it All Blew Up is about Amir, a closeted, eighteen-year-old. He always knew it would be hard to come out to his Muslim family, so he hasn't. When some bullies find out and blackmail him, Amir gets scared, skips graduation, and fleas to Rome. He gets taken in by a group of new friends and he spends his summer having late nights where he can feel like himself. Until his old life comes back knocking. Now, Amir is telling the whole story, with the entire truth, to a U.S. Customs officer as his family has just been detained. Can Amir get his hard-won freedom back?

I went into this book thinking it would be a storyline I don't really see: representation of a queer Muslim in YA... I didn't really get that. Islam plays no part in this story - Amir openly admits his family isn't that religious. When asked if his parents would disapprove of him being gay, he replied:

"Yes and no. Our culture is pretty conservative, even if you're not religious."

It also went into this huge countdown leading up to what happened on the airplane and why the family is detained and when we get there... it just felt like it fell short of what it could have been. I also just didn't care much for the main character, he never really clicked with me and I honestly don't know why but I found myself rolling my eyes at a lot of his choices and reasonings.

The whole story also felt very unrealistic to me. How on Earth does an eighteen-year-old make enough money editing Wikipedia pages to get to Rome, get his own apartment, and live there a whole month? There were so many side characters that would be mentioned in passing for only a page and then never heard from again? Amir's high school boyfriend we get built up to be this whole thing, for him to just toss him aside. We had all these supposed close relationships (Amir and his sister were supposedly super close??) but everything felt surface level and not flushed out. There's an entire scene in the novel, that I won't get into because of spoilers, but it just felt wrong and had no real build up to the entire scenario besides small side remarks.

The only character I really even cared for was Amir's sister, Soraya. She was only thirteen, but she was a firecracker just waiting to be messed with. She cared for her brother, regardless of anything.

I did enjoy the back and forth of the interrogation rooms and what happened as it made it a super fast read. Apart from that though, I think the story fell short of what it could have been.

*Thank you Bookish First and Penguin Teen for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
  
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Zuky the BookBum (15 KP) rated My Sister's Bones in Books

Mar 15, 2018  
My Sister's Bones
My Sister's Bones
Nuala Ellwood | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
7.2 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Also read my review here: http://bookbum.weebly.com/book-reviews/my-sisters-bones-by-nuala-ellwood

NOW AVAILABLE IN THE UK!

<b>Trigger warnings are noted in the first paragraph.</b>

<b><i>We’re all of us, every day, just a hairbreadth away from evil. If I’ve learnt anything from fifteen years of reporting, it’s that. But I couldn’t expect these people to understand.</b></i>

This is a really heavy read as it deals with some really dark and depressing subjects, <b>such as the war and refugees in Syria, domestic & child abuse, rape, death, mental illness, alcoholism and miscarriages.</b> Don’t read this if you’re having a low period in your life because this is not going to make you feel any better, throughout it’s a rather distressing and upsetting story.

Each character in this novel was well developed, no matter how small a part they played in the plot. Ellwood has done a fantastic job with her research into PTSD as Kate’s fears and anxieties seem so real to the reader. Though I’ve never experienced anything even close to PTSD, I can really imagine how terrifying and disturbing it would be, from reading this book. It’s definitely the best and most harrowing description of the condition I’ve ever read in a fiction novel.

This was a really well presented novel and I’m amazed that it’s a debut! It was excellently written and thought out. My only issue being that sometimes, the timings in this book felt a little off. When Kate and Paul were together, one minute they'd be serving dinner and the next, after a small 5 lined conversation, it would be midnight and time for Paul to leave and Kate to get into bed. It seemed like large chunks of the day would just disappear.

Maybe I shouldn’t have read some other people’s reviews on this beforehand, but because I was expecting all these super duper amazing twists, I kind of didn’t feel that they were super duper amazing. I also found some of them to be a little far fetched and silly, rather than surprising.

I can definitely see why this has gained so many 5 star ratings, but it’s all down to personal preference at the end of the day, and this one was just a little too dark for my liking. That's not to say I didn't like this...I enjoyed this a lot, hence the 4 stars. I found myself not wanting to put it down, even when my eyes were telling me it was definitely time for sleep. It was certainly a thrilling and page turning read, but I don’t know if I could recommend this to anyone because of all the dark subject matters. It seems like the sort of book some people are going to love for it’s dark realism and others are going to hate that and find it too distressing to read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books UK for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.