Title: All My Rage
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Genre/s and Tags: Contemporary, Young Adult, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, Family
Goodreads synopsis:
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Sabaa Tahir comes a brilliant, unforgettable, and heart-wrenching contemporary YA novel about family and forgiveness, love and loss, in a sweeping story that crosses generations and continents.
Lahore, Pakistan. Then.
Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Cloud’s Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.
Juniper, California. Now.
Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding.
Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah’s health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle’s liquor store while hiding the fact that she’s applying to college so she can escape him—and Juniper—forever.
When Sal’s attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth—and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.
From one of today’s most cherished and bestselling young adult authors comes a breathtaking novel of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness—one that’s both tragic and poignant in its tender ferocity.
Buy Links:
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Full Review
Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Oh my god! Sabaa what have you done to me!! 😭😭😭 Forever crying over this.
All My Rage is a generational contemporary about a family of Pakistani Americans and Noor, a Pakistani refugee. The story centers on Noor, Salahudin and his mother, Misbah. We see Misbah in Pakistan as she starts her married life with Toufiq and they come to the United States. Noor and Salahudin were best friends, until The Fight. Now Sal spends his time trying to save the motel as his mother’s health fails and his father is lost in his alcoholism. Noor balances working for her wrathful uncle while also going to school and trying to apply to college where she can finally be free of him and Juniper. But when Sal tries something desperate to save the motel, he and Noor face far reaching consequences than they knew to prepare for.
This book was fucking incredible. The way Sabaa has shaped the story of Misbah, Noor and Salahudin was amazing. The emotional journey we go through with these characters has caused maximum emotional damage. I wanted to rage, to cry, to scream, to fight and so much more for these characters. The way trauma is explored in this story is incredible, there’s no other word for it truly.
There were times I felt so down with these characters I didn’t think there was any hope left. But Sabaa weaves a tiny seed of hope throughout this whole story. So much is thrown at the protagonists and while they don’t always make the smartest decisions, they persevere through it all. I love that we get to see them all grow and learn through their mistakes. Many times we only see a tiny bit of behavior changes, but All My Rage goes above and beyond that.
The ending made me cry. I loved it so much. It’s bittersweet yet brimming with hope. This book is amazing. I am so glad I read it. Tahir has established herself as someone who can easily leap genres and craft a compelling story and characters. I cannot wait to see what comes next for her.
Rep: cishet Pakistani-American male MC with PTSD and touch aversion, cishet Muslim Pakistani refugee female MC with PTSD, cishet Muslim Pakistani-American female MC with chronic kidney disease, white cis bisexual female side character with a small child, various Muslim and Pakistani side characters, Black Muslim female side character, BIPOC male side character, WLW side couple.
CWs: Islamophobia, alcoholism, alcohol consumption, bullying, domestic abuse, physical abuse, racism, child abuse, drug use, drug abuse (non-fatal overdose), drug addiction, panic attacks, racial slurs, chronic illness, terminal illness, xenophobia, medical content, grief, death, death of parent, religious bigotry, mental illness (PTSD). Moderate: police brutality, emotional abuse and manipulation, past sexual assault/rape.
Forever In A Story 