A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

The timeline of this story is set after the 9/11 tragedy. The scene - America. The protagonist - Shirin. 

It's always baffled me how those Westerners act. Most of time, to us mixed people whose DNA are probably an amalgamation of a hundred lands from all over the world, it's ludicrous. All these comments about going back to your own country, dressing a certain way because "you're in America now". It just gives the image that these places are so infested with your generic 'Karens' that it's absurd to the point of being laughable. I cannot help but be thankful the taunts of locals here are differently wired. Hurtful, yes. But at least not like these Americans'. 

 

Shirin's character, however, is...angry. Had I not been in similar shoes - piling up rocks of rage into mountains from all the injustice we have to face merely for being Muslims - I would've seethed at her character. Seethed at her bitterness towards the world, at how she doesn't seem to give anyone or anything a chance to show her they might be decent. But I understand her. Unfortunately, I understand her. The world she was exposed to turned her indignant, and eh. Can you blame her? 

 

Her beliefs are unorthodox, though. It was interesting when she spoke of women's beauty and how it was an unrelated thing to how hijabis dress/should dress. Most people have different beliefs. Most hijabis believe that wearing a headscarf means also dressing like a nun. Or at least being the embodiment of fashion faux pas. I'm not sure who I agree with, but I'm not going to waste my time and drain my energy judging people for how they choose to clothe or not clothe their skins.  

 

I must say, though, I hadn't expected this book to comprise a love story. I hadn't expected the smooches and the detailed heat of passion as she wrote it. But then again, I guess I also learned that Tahereh is rather unconventional in the fanatic religious way. I saw more of culture than I did of religion itself, but I'm not mad at it.

 

It wasn't a bad book. It didn't make it to my top tiers, but it's nestling comfortably in the Good Tier. The flow was easy, smooth. A nice little story to read. All of Shirin's anger towards the world dissipated rather suddenly - after Jacobi's comment that she can't keep being mad at the world, and then it took the romantic turn. I guess all in all, I don't have much to say about it. Ocean's outburst and lack of shit he gave for his future and colleges was a bit...baffling. In the sense that he does really come off as an immature teenager lost in emotions and the rage we all have but suppress towards the hypocrisy of this world. But, yeah. Guess you gotta admire the kid for it.

 

I almost felt disappointed in Tahereh's writing at some point though, because of the exceedingly high expectations I beheld, but until I've read what she is truly known for - her fantasy series - I'm not going to judge her too hard. She's not a bad writer. She's actually pretty decent.

 

Favorite Quote - "The more I got to know people, the more I realized we were all just a bunch of frightened idiots walking around in the dark, bumping into each other and panicking for no reason at all."

Toodles xoxo