3.5 stars

CW: racism, Islamophobia, death of a parent, 9/11

I’m white and somewhat of an atheist, so the themes and rep in this novel are not mine to comment on. What I can say is that this is a very well-written multigenerational story about culture, family, and religion, that’s both emotional and humorous. I liked the characters and relationships; they were flawed all around, but felt genuine. However, I think the time skips could’ve been a bit more distinct, as there were times where in a paragraph it would be months, or once even years later. If I had spaced out, I wouldn’t have caught that, yet it seems to me to be a fairly important detail. And this is definitely a character-driven novel, as there were a handful of times that felt especially slow to me. I did like the ending, though, because it felt complete, like the story had come full circle.

Although it was a mostly average read, I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to those that enjoy stories of family and identity.

Rep: Bengali Indian protagonists, black side characters, Somalian side character