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A review by booksandaya
Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali
3.0
*Listened to the audiobook, narrated by Ariana Delawari.
TRIGGER WARNING: sexual assault, rape culture & death of a loved one.
I am truly glad that a book with a Muslim hijabi main character exists! IT IS IMPORTANT. I hoped to love this one but I had some issues with it. However, I still recommend it because of the Muslim representation.
Let's get into the pros first,
1. As a Muslim myself, I can confirm that the representation was on point! I liked that anyone who decides to pick this book up would get a glimpse of the daily life of a Muslim teen girl. It feels so nice to see yourself represented in western literature and my teen self related so much to Janna and her struggles on daily basis.
2. I enjoyed the family dynamics a lot! I specially liked Jana's relationship with her father. Even that he is not religious anymore, she still has so much respect for him and that was just heartwarming.
3. I really appreciate how the book discussed the difference between Islam and culture because these are two different things and most people get them mixed up.
4. I loved how flawed the characters were, and that being a Muslim/hijabi doesn't make that person perfect. Everyone makes mistakes and that is OKAY because we are humans. The assaulter is a "hafiz" and that doesn't make him perfect and I am really glad this was shown in the book.
However, there were some parts that I had issues with,
1. I didn't like the writing- style that much. The way she used "Saint Sarah" to describe the girl didn't set well with me and became really annoying. I kinda understand that this came from misjudgment, but I don't appreciate judging people by the way they dress like or seem more religious.
I also didn't like that her opinion about Sarah changed drastically when she knew about her backstory. I just wished she would know she misjudged Sarah without having a backstory that makes her more flawed, but with getting to know her.
2. I didn't like the love interest at all. There was NOTHING special or interesting about him. He just existed to be a love interest but his character was just bland and has no depth to it.
3. There are some questionable actions that the Janna did, specially the gym class part and her not freaking out when her crush sees her without her hijab is.. weird. Personally, I don't think a hijabi would react the same way Janna reacted.
Also her friend was kinda disrespectful about how Janna didn't wanted to show her hair even to her crush. She should have shown respect to Janna's choices but she didn't. She didn't care!!
Overall, I am glad I got the chance I read this book and being represented and heard felt amazing to me, and I hope Muslim teens feel the same way when they get to read this. I highly recommend checking this out even though I didn't love it as much as I wanted.
TRIGGER WARNING: sexual assault, rape culture & death of a loved one.
I am truly glad that a book with a Muslim hijabi main character exists! IT IS IMPORTANT. I hoped to love this one but I had some issues with it. However, I still recommend it because of the Muslim representation.
Let's get into the pros first,
1. As a Muslim myself, I can confirm that the representation was on point! I liked that anyone who decides to pick this book up would get a glimpse of the daily life of a Muslim teen girl. It feels so nice to see yourself represented in western literature and my teen self related so much to Janna and her struggles on daily basis.
2. I enjoyed the family dynamics a lot! I specially liked Jana's relationship with her father. Even that he is not religious anymore, she still has so much respect for him and that was just heartwarming.
3. I really appreciate how the book discussed the difference between Islam and culture because these are two different things and most people get them mixed up.
4. I loved how flawed the characters were, and that being a Muslim/hijabi doesn't make that person perfect. Everyone makes mistakes and that is OKAY because we are humans. The assaulter is a "hafiz" and that doesn't make him perfect and I am really glad this was shown in the book.
However, there were some parts that I had issues with,
1. I didn't like the writing- style that much. The way she used "Saint Sarah" to describe the girl didn't set well with me and became really annoying. I kinda understand that this came from misjudgment, but I don't appreciate judging people by the way they dress like or seem more religious.
I also didn't like that her opinion about Sarah changed drastically when she knew about her backstory. I just wished she would know she misjudged Sarah without having a backstory that makes her more flawed, but with getting to know her.
2. I didn't like the love interest at all. There was NOTHING special or interesting about him. He just existed to be a love interest but his character was just bland and has no depth to it.
3. There are some questionable actions that the Janna did, specially the gym class part and her not freaking out when her crush sees her without her hijab is.. weird. Personally, I don't think a hijabi would react the same way Janna reacted.
Also her friend was kinda disrespectful about how Janna didn't wanted to show her hair even to her crush. She should have shown respect to Janna's choices but she didn't. She didn't care!!
Overall, I am glad I got the chance I read this book and being represented and heard felt amazing to me, and I hope Muslim teens feel the same way when they get to read this. I highly recommend checking this out even though I didn't love it as much as I wanted.