All My Rage: A Novel

Destroyed me in the best way possible. After I finished reading I was blown away and needed some time to catch up with the waves of emotion that had destroyed me. At first I was actually not sure if I'd be able to read this book because of the dark themes that were mentioned beforehand. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to handle it to be honest, so much is/was happening, that I needed a light hearted read before diving deep into my feels with this book. And then reading another light hearted book after this book so I wouldn't be pulled into a depressive state. So this is a trigger-warning for those that aren't in the mood to read darker themed books. Though my disclaimer might go unheard of I thought to just put that out there. This book is an exceptional, dazzling, and heart-breaking book about family. And whay family's go through; of both tender and despondent of times in ways that are relatable to any family in the world. To say simply, I found this book quite sad and relata

All My Rage is the story of two Pakistani American teenagers growing up in a small desert town in California. Salahudin and Noor are outsiders and best friends facing incredibly adverse circumstances. The richly developed characters drew me in immediately and I felt that I was right alongside them. All My Rage also includes the story of Salahudin's parents, told in a dual timeline. This book is a beautiful, raw and haunting story of intergenerational and hidden trauma, faith, love, dreams, family, loss, grief, rage, the ugliness of racism, and the persistence of hope. It will leave you gutted, heartbroken and reeling. There are multiple triggers, about which Sabaa Tahir warns the reader. This book is characterized as Young Adult; however, adult readers will find it to be insightful, riveting and thought provoking. All My Rage is clearly one of the best and unforgettable books of 2022.

I'd really enjoyed Sabaa Tahir's fantasy books, so I was really excited to see how she was at YA, and oh my god it was so good! Thanks to @bookishfirst and @penguinteen for the early copy of this! * Synopsis: Sal and Noor are two Pakistani-American teens who are trying to rekindle their friendship after a falling out. Sal's mom is gravely sick and he's doing everything he can to help the family motel survive, while Noor desperately wants to go to college but her uncle who takes care of her wants to stop her. This also flashes back through Misbah's life (Sal's mother) showing how the family got to where they were. * This was amazing. Well-written and layered and powerful and emotional. There are a lot of triggers so definitely check those out before reading, but otherwise run out and get this ASAP. This gave me so much to think about and was heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time. * Rage is an emotion that is not really addressed much in fiction, at least not in a meaningful way that I've seen. Rage usually only comes up with someone evil, someone who's resorting to violence. But this does such an amazing job of showing Sal's and Noor's emotions and how they change over time and how rage ends up being not only justified but necessary. I really appreciated how that was addressed here, and making Sal and Noor so incredibly real.