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.
All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
Pages: 384
Publishing Date: March 1st, 2022
Publisher: Razorbill
MY THOUGHTS
An Ember in the Ashes is one of my favorite fantasy series. I feel connected with Sabaa Tahir’s writing so obviously, I was intrigued to read a contemporary book by her.
“Rage can fuel you. But grief gnaws at you slow, a termite nibbling at your soul until you’re a whisper of what you used to be.”
Sabaa Tahir definitely knows how to play with readers’ hearts and she enjoyed it. This book is quite heavy and one has to be in the right state of mind to fully absorb the tragedies and brutalities. The story highlighted so many issues from alcoholism to Islamophobia, and trauma to losses.
“Great passions grow into monsters in the dark of the mind; but if you share them with loving friends they remain human, they can be endured.”
We got a variety of characters from a loving and dreamy Misbah to an alcoholic Toufiq. From logical Sal to lost Noor. They all bring too much to the story and their Character has sooo many layers that they started to feel more than fictional characters. I was submerged in emotions and there were so many and most of the time dark ones. The character dynamics were unique and I can sense that so much real-life experience behind all these development.
“I wonder what it’s like to be with someone who can love you through your rage.”
“…I’m Salhudin. Sal.”
Though, Muslim characters were not the practical ones so I’d say the plot was more focused on cultural aspects than a religious one. I’d love it more if Sal and Noor were more practical Muslims as Misbah was one so I found this link a bit weak.
This book offered so many points to ponder and I am still processing them. Can’t write anything in a review. But if you want to read a traumatizing story in which people are suffering in every way then go ahead and read it. It was beautifully torturous.
“’Sal’? No way … You make people call you by your name. If they can say Santiago, Alexander, Demetrius, and Ecclesiastes, they can say Salahudin.”
