A boy. A girl. Two families. One great divide.
When Michael meets Mina, they are at a rally for refugees – standing on opposite sides.
Mina fled Afghanistan with her mother via a refugee camp, a leaky boat and a detention centre.
Michael’s parents have founded a new political party called Aussie Values.
They want to stop the boats.
Mina wants to stop the hate.
When Mina wins a scholarship to Michael’s private school, their lives crash together blindingly.
A novel for anyone who wants to fight for love, and against injustice.
More Aussie YA because as we all know…apparently that’s my favourite genre. This book has it all too. All the things I love in a YA novel Great relationships, a good dose of romance, a tonne of pop-culture references, humour…you know, all the good stuff. It tackles contemporary issues, in this case the politics around refugees, which saves any YA novel from being just a fluffy romance. Don’t get me wrong…this book has its share of fluffy Romance. Of course it does! (no complaints here)
But somehow this book left me feeling unsatisfied. I don’t really know why…I loved the characters. I Found both Michael and Mina’s stories interesting. Their ideas and world views were challenged by the other which is of course what often happens in real life. Michael must realise the values he grew up with and inherited from parents who are racists intent on “stopping the boats” (major eye roll) but also educated, seemingly reasonable, kind and loving people, are not what he truly believes in. Mina must learn to not judge people on first meeting and give them a chance. She also makes some sort of piece with the past horrors of her life, as much as you can having gone through such horrifying ordeals, through the birth of her new brother. I feel that this is more Michael’s story as he goes through more of a drastic change. He really does some huge turn arounds and makes major leaps forward in his world view. Not that this takes away from Mina’s story which is an important one that needs to be told. I think in the current climate we need books like these for young people who maybe need their values and beliefs shaken up a bit. All the Michael’s of the world who have been content to believe what their parents believe and never questioned the treatment of asylum seekers in Australia.
It is fun to watch Michael reconcile his preconceived ideas of what a Muslim girl should be, which he learned from his parents, with the Game of Thrones watching, indi music loving, jean wearing Mina. The book does a fantastic job of defying stereotypes. Not just from Michael’s point of view but Mina’s also. The cast of supporting characters is fabulous in particular I loved Paula and Nathan, who’s obsession with planes reminded me so much of my own little brother. Both sets of parents were also great. Michael’s Mum and Dad were especially well done. They’re not loud mouth bogans, they truly believe they’re not ignorant and it’s easy to see why Michael would just accept their opinions…as in other aspects of their lives they’re reasonable, generous people and they’re his parents. Why should he question them? But their racism is dangerous in how casual and everyday it is, and how convinced they are that they’re doing the right thing. Abdel-Fattah takes on racism, prejudice and bigotry in a way that can do a lot of good. But I think it just wasn’t enough for me…it seemed very superficial and simplistic and I am loathed to say that because I don’t want to disparage her in anyway. There is no doubt she knows what she’s talking about but as a book about prejudice it wasn’t enough for me to sink my teeth into. Probably because it’s intended for a younger audience than myself…I just can’t stop with the YA, and I think for a teen reader who may’ve never really considered the issues present in the novel this would be a great read. On the whole though, as YA novels go, I like it well enough. There’s some hilarious parts, some heart breaking parts, some swoon-ish parts…all the fun things. For me though, it just didn’t delve in to the politics quite enough to really grab me. I think I was expecting something grittier or edgier or something…even though I hate those words…so cliché. But they’re 17 year old characters…maybe I’m asking too much.
Have you read it? What did you think? What should I read next?
Until next time! xx
Where I got it: iBooks
Cookie Dough 