A Pure Heart by Rajia Hassib

A PURE HEART by Rajia Hassib received well-deserved starred reviews from both Booklist and Kirkus. This is the contemporary story of two Egyptian sisters.  One, Fayrouz, chooses to be called Rose and is an archeologist who marries an American journalist, studies at Columbia University and eventually works at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The other sister, Gameela, is more obviously religious (for example, she wears a hijab), harbors a number of secrets, and is killed in a suicide bombing. Hassib uses flashbacks to develop the characters and motivations of both sisters. She deftly weaves in questions of fate and identity: [Rose] “thinks that maybe there are multiple versions of her, too, just as there are multiple versions of him and multiple versions of Gameela, and that her different Roses will have to learn to co-exist, that Gameela’s sister and Mark’s wife cannot go on believing they are enemies …” and of faith: “so much of faith as she [Gameela] understood it lay in a constant struggle to improve oneself, in the true meaning of jihad as an ongoing striving to be better, to do better, to let go of egotistic, selfish notions….”   A PURE HEART is very informative about Egyptian culture and history; plus, this novel explores so much more, including family relationships, sibling jealousy, dissent, poverty, privilege, religion, the role of women, guilt, after-life and death. This would be an excellent title for our Global Voices students as well as adventurous book groups.  

More YA debut fiction ...

OUT OF THE BLUE by Sophie Cameron is an emotional coming of age story.  The main character in this debut novel is 16 year-old Jaya. She recently lost her Mom in a freak accident, feels abandoned by her first girlfriend, and is angry with her father. He has quit his job and temporarily uprooted the family including her younger sister in order to pursue a quest to find a Being. Yes, Beings (or angels) have been falling from the sky and no one knows why. 

Sounds strange, right? But I really liked OUT OF THE BLUE much more than I thought I would.  Jaya is an appealing character and her adventures in Edinburgh somehow felt plausible despite the idea that she is the one to find a Being who is the first to miraculously survive the fall to Earth. Jaya enlists new activist friends Allie and Calum to protect and hide the Being from fanatic cults and exploitation. Cameron provides a very read-able (790 lexile) exploration of mortality and grief, while also probing the consequences of good intentions and their impact on both friends and family relationships. OUT OF THE BLUE credibly reflects a diverse society (including biracial, lesbian and disabled characters) and received starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal (grades 9 and up).  Look for it on our shelves.

THEY COME IN ALL COLORS by Malcolm Hansen is another debut novel that features a biracial character, Huey Fairchild.  The story begins in early 1960s rural Georgia when Huey is a child and the local pool is closed rather than being opened to Black swimmers. He and his Mom move to New York where he is given a scholarship to a private school; the only other person of color there is the janitor. I was intrigued by the time period and premise; plus, Malcolm Hansen has some first-hand experience on which to draw since he, too, is biracial and moved quite a bit as a child. Hansen is a talented writer; for example, he memorably describes how young Huey met his Mom at a diner and “jumped into a booth beside her and squeezed her like she was the very last of the toothpaste.” However, THEY COME IN ALL COLORS seemed very disjointed with the story moving back and forth between Huey (age 8) in Georgia and New York (as a teenager). Like many young people, Huey is uncomfortable with being different, but he is very naïve about it, too, and that stretches believability. I found it difficult to develop empathy for Huey and this feeling was reinforced as he frequently acts out and invites trouble for himself and his Mom.

Hansen does prompt readers to think about important points like the assumptions we make.  Here, Huey describes a baseball error where one outfielder was not able to avoid another: “[I] explained to Suzie that Chacon was from Puerto Rico, which is why he wasn’t able to call off Thomas in English.  She asked if that was where my family was from. I’m from Georgia, I answered. I couldn’t believe what came out her mouth next. Oh. So-you’re American?”

Sadly, THEY COME IN ALL COLORS, like in the above passage, was made much more difficult to follow because of the absence of any quotation marks and overall I would have preferred a more linear, traditional telling. 

GOODBYE DAYS by Jeff Zentner

GOODBYE DAYS by Jeff Zentner (March 7, Crown) deals with grief, loss, guilt, death and high school friendships. This title definitely falls into the realistic fiction category as the main character, Carver, copes with his friends’ deaths due to texting while driving.  And, coincidentally, distracted driving was the cover story for last week’s Upfront Magazine which is written for high school students.   

Of course, Carver is sad to have lost Sauce Crew, his 3 best friends (Blake, Eli and Mars), but I did feel that at over 400 pages long the story dragged at points. Perhaps this pacing was intentional in order to mirror Carver‘s feelings of loss and depression as he experiences panic attacks and faces charges of criminal negligence. The reading experience is emotionally intense at times.

The writing itself is stellar, even if the internal monologues are a bit mature for a high school boy: “I wonder if the actions we take and the words we speak are like throwing pebbles into a pond; they send ripples that extend farther out from the center until finally they break on the bank or disappear.  I wonder if somewhere in the universe, there’s still a ripple that’s Blake and I sitting in this living room, laughing ourselves silly. Maybe it’ll break on some bank somewhere in the vast sky beyond our sight.  Maybe it’ll disappear. Or maybe it’ll keep travelling on for eternity.” Truly, the best parts of this book are brief flashbacks and humorous dialogue between the friends.  An online discussion guide is available and GOODBYE DAYS received starred reviews from both Booklist and Publishers Weekly.  Zentner also wrote The Serpent King which was just nominated for 2018 Abe Lincoln Award.