Skip to main content

Five Reasons To Read A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

This month, the book club that I have been taking part in with Alex and Rachel have been reading A Very Large Expanse of Sea. All of us enjoyed the book although I did have some problems it that is for another post. In this one, I would like to explore why you should read A Very Large Expanse of Sea. So let's get started...

 Number 5: The Romance

Although I wasn't a massive fan of the romance at the beginning, Ocean and Shirin's romance really blossoms throughout the book. It is complex and they have ups and downs like any teen romance would. There is also a need for romance and it is just really nice and cute for the most part. The romance also is effective in the text and messaging format which makes the book even better.

Number 4: The Complex Characters

I think that I do really love Shirin as a character. You definitely see her develop throughout the book and I think that Mafi does a great job overall. Also, I think that Ocean is a really great character too. They both have problems in their lives and have to deal with it throughout the book. Also, I loved the links to Shirin's culture and her brothers were also really good characters and added to the story.

Number 3: YA and Hobbies
I remember seeing a video a couple of years ago that was basically that we need more hobbies in books and although we do see this to some extent, it's not often. This book does feature a hobby: break dancing. I have to say that like many others reading the book I don't have much knowledge on the subject so it was nice to learn more about this as a dance form and for a character to do something in their time except reading. (I am definitely not dissing reading guys.)

Number 2: The Writing

After reading the Shatter Me series I did enjoy Mafi's writing but it was a little flowery and poetic. AVLEOS is different. It has straight-talking characters and it fits the straight to the point writing and Shirin's character which was great. It was also easy to read and explores and develops Shirin as a character.

Number 1: How the book deals with xenophobia

Being a book that deals with a Muslim character after 9/11, the book was always going to deal with this. Mafi also has personal links to the subject so this makes the book deeply personal and raw. I felt for Shirin the whole story and the ideas that are explored are so powerful. It was addressing these issues head-on and I really loved this part. The way she dealt with this made her a great character and this was great to read about. 

A Very Large Expanse of Sea

Here is a summary of the book...

It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped.

Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments—even the physical violence—she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. So she’s built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother.

But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. It terrifies her—they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds—and Shirin has had her guard up for so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to let it down.

Check out the other members of The Three Hallows here:








Have you read A Very Large Expanse of Sea? Let me know in the comments below. 

See you soon,

Amy

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: The Great Godden by Meg Rossoff

   * I am reviewing this book which I was gifted for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. * Title: The Great Godden  Author: Meg Rossoff Publisher: Bloomsbury  Source: NetGalley ( Bookshop UK |  Hive |  Goodreads  |  Storygraph ) Book Summary: Everyone talks about falling in love like it’s the most miraculous, life-changing thing in the world. Something happens, they say, and you know … That’s what happened when I met Kit Godden. I looked into his eyes and I knew. Only everyone else knew too. Everyone else felt exactly the same way. This is the story of one family, one dreamy summer – the summer when everything changes. In a holiday house by the sea, our watchful narrator sees everything, including many things they shouldn’t, as their brother and sisters, parents and older cousins fill hot days with wine and games and planning a wedding. Enter two brothers – irresistible, charming, languidly sexy Kit a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reviewing All Of The Books

Earlier this year, I decided that I would review all of the books that I read. For the most part, I definitely have but over the last couple of months it has definitely gone to the wayside but that is because I have been so busy. I wanted to do it because I annoyed myself that I reviewed books years after I read them and I often couldn't remember the plot. Trust me this is still the case, but I have kind of run out of books that I need to review this year which is weird for me. My backlog is getting lower and as I am not reading as much, I genuinely think I might run out. This has never happened before. This is of course quite nice because I think that it creates feelings that are much better than remembering a book from two years ago. Thinking about it at the moment does definitely make it easier as it goes into my head on a computer screen and less memory space is always a good idea. I also do think that sometimes it does take the fun out of it though but there are a lot of benef...
Post a Comment
Read more

Popsugar Reading Challenge 2021 Wrap Up

Every year since 2015, I have had the Popsugar Reading Challenge to diversify my reading. Over the course of the last year, I would like to think that I have done this and looking at did a good job considering I have been so busy over the last year. Even though I did actually have a plan of a book to read for almost all of the prompts, I did just wing it for the latter half of the year. This was because I was just reading what I wanted to and because I was not really reading at all.  So let's see what I read this year... A book that’s published in 2021    Book I Want To Read: Gut Feelings by C. G. Moore Book I Actually Read: Gut Feelings by C.G. Moore An Afrofuturist book Book I Want To Read: The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin  Book I Actually Read:  The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin A book that has a heart, diamond, club, or spade on the cover  Book I Want To Read: Heartbreak Boys by Simon James Green Book I Actually Read: Ace of Spades by Faridah À...
Post a Comment
Read more