tahereh mafi a very large expanse of sea

Tahereh's prose is passionate and honest, unsentimental and big-hearted. It's tender and fierce, beautiful even as it depicts some ugly truths. A transcendent story about truth, love, and finding joy.' - Marie Lu, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Warcross series ' A Very Large Expanse of Sea reads like a beautiful heart-one that shines and aches and yearns, and above all else, one that loves fiercely against all odds.

Tahereh Mafi holds nothing back-and the reader is better for it.' - Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Ember in the Ashes series 'A raw yet astoundingly elegant examination of identity, loneliness and family that is unflinching in its honesty and power. 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. He's the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother.īut then she meets Ocean James. So she's built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. 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. Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. 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. (Oct.Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature!įrom the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Shatter Me series comes a powerful, heartrending contemporary novel about fear, first love, and the devastating impact of prejudice.

Mafi openly addresses many common misconceptions about Islam and what it means to be a woman of color in the face of racism, showing how differences can be applauded, not feared. Mafi (the Shatter Me series) infuses a contemporary love story with a heartbreakingly realistic portrait of one post-9/11 Muslim life in the United States. Meanwhile, Shirin finds solace by starting a breakdancing crew with her brother and his friends. But the new couple soon becomes targets of racism, xenophobia, and bigotry. Against her better judgment, Shirin lets Ocean in and slowly begins to fall for him. That is, until she meets Ocean James in her biology class.

She rages at those who assume that her religion and headscarf make her a terrorist, but instead of letting her anger “grip both sides of my mouth open and rip me in half,” she uses indifference as armor against the hostile stares of her peers. Hijabi Shirin, 16, starts at a new school in small-town America shortly after 9/11.

Tahereh mafi a very large expanse of sea