I found her parents quite refreshing – they are present within the book but not overly and although Shirin doesn’t enjoy the same freedom as her brother, as long as she’s with him, her parents don’t seem to keep too many tabs on her. Shirin doesn’t even confide in her parents, who lived through times far more volatile and dangerous than a bit of high school bullying! She knows they wouldn’t be sympathetic. And Shirin does experience some truly horrific behaviour from her fellow students and for the most part, there’s a blind eye turned. Not that it’s her fault at all – it lies with those who don’t bother to see past what she wears and ask her what it represents to her. She doesn’t seek to ‘fit in’ or conform and I think her lack of that is what makes her even more of her target. It doesn’t seem to be about her just being Muslim – but about her looking different, about her taking a symbol that white people believe oppresses women and having the audacity to wear it in public.

He makes friends easily it seems and mostly what seems to draw people’s attention is the fact that Shirin wears a headscarf. Shirin has a great relationship with her older brother and although it’s not explicitly discussed at length, it’s certainly obvious how her brother’s treatment by other students is different from what Shirin herself experiences. More than once her headscarf is the reason for physical violence and/or humiliation and the best people can do is shrug and say maybe you shouldn’t wear it.įor me, this book’s greatest strengths were in the family relationships and Shirin’s view of the world and her experiences. There are remarks, either oblique or outright made about terrorism, because every Muslim in the world must be the same, right? In class she is subjected to one particularly humiliating moment that the teacher attempted as a ‘leaning process’ but it’s grossly miscalculated and quite unprofessional. She chooses to wear a headscarf (she isn’t required to, or forced to by her parents, it’s something she seems to have given a lot of thought to and has made that decision based on her own feelings) and in the time after 9/11 it’s basically a target on her back.ĭespite being born in America, Shirin is told countless times to go back to where she came from. This lifestyle (and probably a combination of other factors) means that Shirin has never particularly developed close friendships and she tends to go through school not seeing or hearing anyone around her. This is set quite soon after 9/11 and the protagonist is a young woman, who moves around with her Iranian-born family quite often as their parents search for better opportunities. Blurb Muslim in America in a post 9/11 world then Tahereh Mafi is here with the answer.

Ocean james a very large expanse of sea