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in his adult novel debut, award-winner Tochi Onyebuchi delivers a sweeping science fiction epic in the vein of Station Eleven. In the 2050s, Earth has begun to empty. Those with the means and privilege have departed the cities of the US for the more comfortable confines of space colonies. Those left behind salvage what they can from the collapsing infrastructure. As they eke out an existence, their neighborhoods are being cannibalized. In Goliath, Onyebuchi delivers a primal biblical epic flung into the future, weaving together disparate narratives into a richly urgent mosaic about race, class, and gentrification—coming January 2022.
Welcome to Read This Book, a newsletter where I recommend one book that should absolutely be put at the top of your TBR pile. Recommended books will vary across genre and age category and include shiny new books, older books you may have missed, and some classics I suggest finally getting around to. Make space for another pile of books on your floor! Also, check out our new podcast Adaptation Nation, all about TV and film adaptations of your favorite books!
Today’s pick is a queer young adult romance by one of my fellow Rioters!
The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar
Our narrator and protagonist is Nishat. Nishat’s parents are Bangladeshi immigrants and they all live in Ireland. Nishat is super close to her younger (and very social) sister, Priti. The story starts with Nishat making the decision that she is going to come out as a lesbian to her fairly traditional parents. She steels herself to her decision while at Sunny Apu’s engagement party (Sunny Apu is a very distant relative but the closest they have in Ireland). That evening, Nishat goes to Google translate and figures out how to say lesbian in Bengali and plans her script.
The next morning while having her tea in the kitchen, she comes out to her parents. Their reaction isn’t extreme in the way that she was expecting. It was actually very cold. By the way, she didn’t tell Priti she was doing this. Priti knows Nishat is a lesbian, but didn’t know that she had decided to come out at that time. Later Nishat overhears her parents having a discussion that basically amounts to them thinking she’s in a phase and that she’ll grow out of being attracted to women.
Not long after is Sunny Apu’s wedding. The wedding party goes to get their henna done at the salon but Nishat isn’t feeling super social so she, an amateur henna artist, decides to do hers and Priti’s henna herself and it turns out pretty well! At the wedding, Nishat meets a beautiful girl named Flávia, well, re-meets her (they went to school together when they were much younger). Flávia has moved back and will be at the same school. Unfortunately, we learn that Flávia is also the cousin of Nishat’s mortal enemy, Chyna.
There is lots of secondary school (high school) drama, not the least of which is in the title of this book. The students need to make their own businesses. It’s a competition. It gets ugly but then it also gets so sweet and lovely because hey, it’s a romance!
Content warnings for racism, homophobia, bullying, and a queer character being outed.
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That’s it for now, book-lovers!
Patricia
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