Title: A Girl Like That
Author: Tanaz Bhathena
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 384
Release Date: February 27, 2018
Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Zarin Wadia is many things: a bright and vivacious student, an orphan, a risk taker. She’s also the kind of girl that parents warn their kids to stay away from: a troublemaker whose many romances are the subject of endless gossip at school. You don’t want to get involved with a girl like that, they say. So how is it that eighteen-year-old Porus Dumasia has only ever had eyes for her? And how did Zarin and Porus end up dead in a car together, crashed on the side of a highway in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia? When the religious police arrive on the scene, everything everyone thought they knew about Zarin is questioned. And as her story is pieced together, told through multiple perspectives, it becomes clear that she was far more than just a girl like that.
This beautifully written debut novel from Tanaz Bhathena reveals a rich and wonderful new world to readers. It tackles complicated issues of race, identity, class, and religion, and paints a portrait of teenage ambition, angst, and alienation that feels both inventive and universal.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. This in no way effects my overall rating of this book.
THIS BOOK.
Y’ALL – THIS. BOOK.
I honestly have no idea how I’m going to write a review cohesively expressing all of my thoughts. To be completely honest, I wasn’t 100% sure what my thoughts were on this book at first.
My mind was a jumbled mess throughout this book. Not because it’s confusing or anything like that. Not by any means. But there was such a culture shock.
From the moment I heard about this book’s release last year I knew it would pack a punch. I honestly wasn’t sure if I wanted to read it because of that but I found that in recent months my reading taste has matured a lot.
This book isn’t one for the faint of heart. But it’s also not one I think you should skip.
I don’t want people sleeping on this book. I want people to buy it and read it and learn from it. I want this book to be the book that will keep people from being so blind about things that happen all of the time in countries that are always overlooked by the news. I want this book to be an eye-opener to show the truth of what really happens to women in countries where they aren’t seen as people with feelings, passions, and dreams.
I can’t say anything about the rep in this book. I have no place in saying if the rep of Hindus, Indians, Saudi Arabians, Abuse victims, Rape and sexual harassment victims, etc. etc. is correct or not because I myself know next to nothing about how these topics should be handled correctly.
BUT. From my knowledge, the way Bhathena wrote the race, identity, class, religion, rape, and abuse was accurate and/or handled it well. This is her debut novel and I was overwhelmed with the way she was able to stuff so much about religion and culture and social issues in her first book.
Going into this book I knew most of the basics about how women are treated in West Asian countries and the Middle East, as well as some of the more simple things about Hinduism and Muslim beliefs.
That being said, I was shocked by the things that are seen as normal and everyday in our main character Zarin’s life. She was always yelled at by her Masi (aunt) about covering herself properly like a girl should, and how she shouldn’t be looking boys in the eye because then she’ll give them the ‘wrong idea’.
I knew that culture and the society’s expectations of women were to cover up and never show your hair or skin or have tightly-fitted clothing around males or generally, in public, but this still gave me a shock as an American that hasn’t read about this before or really seen it on TV.
This book isn’t about Zarin’s death. This is about her life and the events that leaded up to her death. I found this to be an intriguing concept because we read about her and her friend Porus dying from a car crash in the beginning of the book.
Zarin lives a hard life. Her mother and father aren’t around. Her mother died in front of her eyes when she was a child – never truly remembering what happened to her. Her Masi abuses her and keeps her locked away in fear of boys going crazy after her. Her Masa (uncle) speaks against this abuse but never truly does anything to stop it.
As a sign-effect of that she smokes cigarettes on the roof of the school, hangs out with a different array of boys here and there. She becomes the talk of the school – and not in a good way. She builds up a ‘bad’ image of herself. Everyone in school sees her as the girl that always has guys begging on their knees for her, the girl that smokes and skips classes, and overall just doesn’t care.
But the thing is, Zarin has never seen herself truly happy. She is constantly in pain from the trauma of seeing her mother die in front of her at a young age, getting abused by the one that should be taking care of her, and constantly being called the ‘s’ and ‘w’ words at school because of rumors and gossipers.
My Rating: 4.5 Stars
Overall I think that this book is a very important book to read. It opened my eyes and made me have a lot of inner contemplation about my own privilege and injustices that are happening every day and are constantly deemed as ‘normal’. The only thing keeping me from rating this 5 stars is the fact that I wasn’t sure where the plot was going and it never seemed like there was much to resolve since we knew from the beginning that our main character is dead already.
TW: Rape, Sexual Assault, Abuse
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What’s a recent book you’ve read that takes place outside of the United States? Have you read this book yet? Are you planning on reading it? Let me know!
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The Book Prophet 
After reading the blurb, I was like in a serious mode. Then I saw my Sunshine. xDD
Also, why are masis a.k.a the mom’s sister, the villains in books and real life as well? -_-
Anyway, this is definitely a book that one must read. I am adding this to my tbr right now. Great review!
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Tbh I don’t know! But in the book it kind of is explained why?? It is kinda a common trope though!
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Amazing review! I need to read this!
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Thanks! You should 🙂
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This book sounds… wow, it sounds like something I should read like, now:)) Love the synopsis and woah, I definitely see what would make it a book that needs to be read, and I definitely agree. Thanks for including the trigger warnings, though!
Great review ❤
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You should read it as soon as possible 😀 No problem, hope you’re able to read it soon.
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I was waiting for it since I’ve read the blurb. I already knew that it was hard so I wasn’t expecting something different and I’m glad that is this way. To be honest, I’ve hard times to imagine people to do not know, or at least be a little informed, of what is happenning around the world. It always shocks me a bit. I don’t mean to be always ready and know everything but still…
Anyway,I’m kinda prepared for it even if I don’t know how much will I able to take. This might be the next book that I’m gonna slam in the face of every other bookworm I meet
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Even though I am aware that some things are happening around the world, I still always am able to get shocked by stuff that I read/watch because it’s just so different from what I know, living in America and being privileged as I am. I really hope that it’ll end up being the next book you shove in people’s faces haha!
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I WANNA READ IT NOW! But sadly I still don’t have the book yet 😦
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I hope you’re able to get it soon 🙂
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OMG! YOUR REVIEW JUST MADE ME WANT TO READ IT EVEN MOOOOORE ❤ When they first revealed the cover last year, I knew that I had to have it on my shelf and the premise sounded decent, but you just really opened my eyes as to how important of a read this might be. Really great review!
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Thank you 🙂 I had no idea how amazing and important this book would be!
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Oh wow! I am definitely going to buy this book as soon as I can.
Your review was wonderful, and this sounds like a great book.
I like reading this type of book because Muslims from other countries are brought up differently (mostly stricter) from Muslims in Malaysia where I’m from, and it’s always a culture shock for me.
And reading about the main characters from other people’s pov is always so intriguing, because we’ll have to piece up things ourselves.
Oooh, can’t wait to get my hands on this book.
PS – I’ve always wanted to ask, but always end up forgetting when I’m writing a comment haha Did you make the arts in your blog yourself? Or did you get it from freebie websites? If it’s the latter, can I know where? haha I want to look for some but I don’t know where to start 😦
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I think it’d definitely be cool for you to read and compare the cultures and ways the religion is practiced differently than in your country! The really cool thing about this book is that it changes perspectives from Zarin to her friend to even her rapist and other characters to give the reader lots of different perspectives. Especially to see how Zarin and her actions are taken by others around her that don’t know about all of the things she has to deal with on a daily basis. I unfortunately am not creative enough to make the graphics that I use, but I got them from Fox + Hazel and they were free 😀
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Omg I’m so happy you loved this book, Savannah! I’ve been excited for its release for a long time now. And I’m super glad that it seems to be exactly all that I hoped it was!! (I’m just hoping that some readers won’t think that the way Zarin is treated is how everyone in the Middle East/West Asia is treated, though.) Love your review! 💖
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I hope it ends up living up to your expectations when you get around to reading it! Yeah, I’m hoping the same thing. I know that a lot of women go through similar experiences as Zarin, but definitely not all!!
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I first thought, just like I saw Jackie saying in her first comment, that this book was a fun contemporary, I had NO idea it packed a whole lot of emotions and issues in its pages… until a couple days ago, where I saw someone over on twitter mentioning that there was rape / sexual assault in this story. I thought, okay, so there’s more than just a fluffy contemporary here but wow, from your words here, it sounds like such an intense, yet important read. Thank you so much for your enlightening and beautiful and very convincing review. I’ll have to think about this, given the trigger warnings, but maybe I’ll give it a try someday 🙂 Fantastic review! x
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You really wouldn’t know if you didn’t read reviews for it! I heard that it would be emotional and/or important but I had no idea! I’ve read a few reviews on Goodreads but not many of them mention the rape, sexual assault, and abuse which I find odd. Thank you for reading 🙂 Glad my review could help you make your decision about possibly reading it.
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It’s too bad, I think these are pretty massive triggers, more reviewers should mention it right away 🙂 thank you for doing it! ❤
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Yeah, exactly! A blogger I follow said she DNF’d it because there wasn’t a warning before she read it.
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Well, I can understand that. When you’re not expecting it at all and can’t handle these kind of triggers, it’s totally understandable 🙂
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I’ve only really seen the cover for this book and never read the synopsis so I expected this to be a nice contemporary read?? It’s definitely surprising to hear that it deals with so many heavy topics but now I want to read it even more! This was a fantastic review and I’m glad I read it because I’ll DEFINITELY check the book out now! 🙂
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From the cover I was originally expecting a light contemporary as well, but NOPE! It’s a wonderful book so I hope you’ll get the chance to read it soon 😀
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Those J-Hope GIFs! I could hear him in my head while looking at them! Hahahaha. I’m also glad to see you liked the book 😀
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jHOPPEEEEEE ❤ I'm happy I ended up liking it as well haha
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oh my god, this book is going to destroy me. i’m prepared for total nervous collapse. i love this review so much??? i love a book that opens my mind to different cultures, REP, etc. and of course the cover????????? *adds to tbr*
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Prepare the tissues and damage to the feels! Awe thanks, hope you’re able to read it soon 🙂
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Beautiful review! I’ll definitely be checking out this book 😀
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Thanks 😀 It’s a great book!
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Ah, this book sounds absolutely fantastic! I’m so glad that you really enjoyed it! Don’t know when I’ll get the chance to pick it up, but hopefully soon! 😄
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It was fantastic 😀 Hope you’re able to soon as well – a lot of people haven’t spread their opinions on it yet that I’ve seen so I’m interested in seeing how some of my fellow bloggers end up feeling about it.
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