One shudders to think about what kids who are “different” in any way have to endure. And yet, it is so hard to resist the pull toward him she feels.ĭiscussion: Mafi said in an interview that this novel was inspired by her own time in high school. She feels the need to protect him from what she knows will happen his white privilege has made him oblivious to the particular cruelty he would be facing by being open about his feelings for Shirin. But if they were to have a relationship, could it hold up against the reaction of their classmates and the community at large? Furthermore, while Shirin knows from past experience what to expect, she worries over how would it affect Ocean. And Shirin finds it harder and harder to resist his overtures. He willingly admits his ignorance over her culture and expresses embarrassment about it. He is kind, funny, and seems genuinely interested in getting to know Shirin.
Her newly assigned bio partner, Ocean James, a year older at 17, is different than the rest. ‘I’m just - I’m sick and tired of trying to explain to the world why racism is bad, okay? Why is that my job?’” I’m tired of begging everyone to understand that people of color aren’t all the same, that we don’t all believe the same things or feel the same things or experience the world the same way.’ I shook my head, hard. I’m tired of trying to explain why I don’t deserve to be treated like a piece of shit all the time. I’ve been trying to educate people for years and it’s exhausting. After one of her teachers subjected her to an incredibly insensitive episode in class, she wanted to drop his class, and he tried to convince her to stay. But Shirin is stronger than she realizes, and remarkably mature and self-confident, and that also helps. Shirin won’t stop wearing the hijab though she likes, and even needs, the power she feels it gives her over her own body. I was still so easily, pathetically, punctured.” She thinks she is weak though because she does get hurt: “I still cared too much. She also works out her frustrations physically by practicing break-dancing after school with her brother and some of his friends. Mostly she tries to tune it all out (literally) by listening to music all day through headphones that are invisible because of her hijab. Since the attack on 9/11, however, it has gotten much worse.
Shirin has a virtual spike-covered wall around her to protect her from the slings and arrows of degrading, ill-informed, and cruel insults from fellow high schoolers and even high school teachers. Navid has an easier time adjusting than Shirin he is a good-looking male who can protect himself, and perhaps most importantly, he doesn’t wear a head scarf, as does Shirin. Shirin and her older brother Navid have moved a lot, because her parents are always trying to improve their lives. This short young adult novel about Shirin, a 16-year-old Muslim girl in 2002, born in America to Iranian parents, has won numerous awards, including a nomination for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2018.
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