A Very Large Expanse of Sea

This is a YA romance featuring a Muslim heroine who wears a headscarf, named Shirin. She meets Ocean, a white boy, in her biology class, and they strike up a hesitant relationship in which Shirin doesn't want to fall in love and wants to protect herself because her family is constantly moving around and people everywhere are awful to her. Not really a spoiler, since it's a romance... she falls in love anyway, but not without a lot of pushing and pulling on both sides.

things I loved about this book
Shirin was a realistic teenage girl with rough edges - there was no skimming over the awful shit she had to go through everyday, and her constant anger was understandable, and I could even understand the reasons for trying to keep her distance from Ocean.

Shirin's relationships with her brother and his friends as they worked together to learn breakdancing was just the best. Their rapport was sweet, and honest, and the closest thing we see to actual friendship in Shirin's life.

Shirin's willingness, with certain people, to have conversations about variations of faith, and what her scarf means for her, and how it's different than for Amna, the other Muslim girl in the story that Shirin meets.

Also breakdancing is really cool.

At least within the context of this book, Shirin was not willing to be the person who educates others on why racism is not okay. She stood up for herself as best she could.

Its realistic portrayal of the awfulness and short-sightedness of high school.

things I didn't love about this book
I love romance and strong heroines, and I know this is YA, and I remember being in love in high school ... but it bugged me that her relationship with Ocean seemed to be so all-consuming for both of them. I know she had her breakdancing thing and Ocean was on the basketball team, but he didn't seem to have any friends he ever hung out with, and she was notorious about not getting involved in school stuff, and so it seemed like they didn't really DO anything but Relationship Intensely. I wish it had included way more about the breakdancing or like, her family, in addition to being a love story.

Was I just naive in high school, or are people really skipping school this much? Like, leaving campus ALL THE TIME.

CW: racism, Islamophobia