How It All Blew Up
Ratings14
Average rating3.3
Arvin Ahmadi has written a novel that is authentic, hilarious and heart-wrenching all at once. A unique point of view combined with riveting storytelling, How It All Blew Up will grab you from the first page and won't let go - Angie Thomas, #1 New York Times bestselling author of THE HATE U GIVE and ON THE COME UP Eighteen-year-old Amir Azadi always knew that coming out to his Muslim family would be messy, but he wasn't expecting it to end in an airport interrogation room. Now, he's telling his side of the story to the stern-faced officer. Amir has to explain why he ran away to Rome (boys, bullies, blackmail) and what he was doing there for a month (dates in the Sistine Chapel, friends who helped him accept who he is, and, of course, drama) . . . all while his mum, dad and little sister are being interrogated in the room next door. A nuanced take on growing up brown, Muslim and gay in today's America, HOW IT ALL BLEW UP is the story of one boy's struggle to come out to his family, and how that painful process exists right alongside his silly, sexy romp through Italy.
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A sweet coming of age story, an encounter of two cultures and the discovery of the self. It was not the greatest book ever but the story was really sweet, the setting and the actors were lovable and I really enjoyed spending some time in Rome with all of them. And also discovering new bits of the Persian culture!
This might sound weird, but gay people might be genuinely more interesting than straight people. This book was also pitched to me as funny, but in actuality, it wasn't that funny. The first sentence is amusing, but otherwise, it's the characters' charisma and our protagonist Amir's emotional interiority that draws you in, and it's quite effective with it. I especially liked how we got the different perspectives of each family member toward the end. The nuance in the writing conveys well how personal this story is to the author.
