Saints and Misfits

Yet another debut novel that I loved! Saints and Misfits covers a few months in the life of Janna, a Muslim high school student. It opens with her assault by “the monster” as she names him, a well-respected Muslim boy at her mosque. The book covers some normal high school events - finding out her crush likes her back, sneaking up to the roof of the school to talk to her best friend, struggling with her parents not understanding her - but also involves things unique to her experience. She has to exist in the same spaces as her assailant, and she's better at it some times than others. She has to find a way to deal with leaked photos of her in gym class without her hijab. (Her gym classes aren't co-ed, so it's okay to be without her hijab - it's not okay for men to see her that way.) Meanwhile, she's playing chaperone for her brother's courtship, and being forced to share a room with her mother because her brother is moving back in with them.

It's an interesting, fairly light read about a culture Americans like to demonize, and a topic that doesn't get enough attention. I enjoyed Janna's personality and determination, and her relationship with the senior citizen she helps take care of down the hall.

I liked the ending. It showed her slowly building up the courage to confront her assailant, and then doing so. While we didn't get a concrete resolution, it was strongly implied, and I'm okay with that.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Janna is dealing with a set of normal teenage issues—crushes, negotiating spending time with her divorced mother and father, and deciding how she feels about her brother’s possible soon-to-be fiancée—but she has one big secret that is tearing her apart inside: a boy who everyone at her mosque believes is a wonderful young man has done something terrible to her, and she doesn’t know how to respond. Follow Janna’s story as she juggles these issues and, along the way, discovers who in her life is really going to be there for her and even meets some unexpected allies.