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15
Ratings1
Average rating2
Far from the "model teen," Naeem moves fast to outrun the eyes of his hardworking Bangladeshi parents, their gossipy neighbors, and the other forms of surveillance in his immigrant neighborhood in Queens, but when his mistakes catch up with him and the police offer a dark deal, will Naeem be a hero or a traitor?
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Got this as a small book set based on reviews and teacher interest and now wish I had read it first. Great premise (and it did have good reviews) but the writing is pretty bad and though it attempts to build tension it really goes nowhere. The characters are both overwritten and underdeveloped and there's some weird anachronistic and awkward writing choices: mentions of chat rooms (this was written in 2016!) and a character at one point “lit some weed” (lol, what?!). Maybe an editor would help but Budhos says this was revised and workshopped with teen readers. Not what I hoped for and I'm not sure how successful it will be as a book group text.
