I enjoyed it and found it to be extremely enlightening. A Very Large Expanse of Sea is a beautifully written story. Shirin manages to find passion and a love for breakdancing and music and as a result discovers who she is as a result. The story takes the reader on a journey of discovery and is full of emotion, anger, sadness, and raw insight into the life of a young Muslim girl who struggles to find herself in a world that sees her in such a negative manner. The story portrays the struggles Shirin ensures and how prejudice takes a hold of her life for so long that she closes herself off to the world. The struggles this novel portrays captivates its readers and brings awareness to the prejudices a young, innocent girl received as a result of her culture and religion. It is such a powerful story, one that opens up to the public to reveal the story of a struggling teen during turbulent times. After reading the amazing series, I decided to read more of Tahereh Mafi’s work, and this novel did not disappoint. It terrifies her - they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds - and Shirin has had her guard up for so long that she's not sure she'll ever be able to let it down.Ī Very Large Expanse of Sea was a novel I picked up after reading the Shatter Me series. He's the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother.īut then she meets Ocean James. So she's built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. She's tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments - even the physical violence - she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. It's an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a 16-year-old Muslim girl who's tired of being stereotyped. From the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of the Shatter Me series comes a powerful, heartrending contemporary novel about fear, first love, and the devastating impact of prejudice.

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