A Place for Us – Fatima Farheen Mirza

A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza

My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Received: Penguin Random House Canada
Published: 2018
Publisher: SJP for Hogarth
Recommended Age: 14+
Genres & Themes: Adult, Literary Fiction, Tradition, Contemporary, Family Relationships

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REVIEW:

Fatima Farheen Mirza writes like she has something to prove. Like she wants to impress, to show her skill. Her writing style is so dense it literally took me three whole hours to read a meagre eighty pages. It wasn’t that I wasn’t interested in the story. Actually, the day I received it, I almost jumped, that’s how excited I was to hold it. And I was really curious about the family drama that the premise promised.

Normal People – Sally Rooney

Normal People by Sally Rooney

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Received: Penguin Random House Canada
Published: April 16th, 2019
Publisher: Knopf Canada
Recommended Age: 14+
Genres & Themes: Adult, Literary Fiction, Romance, College, Coming of Age, Bullying, Popularity

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REVIEW:

This book did not affect me in the same way it seems to have affected other people. It did not make me angry, or sad, and did not move me, really. That is because I never cared for Marianne or Connell. Sometimes I even hated them. Usually, I do. Usually, I care about the protagonists I read about, especially when they show their vulnerabilities to me. And I did enjoy reading about this on-and-off (almost) couple. Because they are so, so humanly flawed. But they are not exactly likeable.