this story is really fascinating and very real. however, the way it’s written and presented does it such a disservice. while i mostly enjoyed this book, it needed to probably be about double the size to really dive into the religious and cultural aspects, the fallout and the literal trauma that would affect any human who went through what rukhsana did (and her family), and to actually properly develop each character. like the stuff with her nani’s diary felt like a cheap plot device which sucks because it’s, again, a very real and emotional thing that should have been explored more, especially with the ways rukhsana interacts with her mom. 

also i think its fucking wild that she just swallowed the racist bullshit from her friends and girlfriend. idc how long theyve been friends for, she was way to unbothered about it which is just. it shouldn’t have taken her so long to talk to them about it. 

the way this was tied up was honestly lazy storytelling because shit like that does not go down that easy in the end in real life. the only thing i feel okay to suspend my disbelief for is the caltech stuff, but otherwise i seriously just want more from this! it’s very interesting and an important story to tell, i wish there was more of it and presented in a better way.