Trying to give this book some grace because everyone's experience of queerness is different and that's especially true across culture barriers. However, this author is not trans to my knowledge, and as I am (in this book's parlance) both homosexual and transsexual, I find some of the ways transness is treated very upsetting. Not the parts that are different due to the setting, but things like the author's choice to give a trans character's deadname, her decision to show cis people "clocking" a trans woman based on features that don't pass, etc. 

Further, there's an egregious degree of fatphobia that I don't care if it's a cultural thing, it's fucked up to make those observations about anyone.

This book doesn't even have a happy or hopeful ending. It's misery, plus bigotry, for basically nothing. I appreciated the look into modern-ish Iran and what life is like there for queer folks, but some of the purely *fictional* stuff in this book shouldn't ever have to be read by a trans person. Disappointing, as this was otherwise a heartbreakingly relatable story and I like(d) this author.