All My Rage

Sabaa Tahir’s writing captures the waves that pull you from more stable shores in the form of grief, trauma, and all other compounding hardships that seem to spring up when you’re already having a difficult enough time. The choking feeling you fight to stifle by screaming out in rage to some higher power more than capable of saving you, but yet seems to refuse to.

It’s cathartic in its confrontation with grief, healing in its love and forgiveness. It’s real and human and grounded. It’s meditative and contemplative. It’s the exhale I was finally able to muster out.

All My Rage: 5/5 Premise: All My Rage is a depth-defying, heart-breaking, and visceral coming-of-age novel that details the struggles of two Pakistani teenagers and families as they try to follow the American Dream. Writing & Plot: This book is difficult but not for the reasons you may think. Five stars I don't think quantifies my love for this book. At some points, it doesn't even feel like a book, but like a diary. You can feel Sabaa Tahir through the story as her heart bleeds onto the page. This story feels alive like Sabaa Tahir ripped off a piece of her soul and formed it into words for us to read. All My Rage is deeply personal, heartbreaking, and hopeful, almost as if you’re reading something you shouldn't have access to. This book is technically young adult, but I would argue that it’s only because the characters are in high school. All My Rage deals with an onslaught of different emotional and traumatic topics that I think ride the cusp of YA/Adult. Regardless of its placement, All My Rage can be enjoyed by people of all ages (maybe 16+). Characters: Noor and Salahudin are two of the greatest characters I have read in a book. They are messy and complex, but they are real and tangible. This book clearly encompasses so much human experience into one character it’s impossible to not feel for them. Not only does the reader feel intense emotions for our two main characters, but also the incredible side characters as well. I felt the rage they felt, the tears they spilled, the laughter in the air. This book is a journey I am incredibly grateful to have been part of. The romance as well as incredibly heartfelt. The romance plot is such a small piece but added so much. By no means is it perfect and I think that is what I loved about it. I wanted something messy and heartbreaking that felt like it belonged to them, and that is what I received. Conclusion: I’ve never said this before but this entire book screams perfection. It is so emotional I didn't have the capacity to express my internal feelings except to sob. I sobbed through the happy parts, the sad parts, and everything in between. Everything about All My Rage ties together. The cover, the title, even the spacing between the lines makes me rethink how books should be written. This is a cohesive masterpiece and I cannot express my love for it enough. I feel like every book I have ever rated should be knocked down one star, because how can any book that I have read thus far in my life even touch the complexity that is All My Rage. I know that all sounds dramatic but this is my favorite book of all time. It burrowed down inside me and has nestled its way into the deepest parts of my soul. I will never forget this book, and not a day will go by in the near future when I don't think about Noor and Salahudin. It's a story that will stick with you, that you demand your friends to read, or you beg your school system to put in the curriculum. This book is everything. I will never stop talking about it.

"There's more to life than the things in front of you. Sometimes we hold on to things we shouldn't. People. Places. Emotions. We try to control all of it, when what we should be doing is trusting something bigger." -All My Rage, Sabaa Tahir, pg. 364. Trigger warning: drug and alcohol addiction, physical abuse, Islamophobia, mentions of repressed sexual assault, tense exchange with law enforcement, death. This book breaks me, in a really good way. All My Rage is about two teenagers, and a mother--Noor, Salahudin, and Misbah, and how their lives intertwined with each other. How two families deals with the trauma and the cost of dreaming--of leaving everything behind and starting from the scratch. As I stated on the start, this is not an easy read. Noor and Salahudin's journey are rocky and very difficult to read, but reading them and feeling the shards of hope, of remembering, of getting and fixing your mistakes, it's all very worthed it in the end. Misbah's story broke my heart the most, because not only she was a mother that care and love her childrens--all of them fiercely, she is also a very strong woman who had to deal with so much things, and a wise one at that. Sabaa Tahir's writing is extraordinary and it grips you from the start (this book has one of the best opening line I've read "The clouds over Lahore were purple as a gossip's tongue the day my mother told me I would wed), the writing will tugs at your heartstrings, the characters and relationship will stay with you long after you close the book. It is a story about losing and gaining, but at the heart, it is a story about acceptance, forgiveness, and faith. Even when the bleakest moment, the things when faith seems to be slipping off your fingers. Speaking about faith, this book is very much, unapologetically, Muslim. Every character has a complicated and nuanced relationship to the faith itself. Every journey of that in this book is very delighful to read. I can't really put all my feelings towards this book in one review, but I suggest you read it. Read it, then see for yourself how fate, dreams, and a mother's love could spin a whole story of two families.

if Sabaa is gonna do anything she’s gonna put me in a depressive episode and guess what!!!!! She’s done it again!!!

I don’t have enough praise for this book. Breathtaking in all the best ways. 💕 The writing was absolutely beautiful. Lots of trigger warnings: please take them seriously. The book does contain heavy content.

Incredibly raw and beautiful

A very good read with fully drawn characters who you really get to know. There’s a moment when I wanted to shout to the main character “noooooo, don’t do that!!!” And it gave me all kinds of triggery feels–I was genuinely invested in these characters.

The power of forgiveness is unbelievably strong.

i don’t even have words. this was the best book i have read this year and the best book i have read in a while. it was so beautiful, so honest and pure and gentle and brutal. i loved both sal & noor like friends, i rooted for them every step of the way. i loved misbah’s chapters most of all because they were always so beautifully written and the love i could feel from them was always so intense. it’s a wonderful book and i hope many, many people read it because it’s worth all the love and attention. thank you sabaa tahir for this, thank you for representing two broken characters and showing that there is hope for them

Whew. What a book. This book was 5 stars all the way. It's pretty rare that I highlight passages in a fiction book, but Tahir's prose here was so touching & beautiful - the essence of Noor and Salahudin lovingly painted across the page. My inner traumatized teen felt really seen by Tahir & loved and cared for with how Noor & Salahudin's stroy develops and resolves. I teared up quite a bit, had to take a few breaks, and was totally invested in the long haul - signs of an excellent story. Also big shoutout to Tahir for including a content warning page directly in the book. For those trying to decide if you should pick it up here's a brief summary: child abuse (both physical and sexual. Physical happens on page once and is referenced several times, sexual is only referenced), alcohol and drug abuse, racism and Islamophobia, death of a parent, mental illness, generational trauma, among a few others. All are handled with an abundance of love and respect.

The world is cruel and I just want good things for Noor and Salahudin.

continuing my time-honored tradition of reading fiction that follows a family of colour-ish through generations (very ish) except this time it's ya contemporary instead of litfic. anyways, this book broke me

Good? Absolutely. Brilliant? No way. Loved this but the length of the teaser alone tells you how complicated this is. I remember having a slow read here too because it didn’t grab me. Characters I think.

I loved this book so much!!!!

my god this was a tough and emotional read. i feel a massive headache coming through from all the crying i did, but all my rage is worth all the tears. reading this was so heart wrenching, but despite it all, sabaa tahir knows when to give her readers hope. she knows how to verbalize what i'm not able to say about how i feel, and she definitely knows how to make her characters seem so real, that i forgot this was a story and it was going to end. but the thing is, this wasn't just a story. all my rage and its characters raised difficult but important truths about society and about individuals. Salahudin's and Noor's life experiences aren't just their own because it bared heartbreaking truths about people of color and about survivors of abuse. all my rage deserves to be discussed and the issues raised in this book should be taught & shared to people. one day, i would hopefully have the right words to capture how i felt reading this book, but right now, all i can say really is read it. read it, understand it, and talk about it. i can't emphasize enough how much i recommend this. (check trigger warnings!)

honestly, I was nitpicky on one small stuff but I'm rating it 5 stars anyways because it was just THAT GOOD. I love all the three perspectives we follow. Their stories are incredibly heartbreaking and I love how each character is fleshed out and has their own struggles, I also love seeing each character from another's pov. This was definitely not an easy read, it's very heavy to go through, but I think it's an important one. Especially if you're a Muslim or an immigrant or both, you might find yourself relating to some parts, which I really wish that you don't have to. I'm also in awe of how Sabaa Tahir portrayed rage in this book, how much it does consume someone inside out, and the outcome of it. All in all, this is definitely one of my favorite YA contemporaries, even if I don't read them as much.

This is truly such a beautiful story, there are so many emotions. It was one of my favorites of the year! I loved it so much!

Now this book is a lot to take it, and a lot to think about, but it was absolutely beautiful in the most heartbreaking of ways.

Thank you Libro.FM for the Audiobook Listening Copy (I also bought the hardcover for myself). It will come as no surprise to fans of Sabaa’s fantasy series, An Ember in the Ashes quartet, that the characters in All My Rage leap off the page, as real as any high school classmates. This deeply moving and compelling novel sets a new standard for YA contemporary. Please take note of the trigger warnings (provided at the beginning of the audiobook and hardcover text).

"Many authors talk about 'the book of my heart.' I tore this book from my heart. It's a story that demanded to be told, a love letter to the desert and good music and tiny motels and the kinds of friendships that save your life." —Sabaa Tahir This book hurts… a lot. It’s filled with so much pain and grief and hurtful things. But also so many small, beautiful and wonderful things. It speaks volumes. It’s powerful and moving and will definitely leave its mark. It has on me. I devoured 95% of this story in one sitting. It consistently left me hand-to-mouth gasping, tearful and gut-punched throughout, and by the end, bittersweetly and completely whole. I felt for these characters, longed and grieved with them, hoped for them, dreamed with them. Sabaa's writing is stunning. Sal and Noor are childhood best friends, both burdened with so many immense, extraneous situations, when a disastrous event rips them apart. There is a lot of heartbreak and loss in this story - it's devastating and emotionally charged, wrapped up in so much beauty, hope, and healing. It touches on unfathomable things and acute situations that make this a profound and imperative read. "I see now that you were always two halves of a whole, two hands interlaced, two voices raised to a melody sung in time." I’d love to get Salahudin and Noor’s next chapter. 🥺🧡 THIS BOOK HAS: — childhood best friends — all the classic tunes x fantasy nerd things — multiple POVs — young but forever love — tragedy x harsh realities — second chances x rediscovery — family, faith, hope, love — multi-generational x now & then storylines Please be sure to check all the content warnings at the start of the book. Possible Triggers: racism/Islamophobia, drug & alcohol abuse/addiction, child/domestic abuse, repressed trauma, illness, death, tense interactions with law enforcement. Thank you Penguin Teen for the e-arc 🧡

All my Rage is a devastatingly honest, emotionally raw and beautifully written story, told over three individual POVs of their interwoven life within a Pakistani community. Its a story that covers forgiveness, heartache, racism, and love, as these characters struggle with grief and the destructive path it can lead to. The writing is like poetry at times, with myself stopping to reread sections that really made me want to bask in the words for a little bit longer. My favourite part of this book has to be the music references. Music has always been my release, my way to process, and having these little references to songs and albums. These helped me to understand the feelings and thoughts of the characters more, giving the characters more depth and the story more power. This story opened my eyes, the characters touched my heart, and the message will live inside my mind forever. Its everything I expected and so much more.

First of all, I just wanted to thank Razorbill, Sabaa Tahir, and BookishFirst for my chance to read and review this copy of All My Rage. Sabaa Tahir tells the tale of struggle and loss within a collection of Pakistani Muslims, all while striving and surviving the implications that come along with the "American Dream." Narrated from split timelines/POVs, one of a young woman aging and marrying in Pakistan and the other of two Pakistani Muslims in present-day America who undergo issues such as family deaths, alcohol abuse, and even ostracizing Islamaphobia. Beautifully written, be sure to have a box of tissues on hand for this one is sure to rip your heart out. Though it's just a YA novel, Sabaa Tahir hits all the impactful boxes when it comes to telling the cautionary tale of immigrants and their struggle to survive. TW: - Drug + Alcohol Abuse - Sexual Assault References - Physical Abuse - Racism + Islamaphobia - Corrupt Law Enforcement 4/5 Stars

All My Rage takes the reader through Sal and Noor’s emotional journeys of loss, grief, and love. Sal’s mother, Misbah is ill and she is running their family inn all by herself, while taking care of her alcoholic husband. Noor was saved by her uncle after and earthquake in her home in Pakistan, but is forced to work in his liquor shop and discouraged from going to college. Sal and Noor have been childhood friends until a recent fight between them. After Misbah takes a turn for the worse the two of them come together again to help each other make it through the rest of high school, Sal trying to save his family’s inn and Noor trying to find a way into college far from Juniper, CA. The prose, the characters, the setting, is excellent. The story switches between Sal, Noor, and Misbah’s viewpoints and “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop is intertwined throughout. This book is heavy in a lot of ways dealing with addiction, abuse, Islamophobia, and sexual assault that’s been repressed. It is a beautiful and emotional story that leaves an impact. I loved every second and didn’t want it to end. I’m going to be thinking about this book for the next year and recommending it any chance I get. I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.