Tahereh Mafi

An Emotion of Great Delight

Joub

It’s filled with so many gut wrenching emotions.

ayan.

The first thing I have to say is just, wow. I’ve always been a fan of Mafi’s writing style, but the way it compliments this story in particular really pushes the narrative towards excellence.

An Emotion of Great Delight is an emotional exploration that beautifully navigates difficult and overwhelming experiences related to layered identities, loneliness and love, grief and loss, family and relationships. As a racialized muslim living in the west, Shadi’s story resonated with me in ways that popular literature normally doesn’t. My deepest wish is that I could have been cared for by a book like this when I was a teenager, living through many of Shadi’s experiences. 

The only thing that didn’t sit well with me was a specific reference to Burkas in the book, where the intended messaging may be the too nuanced for non-muslim audiences, and potentially support islamophobic interpretations of muslim women. I actually messaged the author about this and she was very kind and receptive; I hope to see this part removed or rewritten in future editions.

4/5 Stars. Would highly recommend 🖤

Julie Rubens

Such a beautiful book! 

I related to this book in so many ways, the internal struggles, but mostly the friendship struggles. The “I know I should let you go but I’m just not ready to” broke me because I’ve experienced it so many times. 

I couldn’t relate to the racial and loss struggles, but I think it’s so important for everyone to read about it! 

I will recommend this book forever and it has 100% become one of my favorite reads in a long time🤍

fatru tamzil

Thiea

Lane Hokanson

From bestselling and National Book Award–nominated author Tahereh Mafi comes a stunning novel about love and loneliness, navigating the hyphen of dual identity, and reclaiming your right to joy—even when you’re trapped in the amber of sorrow. It’s 2003, several months since the US officially declared war on Iraq, and the American political world has evolved. Tensions are high, hate crimes are on the rise, FBI agents are infiltrating local mosques, and the Muslim community is harassed and targeted more than ever. Shadi, who wears hijab, keeps her head down. She's too busy drowning in her own troubles to find the time to deal with bigots. Shadi is named for joy, but she’s haunted by sorrow. Her brother is dead, her father is dying, her mother is falling apart, and her best friend has mysteriously dropped out of her life. And then, of course, there’s the small matter of her heart— It’s broken. Shadi tries to navigate her crumbling world by soldiering through, saying nothing. She devours her own pain, each day retreating farther and farther inside herself until finally, one day, everything changes. She explodes. An Emotion of Great Delight is a searing look into the world of a single Muslim family in the wake of 9/11. It’s about a child of immigrants forging a blurry identity, falling in love, and finding hope—in the midst of a modern war.

Marloes

Yasmin H

** spoiler alert **
           'I lived, always, on the uncertain plane of a hyphen.'

An Emotion of Great Delight follows Shadi, as she overcomes the challenges she faces, purely because she wears a headscarf. After the tragic death of her much loved brother, Shadi's father being hospitalized following his second heart attack and her mother struggling to cope - Shadi finds her life is crumbling into a million pieces.

Shadi's ex best friend Zahra and her brother Ali make her life even more complicated and confusing. Should she be in love with him? Should Shadi and Zahra become close once more? 

I would highly recommend this book as it portrays the challenges people go through because of where they come from and what their religious beliefs are. This book is very fast paced and informative. I like how in this book, some characters speak in Farsi, which is then translated into English. This makes the book more interesting.

Livie Isbill

this book felt like high school, but in the depressing and depths of your mind kind of way. The story related with some of my experiences heavily, and made me feel understood in a way I didn’t feel possible by a book. A sad story, but a real story

Shafia Ghassani

huh? what was that? no i love A very large expanse of sea better

Mariana Correia

4.5 stars 
A rather short book, yet so complex. A story about broken family dynamics, grief, religion, friendship and love. Also, a story about fear, about pain and hopelessness. I genuinely related to Shadi’s family and friendship struggles. Her messed relationship with her father, her situation with you know who. Also, I want to shed light on her mom and Ali’s characters!!!! Extremely important, well rounded, deep characters. I was worried she would close this one like she did “A Very Large Expanse of Sea”, because AVLEoS’s end left me kind of “unsatisfied”, but I can see her improvement. I felt like I got what I needed in the end of the book. Tahereh Mafi’s YA contemporary are an auto buy for me, from now on. Really glad I pre order this book and was able to support such a beautiful, heart wrenching story as this one.

Sofi Claros

HERE COMES TAHEREH MAFI WITH ANOTHER SAD BOOK AND IM HERE FOR IT

Edit: Now that I've finished the book, I know that I was right, this was a sad book. After absolutely loving AVLEOS I had such high hoper for this one, and I really liked it, and Tahereh's writting is so beautiful! But just 4/5 stars for this one, just because at the end it felt kinda... unfinished? If it makes sense? I have no problem with open endings when you can like guess what happens next? But with this one I have absolutely no idea what could happen next.
But putting that aside, this book talks about such important topics like grief, depression, self harm... It really touched me, Tahereh Mafi is a goddess, I would read her shopping list without a doubt because I love how she writtes✨
Also that cover? AMAZING

Also, I'm not going to talk about muslim rep or something like that because I feel it's not my place, and I have no ground to stand on and judge ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I finished this in just one sitting and all around continue to adore Mafi's storytelling! I found AEoGD heartbreaking and devastating yet incredibly beautiful and filled with so much love and hope. There's dual timelines, first love, family, Middle Eastern culture, heartbreak and grief. Mafi’s writing continues to be poetic and lyrical with subtle notes of humor and hands down beautifully written prose. ⁣⁣⁣And her attention to detail and awareness of mental + emotional health always speaks so strongly to me. If you're a fan of All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir, you should pick this up!

Content Warnings: racism/microaggressions, self harm, friendship break up, events after 9/11, death of a family member, car accident, drunk driving

Leah | @LeahsLittlePleasures

I finished this in just one sitting and all around continue to adore Mafi's storytelling! I found AEoGD heartbreaking and devastating yet incredibly beautiful and filled with so much love and hope. There's dual timelines, first love, family, Middle Eastern culture, heartbreak and grief. Mafi’s writing continues to be poetic and lyrical with subtle notes of humor and hands down beautifully written prose. ⁣⁣⁣And her attention to detail and awareness of mental + emotional health always speaks so strongly to me. If you're a fan of All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir, you should pick this up!

Content Warnings: racism/microaggressions, self harm, friendship break up, events after 9/11, death of a family member, car accident, drunk driving

Marlie Carter

I was lucky enough to read this book before it was published, I got it for free at a bookstore because the owners weren't allowed to sell it yet, but the publishers had given a copy to them, it was really good, forbidden romance, slight enemies to lovers

Stephanie Midolo

This book should be called You'll Start Crying on Page 73 and Never Stop Until the End of the Book.

Shadi said "Shadi means joy and all I do is cry." and I felt that.

Mana 

i am so overwhelmed by this book that i just cannot grasp what i read. as the title said: his book made me feel so confused and lost. the story is lacking depth and it is very vague. 

you don’t experience any character development, it is a bunch of unknotted ties that have been put together, at the end it leaves you with more questions.

Elena Enns

I quite enjoyed this book. It felt realistic to me, in a way that in life there aren’t usually resolutions to these things that cause us emotions. While I did really want Shadi’s family or some adult in her life to see what was happening, often that isn’t the case and that was showcased here. 
A wonderful new novel

Su Ah Lee

Nikki Sojkowski

**I was given an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**

An Emotion of Great Delight follows Shadi, a high school student who wears hijab, during 2002 and 2003. The alternating timelines slowly reveal changes in her world, her family, and herself that is an eye-opening must read. After 9/11 and a drunk driving incident, Shadi's life is turned upside down. Strangers alienate her from her own American roots, her best friend is abandoning her, and Shadi is withdrawing from her family and classes—all culminating in situations and choices that were heart-breaking to read. While there is no denying that this is an overwhelmingly sad book, the take away is one of healing and growth. Tahereh Mafi has crafted a beautifully touching realistic fiction piece about finding hope and love through trauma.

Jadyn Post

Oh my wow. Someone once told me to rate something 5 stars, you have to believe you can read it again right away. As soon as I finished, I wanted to read it again so I could annotate it. Mafi just had this heartbreaking and real way of describing emotions that are so hard to put into words. WELL I HAVE NO WORDS FOR HOW GOOD AND SAD THIS BOOK IS. AMAZING. GO READ RN.

Leonie

I have mixed feelings about this book.
It tackles some very heavy topics, and I feel like I should’ve felt more invested in the story and the characters. But honestly, I didn’t connect at all. I simply didn’t care about what happened to Shadi and found myself bored quite early into the book.
The ending left me completely unsatisfied, nothing was resolved.
Definitely not my favourite out of Tahereh Mafi‘s books.


[I received a free ALC via Libro.fm in exchange for an honest review.]

caro(lee)na

this book started suddenly and ended suddenly. i don’t think the main character felt happy once in the book and she externalized every sad emotion she had. didn’t understand the timeline at all. would’ve given it 1 star if it weren’t for tahereh mafi’s beautiful writing style.

An Emotion of Great Delight

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