Thursday, March 12, 2020

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

Title: A Very Large Expanse of Sea
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: October 16, 2018

Format: Hardcover
Price: $18.99
Page Count: 320 pages
ISBN-13: 9780062866561

Reading Level: Grades 9 and up (ages 14+)
Interest Level: Grades 9 and up (ages 14+)

Annotation: Muslim teenager Shirin keeps to herself after the events of 9/11, when no one looks at her with kind eyes, until she meets Ocean.

Plot and Content Summary: As a Muslim girl going to school in the United States after the events of 9/11, Shirin is tired of the rude stares and comments from people who pass her on the street. Her hijab causes people around her to play into the negative stereotypes they choose to believe, but they do not even know her. Shirin has learned to ignore everyone, putting all her energy into break-dancing after school. But when she meets Ocean in class, things start to change. He is not pretending to be kind to her—he actually cares for her as a human being.

Evaluation: Right from the start, it was easy to see things from Shirin's point of view. Mafi writes from her own experience, and it is sad to see how broken our world is. However, there are gems like Ocean. Ocean sees Shirin for who she really is, and wants to get to know her. When he visits her family, he admits there are things from her culture that he does not know—but he is willing to learn. Shirin is not perfect either, but she is willing to own up to her mistakes. Mafi does so well at creating cute moments without it being too cheesy or over the top. Shirin's story was told in such a simple but effective way. It was heartbreaking how she has learned to just expect people to be mean to her because of how she looks, but she also realizes that she was also treating people poorly too. She owns up to her mistakes, which is something we all need to work at.

Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: Due to the events of 9/11, Shirin faces a lot of discrimination because she is Muslim. Like Shirin, many others do too. Would teens read this book and recognize that everyone is a human being, and no one deserves to be treated just for the things they wear or the culture they come from. For teens who feel just like Shirin, I hope you find someone like Ocean. Not necessarily a romantic relationship, but an ally who is supportive and seeks to know the best in you.

Issues Present: If A Very Large Expanse of Sea were to be challenged or banned, it would be for islamophobia (or racism and/or discrimination). Those who challenged The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini stated that it would "promote Islam" (Gomez, 2018), which I assume would be applied in this case as well. However, this is a book that does not talk about religion much—the focus is on a girl who happens to be Muslim. A Very Large Expanse of Sea encourages everyone to love people and treat them with kindness, no matter how they treat us back. If you take the time to read this book and look at the overall message, you would see this.

Book Talk Ideas: "I was so raw from repeated exposure to cruelty that now even the most minor abrasions left a mark ... I never knew—I had no way of knowing—Are you racist? Or are you just having a bad day?" (p. 110)

  • Describe Shirin's personality. How does this differ/look the same as how you view others?
  • How does Shirin's parents affect her struggle? (p. 13)
  • What are the dynamics between Shirin and her brother, Navid, and how do they look at the world differently? (p. 107)
  • How does Ocean change the way Shirin views others?
  • Discuss Shirin and the way her feelings about people change through the course of the novel. (p. 110, 123, 277, 309)

"If maybe, just maybe, I'd been so determined to not be stereotyped that I'd begun to stereotype everyone around me." (p. 110)

Genre/Subgenres: Realistic fiction; Contemporary romance

Readalikes: Love, Hate, & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed, Saints and Misfits by S. K. Ali, The Lines We Cross by Randa Abdel-Fattah

References
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