Day 15 of 30 Day Reading Book Challenge – All My Rage – Book Review

Lahore, Pakistan. Then.
Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Cloud’s Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.

Juniper, California. Now.
Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding.

Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah’s health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle’s liquor store while hiding the fact that she’s applying to college so she can escape him—and Juniper—forever.

When Sal’s attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth—and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.

From one of today’s most cherished and bestselling young adult authors comes a breathtaking novel of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness—one that’s both tragic and poignant in its tender ferocity.

I never expected this book to be so heartbreaking, emotional and one of the best books I have read so far this year!

Trigger warning:- The book deals with racism, domestic abuse, substance abuse.

The story talks about two Pakistani-American teenagers Salahuddin “Sal” and Noor. Both are best friends and both are childhood best friends. Sal’s life changes when Sal’s mother Misbah dies and his father Abu is an alcoholic. Determining to save the family run motel, Sal involves in drug dealing business. Meanwhile Noor is secretly applying to colleges behind her uncle’s back. Her uncle has no desire to send Noor to college as he wants Noor to help him run with the store. Noor gets a series of rejection letters from almost all the universities she had applied except from UCLA where she was still waiting for the reply. Noor also faces racist rants from another equally academic rival Jamie.

The story is very realistic and deals with day-to day situations. I like Misbah’s letters to her son, detailing about her son’s trauma, the alcoholism that seem to run through her husband’s family as she detailed on how her own mother-in-law was also an alcoholic. Noor and Sal’s friendship was really genuine and I really rooted for Noor and wanted Noor to go to college. The writing was really great and the author does a good job of drawing the reader into the story, making the reader feel like they are part of the story. The book also talks a great deal about forgiveness, grief, and this was very emotional. I also like the list of songs outlined in the book as well and how Noor and Sal mingle into both American and Pakistani cultures.

If you haven’t read this book yet, I urge you to read this book. An easy five star rating for me!