Publisher: HarperCollins
Page Count: 310
Tahereh Mafi is one of my all-time favourite authors. I haven’t read everything by her, however, most of what I have read was more in the dystopian (??? gosh, I am terrible with genres) category, whereas A Very Large Expanse of Sea is Mafi’s first YA contemporary! I wasn’t sure how her writing style would translate to this genre, but it was a truly amazing read!
Where to even start? Set one year after the terrible events of 9/11, it chronicles a particularly memorable time for Muslim teenager Shirin. You can immediately tell that it is a very personal story and while I don’t know all the specifics that went into this book, I am certain that Tahereh drew some parts of it from her own experiences. Even though I can’t say I was really a teen in 2002 just yet myself, I was slowly getting there, and it instantly brought back some memories from that peculiar time. I remember the news reports and the fear and all that even though I was living on an entirely different continent. But I also associate those years with a certain kind of nostalgia, when everything was getting more digitalised while not quite being there yet.
Aside from a setting I could easily wrap my head around, I was most enamored with the characters. Shirin is a no-bullshit kind of narrator and a really smart one at that. She manages to paint a picture of all the people in her life in a way that makes them seem real, even if you only meet them briefly on the page. Her growing relationship to Ocean was exactly how I picture teens in love for the first time. Everything happened fast but at the same time with caution and the awareness that the other person might just have the power to break their heart.
The entire story tackled so many different topics. This isn’t just a love story, although there certainly is a focus on it, but also a tale about family, friendship, finding your passions and having to handle racism and Islamophobia. It hurts deeply to know that there are such vastly ignorant and hateful people out there. I always wished that those parts of the story were fiction only, but unfortunately that’s not the case.
Lastly, Tahereh Mafi finished the story off in the most bittersweet way. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I am not going to go into the details here, but it felt right to end it in that certain way, while you also wanted so much more afterwards.
Fazit: 4/5 stars! This book was packed with so much in such few pages in comparison.
Have you read A Very Large Expanse of Sea? Is it something you’d be interested in? How did you feel about Tahereh writing in another genre? Let’s talk about it!
Life and Other Disasters 
Wonderful review, Kat, I’m so so happy you enjoyed this book ❤ I only read the author's Shatter Me series and have been very curious to see how she would do in the contemporary genre, I'm glad you thought she did really well and yay for great characters holding the story together ❤ I can't wait to read that one 🙂
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Thank you, Marie! As queen of contemporary, I feel like you sort of maybe a little bit HAVE to read it hahaha
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I KNOW I have to, I need to. Hopefully I will soon 😀
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Great review for this book Kat, it sounds really moving and a powerful read to be sure. 🙂 I really love Tahereh Mafi’s writing, and so far I’ve only read the first three books of the Shatter Me series but I’m curious to see what she’s done with A Very Large Expanse of Sea. The characters sound like they were really well written, and I already kind of love the relationship between Shirin and Ocean.
Again great review, I’m definitely adding this to my TBR list. 🙂
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Thank you! I hope you’ll enjoy A Very Large Expanse of Sea once you read it. The writing is definitely less flowery than in Shatter Me, but I could still feel Tahereh Mafi through it.
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I’m so incredibly excited for this. It sounds like such a touching book. Great review! I’m not really a fan of the Shatter Me series but I’m going to be giving this one a try soon!
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It had some really touching moments! I heard from a couple people who didn’t love the Shatter Me books that they preferred this one.
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Lovely review! I love love love the shatter me series and I’ve been wanting to read this ever since it came out! I hope I get to it this year. Sounds so touching and enthralling.
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Thank you! It’s definitely a different style of writing from Shatter Me, but it still feels very much like Tahereh Mafi, if that makes any sense.
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Fantastic review! I’m so excited to read this book.
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Thank you! I hope you’ll enjoy it once you get around to reading it!
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I hope so too
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I’m really excited for this- I’m actually super down for Mafi’s style in contemporary- YES PLEASE! And this sounds like a really well done book. Excellent review!
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It’s not as flowery as Shatter Me (is that the right term to describe it?), but it feels like her still. I can’t explain it.
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Ah that makes sense!
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I can’t believe I haven’t read this book yet! I really, really want to. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
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Thanks! I hope you’ll enjoy it too when you read it.
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Beautiful review! I wasn’t a teen yet in 2002 either, but this book gave me that same nostalgic kind of feeling. I loved it so much. There’s just something so personal and intimate about the way it’s written that I really connected with. And Shirin’s wonderful.❤️
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Thanks, Aurora! I am glad you liked the review and we seem to be on the same page about the book and characters. I feel like Tahereh’s own experiences and such really shine through and that’s probably why it felt so intimate.
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Lovely review, Kat ❤️
I haven’t read anything by Tahereh yet but I love contemporary novels so I think I’ll read this book first. I’ve heard really good things about it!
I was also very young when 9/11 happened so I’m intrigued to read a story told from a Muslim teen perspective. I’m so happy you enjoyed it 🙂
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I hope you’ll like the book. I don’t know if it’s really the most representative of her writing style, but it sure seems to be her most personal book yet.
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[…] to seeing what the author can do in the contemporary genre, my favorite! In addition to that, my favorite Kat has really enjoyed this book, so I’m even more impatient to read […]
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