PositiveLos Angeles Review of BooksThe narrative functions very much like memory, and we travel between significant moments, often returning to them with new details and a deeper understanding. Mirza’s strongest point as an author is her ability to reveal the heart, the pain, and the suffering in the simple day-to-day experiences of family life ... The relationship between these two characters [Amar and Amira] is deftly written, capturing both the catastrophic magnitude of their young love and the terror of that prohibited connection, as the two do not have permission to speak to one another, let alone pursue a romantic relationship ... And Mirza does an excellent job of fully sketching out the nuances of...parental failures ... What slows down Mirza’s narrative, for the first three quarters of the book, is a pedantic listing of cultural markers. Mirza often muddies the story by becoming tour guide rather than storyteller ... these digressions only hamper her talent and impede her ability to tell the story that matters.
