Merle
“Suicide isn't the only way you can lose someone to depression.” Cute story, that deals with depression, family relations (especially father-son relations), cultural identity and tea. I enjoyed reading about those differences in culture, and how Darius struggles to meet expectations in both the American and Iranian culture. The way that Darius only refers to his father with his full name really captures the distance of their relationship. I love how this book included a subtle queer rep (in this book, there is no part that explicitly states Darius sexuality, but just looking at the blurb of book 2 makes it clear that Darius is gay or queer). I struggled a bit to understand the Star Trek and Lord of The Rings References, and I'm pretty sure I would have liked the book more if I got those references. I was also annoyed by Darius' many "Um"s and "Wow"s in this book. Like I understand that Darius is quite shy and not good with words, but I feel like there are other ways to express this in a book. Instead of writing "Um" like 100 times, the author could've written something like "I didn't know what to say in that moment". It's a solid YA-book that touches many important topics, which left me wishing for just a tiny bit more depth, and I didn't love all choices in the writing style, but I recommend it! It's the only own-voices book with Iranian rep I've come across so far.
