Welcome to Litsy!

#foodandlit I‘m a week behind! I finished this book last weekend and went to a Bangladeshi restaurant for lunch today. I ordered lamb Biryani and it was delish. This book is an LGBTQ+ young adult book. It really dives into the Bangladeshi culture as Rukhsana felt torn between her cultures as an American born teen.

Rukhsana Will do just about anything to keep her parents from finding out she‘s a lesbian because she knows they will lose it, which creates tension with her girlfriend who just doesn‘t understand why she can‘t come out to them. A stressful but excellent read. Wasn‘t a fan of the privileged/unsupportive girlfriend, and Rhukhsana‘s parents suck, but still enjoyable. #LGBTQIA #LGBTQ #India

Just finished reading this book for my co-teacher‘s book club! Not the biggest YA fan but it was cool to get a glimpse into Bengali culture, especially because I have so many Bangladeshi neighbors. An uplifting story for all teens, but especially teens who are queer, South Asian, Muslim, second-gen diaspora and/or grew up in conservative households.

This book was an emotional roller coaster. It made me happy, sad, angry, and sometimes all three at once. 5⭐️

Oy. This book hit me right in the feels. It‘s a story about a LGBTQ Muslim teen. When her parents find her with her girlfriend, they take her to Bangladesh, where everything starts to crumble. It‘s poignant, and heartbreaking, and uplifting. My queer teen read it and loved it, and had me read it. I highly recommend it!!

This ran hot and cold for me—mostly cold. Much of the book is exceedingly slow/not very interesting. Potential triggers: violence (in households and in public) and homophobia.

[more, incl spoilers, in comment]

March 3, 2020 This book brought consisted of ups and downs. I really enjoyed reading this book because it discussed about the hardships of living two lives: one as a daughter to her parents and one as a lesbian. At such a young age, she was trying to figure out who she was and was having a hard time being accepted. No spoilers on whether she is accepted ot not!! Ha! You will have to individually predict that. Good luck reading... 📚

Jaunary 26, 2020 Another book that I anticipate on reading after i finish American Panda. Good luck reading Litsy community... bye for now

I really enjoyed this for the most part. The plot moved quickly after awhile and I had to keep reading to find out what would happen next! Some of the plot devices felt like they were unnecessary or repetitive, but overall it was great!

This was an okay YA #queerbooks . When Rukhsana‘s parents find her kissing her girlfriend, they take her to Bangladesh to set her on the “right path.” The ending was tied together quickly. It was a decent listen, but I wouldn‘t strongly recommend reading it.

My (late af) August wrap up! I had SUCH an amazing reading month and I feel like I‘ve broken a reading slump i didn‘t realise I was in 🥳

Rukhsana is a 17yo girl living in Seattle with her Muslim Bengali family. She happens to be lesbian. I kinda thought I was reading an on top of the water Disney story until Rukhsana gets caught kissing another girl and the story ramps up in frightening and horrific ways as she is sent to Bangladesh with her parents scheming to get her married. I was not in love with the writing as much as I was in love with the story. Kudos to Khan for putting👇🏼

Rukhsana‘s parents act so backward, putting her daughter's future & well-being at risk for the sake of keeping their reputation sparkling- but what does a family truly have if their facade is just that and backed by anger and secrets and using religion as an excuse to control and prevent their girl from being who she is? I was so proud of her, how brave & mature she acted in the face of extreme prejudice from the people meant to love her the most.

I loved the premise of this book. I love that it tackled tough subjects like race and LBGTQ issues. I love the representation on Bengali culture. But the writing felt off. I can not really put my finger on it. The story telling just wasn't...smooth? If that makes sense? But definitely still worth the read for it's queer and WOC representation.
#readingwomen Author from South Asia

What an eye opening book, beautiful and heart rending. 5/5

Rukhsana tries her hardest to live up to her conservative Muslim parents‘ expectations, but lately she‘s finding that harder and harder to do.
But when her parents catch her kissing her girlfriend, all of Rukhsana‘s plans fall apart. They immediately whisk Rukhsana off to Bangladesh.
Rukhsana realizes she must find the courage to fight for her love, but can she do so without losing everyone and everything in her life?
#lovelies #amonthofsongs

Day one of #BFC done! Read about a quarter of the audiobook of Spinning Silver on my commute and while processing books at work. Did week 2, workout 3, of ZR5K training (my second run of the week!). Now, settling in to read a few chapters of Sabina Khan‘s book before doing some yoga. #BookFitnessChallenge

Finished this is one sitting!

Starting this.

Currently 3 hours into #8intwo on Instagram. Hoping to get my reading up and just finished Rukhsana Ali. I really loved it, as dark as it gets, especially looking at how badly family and familial communities can approach queerness.

What a great story! I laughed and cried and had all the feels.

Rukhsana is a 17 yr old Muslim girl dealing with the fallout of her parents finding out she I lesbian.

I loved all the characters and connected with them. There was a lot of tough moments in the story but also parts that made me smile or laugh.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In this scene Rukhsana is being pressured by her friends to tell her parents she is gay because it‘s hurting her girlfriends feelings. This irritates me because they disregard Rukhsana‘s very valid reasons for why she hasn‘t come out to her parents.

I‘m not a fan of people pressuring someone to reveal something so big and important all while acting it‘s not a big deal. A person should be able to decide and when and how they come out.

Such an emotional read. I wasn‘t even sure I could finish it because of how emotional it was. But the ending was worth it.

Not sure how I felt about this. I realize things like this do happen and I felt so sick and had to hug my baby at parts, but the ending felt too wrapped up to be realistic. I guess they had to throw in a happy ending otherwise it would've been too depressing. Gotta throw that hope in for a better future, which I understand. I think maybe it was a style issue that I had with the actual writing 🤷‍♀️

I‘m listening to this via hoopla (and it expires tomorrow - yikes!) I‘m enjoying it so much, even as it breaks my heart.

I finished this book (in just two days!!).

And it was EXCEPTIONAL guys. I am an emotional mess. It was heartbreaking and dark but also hopeful and full of love and acceptance.

Excuse me while I cry for the rest of the evening. 😭🌈🌈

#gifted

Whew what a hard, wonderful read. This is not for the lighthearted (or anyone triggered by homophobia or violence toward lgbtq people). That said, it was an engaging & well-written read about a Bengali lesbian teen struggling to find acceptance in her family. Miraculously (& surprisingly) it does have a happy ending. I felt like Rukhsana deserved better than her gf for most of the book but that, too, felt more resolved in the end. 4 stars / ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This one is breaking my heart, but I'm loving it so far.

This is my latest article for the website Autostraddle. It's a list of 68 (!!) upcoming 2019 queer YA books! From fantasy set in the Buffyverse to a graphic novel that re-imagines Little Women and everything in between. Check out the full list in the link in the comment below!

This broke my heart, yes, and the insights into her mother‘s and grandmother‘s lives were equally heartbreaking. But I found Rukhsana‘s friends in Seattle to be annoying, the story could have been a little tighter, and some of the dialogue better edited. But that could be adult me nitpicking, instead of just taking the book at face value.

It gets a pick because there needs to be SO much more South Asian queer rep in all genres.

Today‘s haul. 2 kindle case. The mint one fits in the pink zip up. Plus a new release! Im excited to read it!

Starting this! #diversereads #queerbooks

This book was heartbreaking at time. Rukhsana is in her last year in high school. She knows what she wants to do. She has great friends and an amazing girlfriend. The only problem is that her parents don't know that she is gay. She knows that they are going freak out because of how she was brought as a Muslim. When her parents find out they freak out and try to get her engaged right away. I am glad Rukhsana did get her happy ending after all.

This evenings read. A debut with some excellent blurbs.

If this book's prose is rarely anything but perfunctory and the characterization is on the weak side, the emotional force of its narrative and the importance of its themes make up for it. It's about a 17-year-old Bengali American lesbian with conservative Muslim parents who gets accidentally outed. The ensuing journey, while sometimes melodramatic, addresses the ideas of the danger of coming out culture and the assumption that queerness is white.

This book is making me think a lot about how dangerous coming out culture can be, especially for youth dependent on their families, and how damaging the assumption that queerness is white is, especially for queer youth of colour.

Only a few chapters into this #QueerYA book coming out in January 2019 but it's pretty good so far! #QueerBooks