This is a must read for anyone looking for a story about family, identity and culture. This was such a great read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for this DRC.
An amazing adventure of coming out, running away and growing up.

#HowItAllBlewUp #NetGalley

"How It All Blew Up" by Arvin Ahmadi is a timely and relevant novel that explores themes of identity, sexuality, and cultural expectations. The story follows Amir, a Muslim-American teenager who comes out to his family and runs away to Rome to escape the fallout. The novel is told through a series of flashbacks and present-day scenes, as Amir recounts his journey to an immigration officer.

One of the strengths of the novel is its portrayal of the complexities of coming out in a conservative Muslim community. Ahmadi does an excellent job of capturing the emotions and struggles of a young man trying to reconcile his faith and his sexuality. The novel also sheds light on the challenges faced by immigrants and people of color in the United States. Ahmadi's writing is strong, and my favorite scenes were when we vividly explore the setting of Rome as author's own experiences living in Italy shine through in the details.

My main criticism of the novel is that the pacing can feel slow at times, especially in the middle of the book. However, the ending is satisfying and completes the storyline in an engaging and thoughtful way.

Overall, "How It All Blew Up" is a powerful and engaging novel that tackles important issues in a sensitive and nuanced way. It's a must-read for anyone looking for a thought-provoking story about identity, family, and culture!

How It Blew Up is an important story for classroom libraries. It was in interesting story, but it wasn't my favorite book I've ever read. I will recommend this to students, but only to certain students.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for sending me this arc.

Amir is being blackmailed. He's Persian and gay. He has a month to pay or be outed to his family, those are the conditions. Scared, he feels he has only one choice, to escape. Where? To Italy,and that's when his journey to find himself begins.

This for me was a short but enjoyable read, full of twists and turns in one of my favourite places. Its focus is on a young man struggling with his different identities and societies' expectations and is set in an interrogation room after a family argument on a plane. It felt not only like a critique of the stereotyping of Muslims but also a symbol of the cage the narrator feels trapped in mentally.

If you're looking for a quick YA contemporary book, pick up How It All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi. This is the story of Amir who is detained at the airport along with his family after having a loud argument on the plane. It unravels the story of how Amir and his family got to this point. Amir is gay but hasn't come out to his family because he's scared of their reaction. Unable to handle the pressure of some blackmail, Amir runs away to Rome, Italy. There he becomes friends with a big group of gay men and really finds himself. Eventually, his family finds him and well, this is really just the story of Amir coming out and finding himself

I think I am somewhat in the minority on this because I fully liked How It Blew Up. Granted, I am reading this two years after it came out. I know some people didn't like how Amir's family reacted. However, that is something I can't remark on. What I can say is that I liked Amir's character so much. I found he was so easy to connect with. He overthinks a lot. And well, the anxiety spiral that has him running to a whole other continent for sure has crossed my mind. I also loved his little sister who is a spitfire. And the group of friends. This was for me, a good read. Not life changing, but I did like how it was written and just the overall plotting. I will for sure pick up more by Arvin Ahmadi.

I cannot stress how absolutely perfect this book was. I would recommend this to everyone. It was so delicious and perfect and ugh. I loved it.

Amir moved to a new school for his senior year. When he gets paired up with a super attractive guy as his student guide, he doesn’t think anything of it. But something clicks and the two start talking and soon become something more. For those blissful months, he and Jackson start to explore themselves and their sexuality. That is until two kids decide to try and blackmail Amir for money or they’ll tell his parents he’s gay.

For Amir, that’s horrific. His traditional Iranian parents would never accept him if he were gay. Unable to come up with the money by graduation, Amir decides to run away. First to New York, but then to Rome to make sure he was fire enough away from the fire he ignited.

There, Amir finds not only a group of friends, but a sense of comfort in both his friends and who he’s becoming, and a sense of self that he had longed for. It’s a story about love, friendship, acceptance across the board, race, religion, and so much more. I loved it.

The story bored me more than I expected after how interesting the blurb was. I could barely get into the book and ended up DNFing only a few chapters in. I'm not sure how I could build up enthusiasm for this story to pass on the recommendation to my students.

Amir is Muslim, who just happens to also be gay, and I happen to know a guy like him. So naturally, I felt invested and jumped at the chance to read this one.

I think this will be a hit and miss amongst readers, but I enjoyed it. I thought it was an easy and entertaining read.

I absolutely loved the setting and how this story was set up. It was pretty much the highlight of the book for me. I kinda wish we got to know Amir on a deeper level though.

All in all, it was a solid read.

Welcome Back!

I am officially in the final two reviews of 2021! I did not meet my Goodreads goal but that is okay, I am still really happy with my reading year and plan to try again next year. I pre-ordered this book because I really enjoy Arvin’s books so when I saw he had a new story coming out I knew I wanted to read it! I put it on my shelf with my other books by Arvin and when making my most recent nightstand stack, I decided to add it to my pile! I was able to snag a copy of the audio book on Libby so I could listen while I did things around the house (such as decorating, cleaning, etc…)! But without further ado, let’s talk about How It All Blew Up!

SPOILERS AHEAD

Amir is on the run, well kind of. Amir was being blackmailed into coming out to his family so Amir left. He grabbed a duffle bag and his passport and ran to the airport where he hopped a flight to Rome. Amir is 18 and has not real plan when he gets to Rome but he has a temporary place to stay. However, Amir begins to quickly make friends in Rome, and feel more at home than he has at his actual home with his family in a while. Everyone here accepts him and things just feel easy. However, back home, everyone is worried, freaking out and has no idea where he is. That is until Amir accidentally kind of tips them off and now the whole family is coming, but Amir has no idea they are on the way. All of this adding up to a weird family trip to an airport interrogation room!

Overall, I had a good time with this audio book, the characters all had their own distinct personalities that helped bring the book to life, and the plot was interesting (switching from Rome to the airport room, the his family at home)! On top of all of that, the audio book itself was short (like time wise I think it was six or so hours) and I was able to finish it in the same day I started it! The narrator did a really good job with the story and characters as well! Admittedly I really loved Amir’s sister and reading about Amir’s time in Rome (those were absolutely my time favorite parts of the whole book)! Let me know down below, if you have read this one and if not is it on your TBR or your radar?

Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars

It took me a little bit to get into this book. While the first person, conversational tone of the interrogation room portions is meant to be engaging and fast-paced, the lack of back and forth dialogue meant the characters had to provide context through odd statements alluding to the Customs officer’s questions. This was distracting at times. Otherwise the format of the book is effective because it allows more insight into the emotions, thoughts, and motivations of all four family members rather than Amir alone. Providing all four viewpoints lends a generational dimension to the story, allowing the reader to compare and contrast between the belief systems and attitudes of the parents and their kids.

“I just don’t get all the hype around pretty people. I get why they exist—for meet-cute purposes, for magazine spreads—but they’re just so stressful to be around. Who needs that kind of stress in their life? Not me.”

Told through a series of flashbacks and interviews at the airport, How It All Blew Up is ultimately a story of figuring out who you are and how to vocalize that with those you love. Amir's family has just moved south for his senior year. Amir gets matched with the most beautiful boy to show him around campus and help him figure out life at his new school. Luckily for Amir, Jackson is also gay, so the two start a secret relationship. Unluckily for Amir, another classmate sees Amir and Jackson together and starts to blackmail Amir for money otherwise he'll out Amir to his Muslim family. Amir does what he can, but when the blackmailer asks for $3000, Amir decides to skip town. Amir ends up in Rome where he starts a new life as a young American traveler. He joins a group of friends in Rome and lands a job and thinks he'll be able to avoid his family forever. As the reader, we know this isn't true because throughout Amir's story, we have been reading the transcripts of what his family is sharing with the airport security.

I really enjoyed this story on audio as there were different narrators for each of Amir's family members. This made the airport interviews much more entertaining to listen to and helped me develop a separate character completely in my mind. I spent the whole book hoping Amir's family would be accepting of Amir and who he is, but at the same time, I felt Amir's anxiety about coming out to his family and losing the people he is closest to. While I wanted Amir to let another adult know about the classmate who was blackmailing him, I also remember being a teenager and feeling like adults will never understand or won't be able to help in any productive way. I really enjoyed Amir's story but I was also left wondering what was next for Amir. I would have liked a little bit more at the end so I could see how Amir handled being back in the States.

TW: blackmail, bullying, homophobia, racial profiling, discrimination, threatened outing

Honestly, I am a bit put-off on this book. I tried to read it and gave up pretty quickly. I am not sure why this one has gotten so much praise but I'm not really into it.

This was an anticipated novel of the year for me and I must say I was not disappointed. I was given this book in advance in exchange for my honest opinion, so thank you Viking Books for Young Readers. I give this book a 4.5-star rating.
The premise of this book was striking to say the least. Amir Azadi is a gay Iranian teenager, who of course, does not feel comfortable with his conservative parents. Before graduation from high school Amir is blackmailed and runs away from home, escaping to Rome. In true, teenage fashion Amir has not thought of the consequences of his actions when he decided to leave. We are led on this adventure in Italy from being detained at the airport and being interrogated to Amit finding himself.
The book touches on many delicate subjects from Amir’s perspective who is very much afraid to tell the world who he is. I think Arvin Ahmadi does a good job on addressing the issues that many queer individuals have to experience daily. The cast of characters that Amir encounters in Italy help make this story worth reading. I understand why the story is what it is and I think that as far as slice of life contemporaries sets a new gold standard. Truly can't recommend this book more highly; it will feed your soul.

A messy, honest, coming of age story about learning to overcome your personal fears and be yourself. Anyone who has not felt like can be who they are within their own family, and worries about love and acceptance after coming out will relate to Amir.

This coming of age story addresses many important topics that teens are dealing with. I loved the setting of Italy and was excited to see a setting most students may not have traveled to. The characters were relatable and story was wonderful overall.

This story was so inspirational! I loved learning about the culture and the story. To think that a lot of kids go thru these situations. It’s very sad to see how difficult their lives are with the dismissal of their loved ones. This story was heartfelt and very educational, it was my first time reading a book by this author.

Amir ran away from home just before his high school graduation because he was being blackmailed by a classmate. This classmate was going to tell his family about him being gay, and rather than deal with the fall out he needed to be elsewhere, since he was not ready to come out to his family, because 1 his family is Muslim and 2. his dad has been making comments about gay people for as long as Amir can remember, so he knows he wont be accepted. So Amir finds himself in Rome where he meets several guys who are like him only in their 30s. They bring him into their group of friends and he spends a month with them in Italy before his family tracks him down.

This book is set up in interrogation interviews at the airport for some incident that happened on the flight back from Italy between Amir and his family. The interrogators never speak! Which is so great, in and of itself.
You know how we all have those moments where we get into a huge argument with someone in public. Well Amir’s happened on an airplane. The argument got loud and other passengers got involved, and then airport security got involved when the plane landed. It’s not wise to cause a scene on an airplane post 9/11. But the whole story revolves around Amir discovering himself. This is one for older readers for sure, but a good read, with some funny moments and it feels very real, though I don’t know any 18 year-olds who would just be able to afford airplane tickets to New York and Rome and who have passports handy to do that. The books looks at prejudices, but does it in a way that wont make the reader too uncomfortable. I thinks it’s a book that really needed to be written. And thank you to net galley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was just a masterpiece I found it to be so powerful and emotional. This was my first book from Arvin and I cannot wait to check out his backlist

An interesting story of acceptance. Amir is Muslim and gay. He doesn’t feel accepted by his religious parents and ends up running away. He ends up in Rome and the story chronicles his adventure in Italy.

I really enjoyed this story and learning about Amir’s trials with his religious family and his sexuality. His adventures in Italy give him hope with his relationship with his family. Highly recommend!