I loved this story. I don't often read anything like this kind of story written in verse, this will be rectified. Looking forward to reading more by this author and others I come across.

Novels written in verse might be one of my new favorite things. This one is beautiful.

Nima doesn't feel like she belongs in her "new" country, where she was born, but she also doesn't feel like her "home" country, where her mother came from, is home either. She's basically adrift and trying to find her identity.

I definitely recommend this.

Thank You Netgalley and Random House Children's for my gifted copy. I completely agree with the description that Elizabeth Acevedo fans will enjoy this poetry book. I really enjoyed it and the uniqueness.

I'd like to start with a disclaimer. I don't read much poetry, so if you're wondering how the structure or verse is, I am definitely not the go to person. I thought it was well-written and wonderful!

What I will say is this story is a must read. Elhillo does a great job including themes of racism, homeland, family, and identity. It is a book that is raw and beautiful. It captures the feeling of loneliness, fitting in, and overall, just finding your place in the world.

A powerful, must read novel! I'd definitely recommend the audiobook as well as it is narrated by the author!

Many thanks to @netgalley and the publisher for giving me a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Stunning, beautifully written novel in verse that will appeal to fans of Elizabeth Acevedo. A moving story of family and finding yourself. A brilliant YA that will appeal to readers of all ages.

I don’t think I have ever read a book quite like this one. Without giving any of the plot away the story takes a turn that I wasn’t expecting, and goes in a direction that was enlightening to the true nature of the story.

There were key elements that I really enjoyed that focused on relationships, primarily the relationship between a mother and daughter. I appreciated the attention to the concept of the role of motherhood and it shaping an individual, apart from who she was before that role was born.

The writing was beautiful. The focus on immigration and Islamophobia related to the plot and didn’t feel forced. The story blended together well. And I appreciated the roots in culture related to mythology.

I am always fascinated about the written word and poetry. It is wonderful how the author is able to present such emotions in these poems! Loved it!

Broken into three parts New Country -Old Country - Home is Not a Country this is a story that deserves to be savored. A story of how small choices make a big difference. About belonging and wanting to belong. There is one line from the story that continues to haunt me:

“i’m sorry for being so american in here and not enough of one out there"

Definitely a book I will read a second time.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This YA novel in verse follows 14 year old Nima, a Muslim girl raised by a single immigrant mother. She feels misunderstood by her mother, but also by the world around her that constantly tells her she is an outsider. ⁣
⁣
While Nima struggles to understand her identity, she finds herself thinking of the girl she could have been, if just one thing had been different: if her father was alive, or if her parents had named her Yasmeen as they'd originally planned. As she grapples with the girl Yasmeen might have been, Nima will find herself fighting for her own life with a strength she didn't know she had.⁣
⁣
Home Is Not a Country is an utterly beautiful story of identity, family, and finding yourself. I love that this novel explores how our lives are shaped by our names, the world around us, the actions of our ancestors. It's about questioning who you could have been, but also, discovering who you really are.⁣
⁣
We need more YA for younger teens, so I loved that Nima is 14! This novel in verse is perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Jasmin Kaur.⁣ I'm definitely looking forward to adding Home is Not a Country to my library's collection, and reading more from Safia!
⁣
CW: Islamophobia, hate crime, death of a parent (off-page).

This is a lovely book written in verse with magical realism blended in. It was also blurbed by Elizabeth Acevedo, so I was definitely on board. The writing was so beautifully done and an incredible story was woven about racism, identity, and learning to love yourself. I definitely recommend this book, as well as, the audio version that is narrated by the author!

Really beautiful and surprising. I wasn't expecting the magical realism, but it truly adds an important element to the book.

Lauded poet Safia Elhillo has written a short novel in verse in which she contemplates identity, family, the disorienting sense of translocation that occurs when one is too foreign for suburban American and too American for one's country of origin. Nima is a teenager whose mother left an unnamed Arabic country with her after the death of Nima's father. But violence surrounds them in America after a boy in their community, Haitham is beaten by racist thugs. Nima contemplates what all this means, and envisions the girl she might have been, Yasmeen, which was the name discarded by her parents after she was born. Would Yasmeen's father still live? Would Yasmeen speak fluent Arabic and be at home with her father's family and all her cousins back home? In a dialogue with this imaginary other self (or is she a djinn?) Nima interrogates her world that is and that might have been, and eventually comes to a place of peace in which she understands her mother, her family, and her place in her world.

This is a moving book that would be an excellent selection for summer reading lists.

The audiobook is beautifully read by the author, who helps the reader feel the beautiful cadence of her verse.

I received a digital review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a lyrical story about a young girl and her longing for a better version of herself, of what home and family are, and about understanding the past and history to better empathize with the present. Nima is young, complicated, thoughtful, and ultimately, herself.

When describing this book to a family member, I told them that it wasn't bad but was really weird. That sums up most of my experience with this book except for that fact that the concept just didn't feel super fresh to me. I can't quite place where I've seen it before but the concept definitely didn't feel fresh. I do have to say though that I really appreciate the book focusing on a Palestinian MC and exploring her life and culture. It wasn't super explicitly stated that the MC was Palestinian but mentions of the flag colors and the river suggest a Palestinian MC.

I honestly don't know what else to say about this book because when I finished it, those were the only things that really came to mind. The story didn't really stand out to me as one I really enjoyed or hated, it just felt like something I had read and that was it

Safia Elihillo’s ‘Home is Not a Country’ is a novel in verse with beautiful poems about Nima, her mama, her baba she never seen and the better and beautiful version of herself.

She opens with talking about the photographs in a lifetime before her and when her parents not yet parents. She knows about her father through the photographs everywhere in their house including the one in her mama’s wallet.

Her verse captivates in narrating her life in suburban America, the land still foreign to her mama, her only friend Haitham, her school, Arabic classes.
Her name is supposed to ‘Yasmeen’ not ‘Nima’ which means grace. And she thinks she is not a graceful girl.

She echoes her mama’s grief over loss of her father and a lost world where she was happiest.

‘I miss him too my father though we never met
I miss the country that i’ve never seen the cousins
& aunts & grandparents I miss the help
They could have offered’

When she is bullied and called a terrorist, she questions mama ‘why did you bring us here? they hate us’ and spilling the desire to have her baba or someone to protect her.

Her poetry elegantly captures how the questions about where we come from can take over our life. It's a portrait of perspective, which holds up a mirror to show that ultimately, we are telling our own stories, and we can choose to see them differently

What a beautiful story. Culture is expertly woven with the teenage experience. This novel in verse will be cannon along with Elizabeth Acevedo, Kwame Alexander, and Jacqueline Woodson. Loved this story!!

Nima is struggling with feeling alone in her family and her community. As a second-generation American, Nima has different concerns than those of her mother, but she often suffers from similar ostracism.

This beautifully written novel in verse explores identity and family with an elaborate element of magical realism.

This book was beautiful. It made me want to snuggle up and drink mint tea.

The main character, Nima lives with her mom and down the hall from family friends. Nima lost her father at a young age, and is always comparing herself with the name her parents were thinking of naming her "Yasmeen." Then Nima starts to see Yasmeen and begins to think she herself isn't real. When Nima's childhood friend is beat up by men for being Muslim, Nima finds herself spiraling. She sees Yasmeen and begins to follow her and is then pulled into the past to the night her parents get married. She stays in the past as she and Yasmeen struggle with who is the real daughter. Nima learns quite a few lessons about her past and that not everything is how it seems.

This was an interesting premise for a novel in verse. I liked that the story took you to another time and place and the descriptions were so rich. They never actually say what country they travel to, but from the descriptions it has to be northern Africa. This was a really beautiful, coming-of-age story and I recommend it to anyone that enjoys novels in verse.

<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>In the past, I have strayed away from novels in verse except for a few exceptions like the works of Ellen Hopkins. Lately, though I have really taken a liking to them! This particular novel if read in one sitting would take about a day, but I was in the hospital last week with acute pancreatitis so it took somewhat longer. It's hard to concentrate on what your reading when they have you on the strong pain medication required to help the issue.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>I am so glad I took the time to read this novel though! It was a bit confusing at certain parts when it came to the relationship between Nima and what she considered her alter-ego Yasmeen. I especially enjoyed how Nima was able to see her past (though I am not clear exactly on how that happened) after a certain point I didn't care about the how because the story was enriched so much from her seeing her past. She got to see so many things she would not have had the chance to had it not happened.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>It helped her tremendously as well to be able to get more of her story though I am leaving that part blank for you dear reader! What would be the point of you going out and getting the novel for yourself if I explained the whole story to you! So, other than a couple of confusing bits covering somehow's in the novel it was quite a good story and I suggest you grab it! It will def help you appreciate your life a little bit more. While pushing you (as it did me) to learn more about your own family history. </p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->

Thank you to #partner NetGalley for the advance copy of this book, Safia Elhillo's Home Is Not a Country. This one comes out on March 2nd! In this YA lit novel in verse, teenager Nima explores what her life would be like if she were a different daughter and friend.


Living alone with her mom and separated from the homeland where her mother grew up, Nima feels that she doesn't really belong anywhere. She clings to the music and movies of her homeland and feels deep longing for her father who died before she was born. Her only solace is in relationship with her lifelong friend Haitham, but when that relationship crumbles, she feels completely unmoored. Between instances of bullying and outright attacks on her heritage, Nima feels shame, disappointment, and bitterness, and she and her mother both find their world getting smaller and smaller as they turn away from the cruelty of the world surrounding them. In one poem, she states,


so even here among my so-called people i do not fit

here where the hierarchy puts those who have successfully


americanized at the top i've marked myself by caring

about the old world & now i hover somewhere


at the bottom of the pyramid...


As Nima wishes more and more to be a different version of herself, she fantasizes about being Yasmeen, the other name that her parents considered before she was born. Through a series of supernatural events, Nima finds herself on a journey into the past, which brings her much-needed answers and helps her find some peace in her life as it is rather than as she wishes it could be.


Nima's struggles in this book are real and raw, and she is often so terribly isolated, leading her to make progressively worse decisions. The verse is lovely and lyrical and accentuates the profound feelings that Nima has—sadness, loneliness, self-doubt to name a few of her many complex emotions. The use of Arabic throughout and the visual use of the ampersand to connect her ideas both accentuate the visual aspect of the poetry. I loved the way that her unexpected supernatural journey opens up both the secrets of the past and a deeper understanding of herself and her place in the world.


This is a powerful read that speaks to the struggles of teens in America who feel that they are neither American enough or connected enough to their own family's culture, and I love the way that Elfillo ultimately uplifts and celebrates Nima's uniqueness and her worth.