Taherah Mafi is hands down one of my all time favorite authors but for me this just feel a bit short and I've been sitting here trying to figure out why. The writing was beautiful and the story was full of all of the amazing, magical words that make Mafi a favorite. I think my struggle was the tiny snapshot in time and the flashback. I either needed more flashbacks or more in the present. I turned the last page and wanted more and was left feeling frustrated for being invested in this story. A very timely and realistic story, I liked the complexiy of character relationships. I think as I reflect more on the story, my feelings may change, but for now I'll say this was a good story, just not what I anticipated after the brilliant A Very Large Expanse of Sea. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

A Emotion of Great Delight is about a girl named Shadi, who is living in post 9/11 America. This book feels powerful and is definitely an emotional read. I’ve always loved Tahereh’s writing style, with A Great Expanse of the Sea being one of my favorite reads. That being said, I had some issues with this book.

The story felt rushed. At times there were so many things happening at one time I lost track towards the end of the book of whether or not things were resolved. The ending itself was abrupt and vague and I had to reread it to make sure I didn’t miss something.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Harpercollins for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

What a beautiful, restrained story. I can’t explain just how fascinating Mafi’s writing style is to me. We get so much raw emotion, but yet, it’s tight. You can feel the depths hiding beneath the already raw emotions. Shadi is so relatable, and I’m so happy she gets what she truly deserves and grows throughout the story as well. A brief synopsis: Shadi is in her senior year of high school. A family death, a hospitalization, her horrible ex best friend, and the boy she loved all contribute to the chaos of her life. She finds she has a tough time dealing with the plethora of emotions she’s feeling, and that results in her leaning on those she never thought she would.

This story is set in 2003 and we follow Shadi, a young Muslim girl who's dealing with a lot and just trying to make it through the day. She's being bullied at school in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and experiencing so much pain at home that she starts to break down. Shadi's family was going through so much that she gets lost in the shuffle. I felt so bad for her.

What an emotional story! I would call this a "slice of life" story since it takes place over just a few days, although there's a few chapters that jump back in time. I could really feel Shadi's pain and could empathize with feeling such hopelessness. I enjoy Tahereh Mafi's writing for the most part, but sometimes the metaphors are a little too much.

Mafi has this way with words. It kind of reminds me of F. Scott Fitzgerald, in the way that I can just tell she's smarter than me in every way. The book resonated with me on a deep level. She did it again!

I think Tahereh Mafi is a really amazing writer, I've read several of her books and I also really enjoyed this one. Her descriptions are really amazing to read.

I feel like I'm missing the second half of this book? Everything happened way too fast, but also nothing happened until 65% of the way through. I liked the insight into Shadi's thoughts, but nothing with her or her mother's mental health issues were resolved.

(3.5 stars) This was so incredibly different from A Very Large Expanse of Sea. This was a very sad contemporary. As per Mafi’s usual style it is beautifully written. I have always loved Mafi’s writing style so that is something I enjoyed immensely. This book was gripping and angsty and heart wrenching. It was a good read but fell a little flat. It seemed to end abruptly. There were characters I never really understood the reason they entered and it all felt very up in the air for me.

Can I say how BEAUTIFUL Tahereh’s writing was in this novel?! I loved all the Farsi (although I’m sure I butchered the pronunciation), this is one that I would like to listen to on audio at some point because even just reading the language was beautiful, and I’m sure the sound of it is even better.

My favorite thing about this book is all the healing after devastating loss, Shadi is just trying to cope and learn to be happy after a truly terrible year. I loved seeing her journey, seeing her find herself and embrace what she wants out of life. Picking up the pieces when you think it can’t possibly get better.

So much healing. So much love.

*Thanks to the folks at Netgalley for an eArc*

This book crushed my soul, but left it with hope. An intense rollercoaster ride of emotions and what it's like to experience a grief so profound it feels like an anchor holding you down when all you want to do is break free. Filled with questioning of faith, the aftermath of 9/11 with racism and raging islamophobia, broken friendships, and love so pure it feels like it's killing you. All I can say is wow!

Thank you NetGalley for a chance to review an early copy of An Emotion of Great Delight!

rating: 3/5

I'm not exactly sure how to feel about this book. I think it's a very beautiful and heartbreaking novel on an incredibly important topic. The story itself was good, it was fast paced and engaging. I Just couldn't get past the writing, which is just based on personal preference. I've read Tareheh Mafi's Shatter Me, so I shouldn't be surprised by the writing, but it still felt a bit too distracting. I haven't read any of Mafi's work since 2015, so I might have just outgrown the dramatic, poetical writing style.

The content of this book was wonderful. I was looking forward to reading her contemporary books, and I'm glad I did. She did a wonderful job at capturing the complexities of our emotions, and I wished that had been explored even more. The only thing that took away from my experience was the writing, which as I said is completely just personal taste. I'd still really recommend this book!

This #ownvoices book by Iranian-American author Tahereh Mafi is brutal in its honesty. It takes place in 2003 after the United States declares war against Iraq. Iranian-American teenager Shadi’s life is falling apart. Her older brother has died, her father is in the hospital, her mother is emotionally unwell and is cutting herself and her sister is trying to get away from it all. The other anchors in her life, best friend and her best friend’s brother, have also removed themselves. A lot of things are pounding down on Shadi, including the rain. Early on, there’s a scene where she gets completely drenched in a downpour when walking to her night class and you can just feel her despair.

All of this gut wrenching family drama is playing in front of a backdrop of extreme distrust against the Muslim community. FBI agents have infiltrated their mosque and are trying to get other members to inform on each other. News headlines cut like a knife when Shadi reads them. These reflections are eye opening and are a big reason why #ownvoices books can be so powerful.

This was a stunning gut-punch of a read. We follow Shadi, a grieving teen trying to her best to navigate a world determined to see her fail. Mafi's prose steals the show here, deftly capturing the magnitude of Shadi's heartbreak and pain. I never stop to highlight sentences as I read, but there were so many in this book I wanted to revisit that I had to give in and note them all. A delicate, layered, gorgeous novel.

The main character in An Emotion of Great Delight is a hard feeling girl. As a Muslim living in a post 9/11 world, she deals with the normal issues of a every teen ever and then some. A father who is dying, a brother already dead, a former best friend who seemingly now hates her, a mother who self harms, and now her friend's older brother might be in love with her?

I am really curious to see how my students feel about this book. The title is kind of misleading-there's not that much happiness in this book at all! OR.... is there? It will be interesting to see the kids' take on whether or not simply making it through life's everyday struggles is enough to make oneself happy. Then again, is there a simpler happiness that comes with being comfortable in one's true identity? Perhaps that's the message here.

2.5 stars full review on goodreads
I just can’t decide how I feel about this author. While ideas are fresh,and books like this one have important themes in them. The language is just too extra, especially when it comes to feelings and love moments. I also find so much unrealistic. Didn’t hate it but didn’t love it.

I was very much looking forward to reading An Emotion of Great Delight, because I was shook to my core after reading A Very Large Expanse of Sea - Tahereh Mafi's style and voice was stunning, poetic, and powerful in that book, and it turned me to read her fantasy books as well. Because this seemed to be in the same vein of AVLEOS, my expectations were very high. Unfortunately I DNF this book. When I hit the 50% mark, I was completely lost in everything Shadi has going on, and based on other reviews, it was obvious that things weren't going to improve in the second half. What surprises me is not that Shadi had the extremely challenging struggles - that was expected based on the storyline. I simply couldn't believe I was reading a (near) final draft - the craft just wasn't what I expected from Mafi and the disjointed thoughts, strange word choices, and descriptions felt very discordant. It's hard for me to write a negative review, but I had to be honest here that I DNF a book, which I typically see through, and explain why. Hoping to fall back in love with her stories again in the future.

Absolutely heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. It was a whirlwind of emotion going on this journey with Shadi, but I’m so glad I had the chance to do so! I felt so hard for her and connected with the character on a deep level even though I have not experienced anything close to what she did. It’s just the magical feature of Tahereh’s beautiful, lyrical writing that captures you whole.

I want to thank Harper Collins for providing me with an ARC of this book.
Honestly, I didn't even read the synopsis. When I saw it was Mafi, I just requested it because I really do love her writing and thought for sure I would enjoy this one as well.
The book gives a dive into the life of a Muslim teen status post 9/11.
I will say I didn't like the main character. That may have been some of the intention with the book, though. After all, 17 year olds are usually quite self-centered and Shadi came off as exactly that. She made some poor life choices throughout the book. And it's not until the end that she owns up to that, at least somewhat.
I liked how Mafi gave us a look into what Muslims were experiencing status post 9/11. It was also an interesting look into a different culture for me. I will confess to not knowing much about the Muslim religion or about Iranian/Persian family life or culture. I do wish she had expanded on it just a bit. I found the relationship Shadi had with her family more superficial than I would have liked, given her strong emotions about them. A deeper dive would have been welcome.
Overall it was a quick read but not my favorite YA contemporary. It did feel a bit rushed with how short it was.

It is so hard to read a book so close to home, so close to me as a person, and to walk away feeling so conflicted. I wanted so badly to like this review, to follow Shadi's journey. But there is so much done wrong in this book, that I felt so frustrated.

The first problem I had with this book is that there is just way too much going on, in a short amount of time. We meet Shadi, and we learn the following
* Her Dad is in the hospital
* Her Brother has died
* She lost her best friend
* She likes her ex-best-friend brother
* Her Mom is depressed
* She lives in a post 9/11 world

I just felt like everything was too much, and because we had so many problems, nothing was adequately explored. We didn't find conclusions to ANY of the problems addressed, which left me feeling angry. I don't think it's okay to introduce so many problems but provide not a single path to healing.

Additionally, I think Mafi didn't tackle the idea of Muslim Identity well in this story. I do not expect Shadi, a 17-year-old girl, to have herself figured out as a Muslim-American, and to expect so would be unreasonable. However, Mafi switches back and forth between Shadi being totally in tune with God and religion to someone who found it to be excessive and strange. I understand the feeling of dichotomy and feeling so divided, but I think that some of the thoughts she had were just irresponsible. For example, the talk she has with Noah about the burqa is just so wrong on so many levels, and I found it ironic because it is no different than what people say about Muslims wearing a hijab.

This book had so very little to do with post-9/11 America. It was mentioned like once or twice, but overall this story could have taken place in 2020 with no problem. I think that it was a mistake to market it as such. It would have done way better to market this book about a girl's problem with identity and grief, which is at its core.

There is also a BIG problem with Mafi's writing. I have always disliked her writing style because it has always felt flamboyant with a lack of substance. And reading the first chapter gave me such a hard whiplash because what teenager even talks like this? At all? I was once 17 not that long ago, and I have a sister who is 17. Her descriptions and style become so much it's suffocating, and it really takes away from the idea that Shadi is a teenager.

The ending was so rushed it hurt, and the whole plot with Ali was such bullshit I can feel it hot in my blood. I hated how fast the ending happened and how the ending gave us absolutely NOTHING. Zip. Nadda.

I can go on and on about what I had problems with, but I just feel disappointed. I can tell that Mafi wrote from a place of genuine hurt and pain, but it is just too complicated and hurried. Most of all, as a Muslim-American myself, I did not love what was being written and I could not see myself in the story. I wanted so badly to love this book, but it's just a depression ride with very little clarity, direction, and insight.

When it comes to Mafi's writing style, you either love it or it's not for you. She writes so delicately and poetically, it's like a Monarch butterfly fluttering softly, landing on your shoulder - OH NO, she's got me doing it now, too. But really, the writing style that is consistent throughout her work is present in this story as well, although there is a marked change in tone from the beginning of the story to the end.

This is a solid contemporary YA story that focuses mostly on the experiences of a Muslim American high school girl in 2003. There are horrifying experiences, mundane high school experiences, and lots of introspection in between. There is loss and grief yet also hope and love.

My favorite of Tahereh Mafi's books.