This book is so aptly named. Rage, because anger and despair would never be enough.

You can tell that Sabaa has put her entire heart into this story and these characters. It's a book that will make you feel, rip out whats left of your heart strings and pull you into this all encompassing story.

Noor and Salahudin are best friends...or they were...until one moment tears them apart. They are two people who are dealing with more problems and burdens than a teenager on the cusp of adulthood should bear. Both of these characters are SO REAL. They feel like they could just walk off the page, they hurt and they heal and they lean on one another when life gets too hard.

The lives they lead are not comfortable, and much of it isn't due to their choices but the choices others have decided to enact upon them. There is not sugar coating, and that makes this book all the more sweeter.

It is hard to read this book, I wept and hoped and dreamed with these characters all while they get beaten down again and again. All My Rage screams about the unfair awfulness of racism, poverty and a whole lot of grief. But it never leaves out the hope and all the love. This is a necessary read with a perfect ending that left me in tears.

It was an easy 5 star. Read it, and become better for it.

I don’t think I will ever get over this book. Sabaa Tahir’s writing is a transcendent. She never misses. I was iffy coming into it because it is realistic fiction, but oh my lord. It was one of the best things I’ve ever read. I will tell people about this one for a long time to come.

The YA contemporary debut of Sabaa Tahir broke my heart and put it back together multiple times during my reading experience. Noor and Salahudin's story weaved teenage love with the terrors of poverty, racism, and abuse in a remarkably poignant way. Even when the world around them was in ruins, the two main characters found solace within each other. I haven't read about this type of emotional connection and understanding before, and I applaud Tahir for incorporating the beautiful qualities of her fantasy romance writing into this book. In particular, I love how Tahir chose to characterize Noor as a young girl who learned to use her anger as fuel for her future. Women of color are always expected to compartmentalize and ignore their rage for the comfort of others, which is not often discussed in young adult fiction. Women of color shouldn’t have to bottle up their emotions for the sake of others, and seeing Noor’s character slowly understand that there is power and worth in her anger was bittersweetly beautiful. Contrastingly, watching Salahudin spiral in the aftermath of his mother’s death struck a chord deep within me and made my heart ache for him. Although I cannot speak for the accuracy of the Muslim representation, it was amazing to read a book filled with Muslim characters who had nothing but love and appreication for their religion. All My Rage is ultimately a story about the hope that religion gives to people, and how believing in something bigger than yourself is one of the few things that helps stabilize people when life spirals out of control. Out of all the horrific things the characters in this novel went through, the driving force for them was their religion and the hope that things would be okay because they chose to put their faith in something. A book like this one will stay with me for a long time, meditating in a very tender spot within my heart.

Thank you Penguin Teen for the e-arc of All My Rage. Sabaa Tahir has done it again. Whether it’s fantasy or fiction, she is a master storyteller.

This book was hard. It was deeply emotional and every word tugs at your heart. Sal and Noor were best friends, until something happens that pulls them apart.

This is their story. It’s a story of two young people who have to live with the consequences of choices that weren’t there own.

This is a book about poverty, racism, and loss. It doesn’t gloss over the hard stuff. You get to cry, hope, grieve, and learn along side Noor and Sal. You get to dream of a better world for these two, and for everyone whose experienced this.

Read this book! It’s worth the pain.


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I genuinely could not put this book down. The story switches from three perspectives; Misbah, just about to be married in Pakistan (then), and Sal and Noor in California (now). It quickly becomes clear that Misbah is Sal's mother and Noor's surrogate aunt and friend. But when something happens that throws everyone into grief and chaos, Sal and Noor especially have to struggle to keep it together; to figure out how to keep going despite the things in their life that inspire their rage.

This title is accurate - there is so much rage in this novel and all of it is genuine, warranted, and necessary. Similarly, this wasn't an easy read. The writing is stunning, every word landing with care and precision to invoke a depth of emotions (grief, loss, rage, humor) in the reader. Tahir is a master at interweaving these stories together, and caring enough to share CW with the readers at the front of the novel. And all of the CWs are correct, and I was glad to have them before plunging into the story. For the record, these CWs are: drug/alcohol addiction and abuse, physical abuse, Islamophobia, SA (briefly mentioned), interactions with law enforcement, death. These CW helped me navigate the narrative without diving so deeply that I couldn't pull away.

I genuinely loved this novel and I would recommend this to anyone, but most especially those who want to read a story where things aren't always as they seem, a tragic narrative where there still remains such hope.

This is without a doubt my favorite book of 2021.. and hear me out I know it’s only February so that isn’t saying a lot but I can not fathom that changing. It will stay as a favorite for the year.

Sabaa- wow these characters truly had so much depth and feeling beyond what I could have imagined. I have never felt so transformed into another life as I did in this book. I had goosebumps so many times. I haven’t felt this emotional and moved by a book in I don’t know how long. I read truly I feel for emotion and this book was seeping emotion.

Ama, Sal, Abu, Noor they will live on in my heart. Every single thing was so phenomenally done I just felt like I was in Jupiter myself.

This is a heavy book- there are many difficult things to read - but they are done extremely well. Triggers such as - addiction, overdose, abuse, islamaphobia, racism, death, repressed sexual abuse.

Beyond this I don’t know if I can truly explain the feeling I’m left with. The experience of grief is heart shattering in this book.

this is it - you gotta read it!!

I really, really loved this book, even though it broke my heart. It was extremely heavy, and as a parent it was tough to read, but honestly the writing and the feelings it evoked made it worth it. I will read anything Sabaa Tahir writes.

Part coming of age story, part family drama, and part love story. It's about life, love, struggles, death, friendship, religion, abuse, and racial tension. Extremely well written, with wonderful characters, a dual timeline, and a page turning pace. This is an amazing read! Highly recommended

This was such a wonderfully written book! This book is two different generations taking place in Pakistan and America that deals with heartbreak, loss and family. Tahir is an incredible writer and knows how to rip your heart in pieces. I haven't read her past fantasy books but decided to check this one out and I'm glad I did. This book was raw and heartbreaking, filled with family struggles, trauma and loss. The story was perfectly written and everything just went together. I do have to say that I read something similar to this book but this one was so much better. You get different povs of what each Muslim-Pakistani is going through in their story. Tahir knows how to capture a moment and put it into words that touches your heart. Everything with the basics was amazing as in great pacing, storyline, and cultural description. I loved how so much Pakistani culture was written into the book and wasn't like watered down into the background.

This book is written in present and past tense. The present is with Sal who has an alcoholic father and sells drugs to keep his remaining family afloat while Noor is bullied and is trying to escape her controlling uncle. The past is written in Misbah's pov of her arranged marriage in Pakistan and how she started a life in America. All of these characters have a journey to fight through their trauma and it really catches you off guard. It makes you want to cry for the characters but for me I felt like I had to be strong for them. They were just all greatly written and I enjoyed seeing their character development in the book. There are a good amount of side characters in the book that I have to say are mostly negative type of characters. But it shows how strong Noor and Sal are and how strong their friendship is. Their friendship turns more into a romance which was sweet and a must need in the book to keep it uplifting as your emotions are all over the place.

The ending was very amazing and honestly I was super nervous with how it was about to end as I had 5 chapters left with thinking there was going to be an open ending. In short terms, this book was AMAZING in every synonym there is for it. I love reading diverse contemporary books readers like me can understand. It tells families like mine what our family/parents had to go through in order to get to the spot tonight with some doing well and others not so much. I'm hoping to see more contemporary books from Tahir as not only is she great at comtemp but also fantasy. I will for sure be reading her fantasy series after this book. I totally recommend this book if you love Tahereh Mafi's An Emotion of Great Delight.

5 stars!!!

The title should be changed to ALL MY TEARS because there are moments that I wasn't able to stop myself from crying.

This is my first Sabaa Tahir book and it was an amazing experience.

This story depicts the lowest of lows (poverty, abuse, alcoholism, death, drugs, betrayal, bullying, racism), but then it also shows so much depth of character and friendship and love and faith and forgiveness. It will crush your soul, and you will cry out for help and justice for Sal and Noor, and wonder how much more can they suffer and survive. And even though the ending wasn't all "rainbows and puppies", it WAS realistic, hopeful, and lovely. As emotionally tough of a read as this was, you won't find a more truthful and sincere story.

A woman loved by many dies at the beginning of Sabaa Tahir’s ALL MY RAGE, but her memory interweaves itself tenderly into this story, parallel paths in times, wrenching us with it.

In one, the present, two teens taste the bittersweet rawness of the underripe, not even close to fully grown but still made to grow up too fast. They stagger under the burdens of unknown pasts, pasts they glimpse in the form of the bottle his father disappears into the room with or the way she hides from her uncle’s fist in the motel bathroom. They bear the weight of their own pains and mistakes. Yet in them, their rage grows. As they take that rage and mold it into something new, they realize that they are not beholden to the sacrifices or grief-ridden unrealized dreams of those before them. They are at crossroads; they confront; they let go. They finally visit the graves of the dead, resurrect their voices.

In the other, the past, we learn the history of those burdens, how they seeded, how their poisons flourished. We learn what was taken to the grave. The woman who dies is brought back to life by the present to give words to those who cannot speak or who hurt in silence. Pain dealt is an indication of past pain received—no, it does not absolve, but we sympathize, perhaps even understand. It gives us and the young ones forced to grow up too quickly a reason to forgive or to simply move forward.

ALL MY RAGE is for those who carry too much of the pain from their ancestors, who sometimes feel lost because those meant to care for and nurture them were lost a long time ago. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ebook of this beautiful and heartbreaking book, which comes out on March 1. It is only February but I already know this will be one of my favorite books this year.

Wow, just- i don't even really know what to say. This story is full of rage, heartache, pain. All of that i felt through the characters that were just SO artfully written. Lets get into it.


This story is about the true struggle behind of two teenagers stuck in a town with their own individual problems and who somehow still need to lean on each other. I just- omg i just felt every painful moment and experience these characters had. Their struggles were written so well. And especially noor's struggle about college. I am going to be facing that in a few years and seeing how applications can treat people (especially noor here) broke my heart.


Yes, the book broke me and shattered my heart into a gazillion pieces, but it also slowly pieced it back together. This book discusses so many heavy topics, but it doesn't feel overwhelming. It feels real and raw, which is refreshing in its own way to read about real issues in real life. While i know Sabaa is a fantasy writer as well, this contemporary book was more then a masterpiece and i think her contemporary is fantastic.

Now, did i take literally forever to read this book? Yes. But every time i put it down and then picked it back up, i asked myself "what was wrong with me? " and "how could i put down a book for so long when its this good?"

I was specifically reminded of this during the ending. Oh-my god- i just. That ending broke me into a gazillion pieces. Especially noors. I loved- i just it left me breathless. I loved how Ama's words were further elaborated on, and what they meant it was just- beautiful and heavy. It was sad, but asking for a little light. Speaking of light, kind of random kind of not, i loved how noor's name meant light, i think that was such a daintily gorgeous detail.



This book is SO important and covers so many important topics. It was written so well, and i highly reccomend.

Trigger warnings for AMR: drug and alcohol addiction, mentions of repressed sexual assault, physical abuse, Islamophobia, racism, death, law enforcement.

All My Rage is a powerful, compelling novel which deals with a variety of important and difficult themes. Topics such as racism, abuse, addiction, death, grief and love all come together in its sorrowful yet somehow hopeful tale.

It took me a while to get into this book, and I never completely gelled with Salahudin. That being said, after about the halfway mark I was absorbed and couldn't stop reading. I particularly liked Noor and trying to figure out what was going on in everyone's lives.

The topics were explored incredibly well in a sensitive yet open way. It was heartbreaking...actually, a lot of the novel was heartbreaking. And yet I finished it with a feeling of hope. A brilliant contemporary novel.

Thank you to Penguin Teen Influencers & Sabaa Tahir for sharing this e-arc of All My Rage with me. The following review reflects my honest reading experience.

This book was incredible. I am so thankful that Sabaa Tahir wrote this book and shared her story. All My Rage was beautiful, devastating, inspiring, and heartbreaking. It contains themes of love, grief, forgiveness, regret, healing, and (of course) rage.

I was completely captivated by Noor, Salahudin, and Misbah. I was beside them through each of their incredibly harrowing journeys. I felt so deeply for these characters. These three, especially Noor & Salahudin, are now a part of my heart. They will be with me forever.

Sabaa Tahir has once again absolutely blown me away. I already knew that her writing and storytelling were stunning. But she really outdid herself with All My Rage. She navigates sensitive issues and storylines with grace, empathy, and compassion. All My Rage tore my heart into a million pieces. And then it put it back together. This one will stick with me for a long time.

I can say, without a doubt, that All My Rage is one of the best books I have ever read. And because of that, I have a review to back up its greatness. Hence the length.

This is a non-spoiler review. A huge thank you to Penguin Teen for an ARC copy of this book.

Trigger warnings for AMR: drug and alcohol addiction, physical abuse, Islamophobia, mentions of repressed sexual assault, tense exchange with law enforcement, death, racism.

This was my first ever Sabaa Tahir book, and honestly I’m not sure whether that was ideal because now I have exceedingly high expectations for anything else she has written. I have never cried so much while reading a book, to this day. And never has a book effected me so much mentally or emotionally as All My Rage did.

My Pakistani Punjabi blood pounded at my veins when I opened to the first page of All My Rage and stayed there until the very end. I implore you, if you are Pakistani, Muslim, a child of immigrants, an immigrant, a fan of A Thousand Splendid Suns or The Kite Runner…read this book. Even if you are not typically a reader of the contemporary genre, I seriously recommend All My Rage.

All My Rage is a story about the struggle of coming to terms with one’s roots, the costs of the American Dream, and the reality of being forced to hide because of what it means to look different, all while trying to find comfort in friendship and love through it all.

It is a magnificent story that takes the reader through a journey of grief, love, betrayal, and forgiveness.

Every line of Urdu and Punjabi was like a blanket covering me, protecting me from the cold. It was warmth. It was comfort. All My Rage made me feel seen. It was everything I never knew I needed to read to be understood. Pakistan is my homeland. Just as it was for all of the main characters of this book. I have never read a book that focused so much on Pakistani culture while still highlighting the duality of the difficulty of being an American Muslim as well.

If you like to cry, then you need to read this book, no brainer. I think my tear ducts may have dried up after I was done, because I really did spend most of the book crying. It wasn’t even that every part was sad per say, but Sabaa Tahir is just so talented that every sentence has an abundance of meaning and emotion that it is impossible not to tear up just from consuming her writing. The connections made from beginning to end, the symbols, the love, the- I could go on forever, is what made this book make it on to my “top 10 books ever read” list.

One of my favorite aspects of this book, besides how much it reminded me of my roots and who I am, is the characters. Their stories will forever be carried on in my mind, as well as the lessons we must learn from hearing them. Misbah was my favorite character, as she reminded me so much of my mother.

Having recently travelled to Pakistan to visit my family, and now being back in America, this book hit me like a semi-truck in terms of relatability. However, the beauty of this novel is that no matter your background, you will be able to empathize with the characters. The writing makes it so that it is impossible to not understand where each character’s emotions are coming from.

I firmly believe that All My Rage should be taught in schools across the country, because it is just as good (even more so, in more opinion) as the “classics” that are currently studied nation wide. I genuinely believe we can make this a reality, as other books focusing on cross cultural identity, such as The Namesake, have made it to the AP list. This book being YA should not be a barrier to it being taught in an educational setting.

Finally, it is important to recognize that this story isn’t a representation of perfect Muslims, and I know because of that, many Muslim readers may shy away from reading it, but the reality is, none of us are perfect, and All My Rage should be read with an open mind. It is a story meant to be read as an understanding of the journey of the characters, not a guide to being perfect. Every Muslim is different, so keep that in mind when reading this. To any non-Muslims reading this book, just realize that, as said before, every Muslim is different and that this shouldn’t be your sole source for understanding Islam and Muslims.

All My Rage is everything I never knew I needed in a book. I know I will be recommending this for as long as I am alive.

Wow. This book was incredibly raw and powerful. It tore me to shreds and then built me back up again. I have no words for this one. It was truly incredible. I haven't read a book that hit this hard in so long.

The two stories of "then" and "now" were so masterfully interwoven and beautifully illustrated.

Noor's story and struggles were particularly impactful. I broke down in tears various times when more details of her life were revealed.

Noor and Salahudin's relationship was just perfectly executed. The way they interacted not only with each other but also the way they talked and thought about each other was perfect. Both of their characters were wonderfully fleshed out and made perfectly complex.

I will be thinking about this book for a while. So so so incredible.

“Rage can fuel you. But grief gnaws at you slow, a termite nibbling at your soul until you’re a whisper of what you used to be.”

Tahir’s Ember series is one of my favorites. It’s fantasy and full of adventure. When I heard she was writing a contemporary novel I was hesitant to read it. However, I cannot see the same author in this book. They are wildly different. Different genres, different characters, different feelings brought about. That's pretty amazing to be able to do!

YA Contemporary is very hit and miss for me. I like the escape of fantasy where it entertains me but isn’t heavy. This book dealt with very heavy subjects. The characters are so well written that it’s easy to feel their pain. For that, Tahir is an incredible writer.

“I know addiction isn’t logical. Abu loves me. But right now, his need for oblivion is greater than that love.”
It is beautifully written. A foreword described it as "beautiful and consuming" and I completely agree. The ending wasn’t perfect which made it perfect I liked the realism of it. “There’s more to life than the things in front of you,” Santiago says, and now, finally, I listen. “Sometimes we hold on to things we shouldn’t. People. Places. Emotions. We try to control all of it, when what we should be doing is trusting in something bigger.”

I have no words. Sabaa Tahir has done it AGAIN and she has made me weep with rage, hopelessness, grief, and still yet hope. I will never go through or experience anything like what Punjabi and Urdu do, the story itself is one I and many others will relate to. I'm amazed at what this book accomplished, and how beautifully written it was. Bravo.

Salahudin and Noor haven’t spoken in months. Not since the Fight, which continues to hang over both of their heads, even when they try to ignore it. Unfortunately, they’re all each other has. Sure, Salahudin has his parents, but his mother is very sick and his father is always passed out drunk on the couch, so they’re no help. Noor has her uncle, who saved her when an earthquake killed the rest of her family as a child. But he’s determined that Noor will stay and look over the liquor store after she graduates, rather than go to college. In secret, Noor applied to seven colleges, daring to hope that she might finally be able to get away. These are two teens who are desperate to survive, to escape, but with so many forces against them and with them at odds with each other, will they make it through?

I received an advanced reading copy of All My Rage in exchange for an honest review.

All My Rage is a young adult novel by Sabaa Tahir. If that name sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because she’s also the bestselling author of the An Ember in the Ashes series. I read An Ember in the Ashes some time ago, and I knew that Tahir was good at writing fantasy. I was curious to see how she’d do writing something else. And, honestly, I was blown away.

I don’t even know where to start! Well, maybe with a few trigger warnings. The copy I read also had them at the beginning, which was nice, since there’s several sensitive topics in the book. I’ll list them here too, in case you’d rather avoid this review (since I may touch on these topics): addiction and alcoholism, abuse (physical and sexual), and racism (specifically Islamophobia).

From the very beginning, this book had me hooked. We start off with two characters who already find themselves in desperate situations: Salahudin with his sick mother and drunk father, and Noor with an uncle who doesn’t want her to go to college. But the more you read, the further into the story you go, the more you’re just caught up in their stories. Told through alternating POVs between Salahudin, Noor, and Misbah (Salahudin’s mother), we get to learn more about their lives in the small town of Juniper. We learn about their connections, their past, their hopes and fears. And how much the world is determined to keep them down.

This is really the story of what happens when two desperate kids want to survive in a world that is against them from the start. Not only are they both barely scraping by, but they have to deal with racism and bigotry, as well as their own and their family’s pasts. Yes, this is a story of two kids, but really their families form up so much of them, and a lot of their problems too! We have Salahudin with his parents, wanting to take care of both of them, save them. And we have Noor, who lives with the knowledge that if it weren’t for her uncle, she would have died too. She owes everything to him, and he reminds her of that, often. And there’s one thing I want to bring attention to regarding Noor and her uncle, but it would definitely be a spoiler. There’s something that will stand out in their sections, specifically something that at first I thought might be a mistake, but then I realized what it all was. Again, I don’t want to say anything, because when I realized what it was, I was aghast, so I want you to find it yourself. Just keep an eye out for it.

There is so much emotion in this book. This is a story about pain and grief, about fear, but you can’t have all of those emotions without some good ones too. There’s so much hope here, even when everything looked darkest. And, trust me, things definitely become dark as the novel progresses. In fact, things got to a point where I literally could not put the book down. The second day of reading this, there came a point where I really had to make myself dinner, but I couldn’t. stop. reading. I honestly completely forgot about how hungry I was, about what time it was. I forgot that I owed my parents a call, and that I had other chores to do. I refused to stop reading until I finished the book. And this wasn’t too near the end either, but I just needed to know what would happen.

I devoured All My Rage. It put me through every emotion too, and I sobbed for at least half an hour while reading this. Anger, devastation, but hope. And when I finished the book and put it down, I just sat, stunned. Overcome by how amazing it all was. It’s early in the year, but I have a feeling this is already one of my top ten books of 2022.

I would recommend All My Rage to anybody teen and above, as long as they are OK reading about the potentially triggering subjects mentioned above. It is a book that will rip through you, give you a major book hangover, but you’ll be unable to forget it and the wonderful characters that Tahir has created.

All My Rage will be released March 1. You can pre-order your copy from Razorbill here.