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Book Reviewed by:In this unforgettable debut, a Muslim teen copes with Islamophobia, cultural divides among peers and parents, and a reality she can neither explain nor escape.
American-born seventeen-year-old Maya Aziz is torn between worlds. There's the proper one her parents expect for their good Indian daughter: attending a college close to their suburban Chicago home, and being paired off with an older Muslim boy who's "suitable" to her mother. And then there is the world of her dreams: going to film school and living in New York City - and maybe (just maybe) pursuing a boy she's known from afar since grade school, a boy who's finally falling into her orbit at school.
There's also the real world, beyond Maya's control. In the aftermath of a horrific crime perpetrated hundreds of miles away, her life is turned upside down. The community she's known since birth becomes unrecognizable; neighbors and classmates alike are consumed with fear, bigotry, and hatred. Ultimately Maya must find the strength within to determine where she truly belongs.
In Samira Ahmed’s thoughtful debut novel, Maya’s first-person narrative alternates with more ominous passages fueled by hate and dread, passages that initially may unsettle readers and eventually may force them to wrestle with their own prejudices and preconceptions. The shift from straightforward young adult romance to a more intense story of intolerance and hatred may seem abrupt or even jarring to many readers, but in the end, this backdrop helps provide context for Maya’s personal conflicts and illustrate how her particular struggles are both universal and also specific to her identity as a young American Muslim woman of Indian descent...continued
Full Review
(647 words)
(Reviewed by Norah Piehl).
At one point in Love, Hate, and Other Filters, Maya's best friend Violet tells her that love is "a part of who you are, not an object you can film and capture in different kinds of light." Maya is used to viewing the world - including her own life - through the lens of film. She wants to be a documentary filmmaker, and Ahmed's novel mentions several filmmakers - many of them Indian women - who provide inspiration for Maya's future career. Numerous women from India and of Indian descent are making memorable and groundbreaking films, including documentaries. Here are just a few of these notable filmmakers:
Deepa Mehta is an Indian Canadian filmmaker best known for her "Elements" trilogy: Fire (1996), Earth (1998), and Water (2005...
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