How It All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi

Unfortunately there are still people out there who still do not feel as though coming out the closet is a good thing. In the case of Amir, this seems the case, especially with his Iranian Muslim background and the fear that his parents will come to disown him when they finally find out. This sets a series of events that lead to blackmail and an spontaneous decision to travel the world and get away from all the hate back home, while still trying to save face with his family.

There are some points in the book that feels as though there could have been more detail about certain characters, rather than simply talking about them in passing. This is so then it is easier for the reader to understand the motives to why certain characters act the way that they do. Otherwise, what is truly the point of going through a book without any real development of characters? I think there is not really enough pages to be able to show any of this detail, as it is quite a small book in general.

When it comes to Amir, I think that I have come to despise his choices and what he does to people. I understand that he is coming to terms with what it means to live freely as a gay man and there is no way to dispute that, but he does it in a way that is hugely wrong and silly. He makes out that his family will come to hate him for all his worth and the best thing to do is to run away to another country. This is not the way to go about it. In any circumstances this would make the situation worse. It is clear from the beginning with his family's interviews that they care a lot of Amir and keeping him in their lives, rather than his life choices. So why does he feel like he has to make all his relationships around him even harder? It just doesn't make any sense. There is not really any implication of his family's culture upon their thoughts of being gay, so why was it mentioned? It doesn't really move any of the plot, but rather a kick in the teeth for the Muslim community and to pad the book out.

The plane scene was just annoying on my part as well. I really felt sorry for his family, when it was clear that Amir wanted to cause a fuss and make out he is victim to a captive audience. He was not a victim in any way to his family. They have had a short period to get around the concept; he has had his whole life. I wanted to shout "Please just leave them alone! They accept you as you are and still love you why are you doing this to them?"

However, there is one person that I did come to care about and I feel like she was given a lot of jip for her actions, Soraya. She seems like a lovely and understanding sister, which I felt like Amir kept pushing away. It's sad, especially when she states she is ok with it, as she works with gay actors. But one thing that I really felt sorry about is how she was the one who got the backlash, as the only way to put her parent's mind at rest was to tell them the truth about Amir.

The ending, well, the ending was intolerably dull. What was the point truly? It kind of makes me angry in some respects. It was completely wrong and just was disappointing as there was nothing there to really sign off this book. In fact, I didn't even realise that it was the end until I saw the acknowledgements. So, no guys, probably not a good idea to spend a single penny on this one, no lasting impression to read this one again. Move along.

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