Oh my god. This book. I don’t even know where to begin with it. I just sent in my attendance earlier about how I need to format my blog posts better but I don’t think I’d be able to if I tried with this one. This work has easily climbed to my favorites list, if it is not yet the favorite. There is really nothing about it I dislike or thought didn’t add up. I was so invested in reading it the entire time I was, & when I wasn’t I was thinking about it. I asked for my extension & then ended up reading nonstop when I was actually awake on Wednesday- I got to my 8AM class twenty minutes early to read, read for the forty minutes before my next class, then I sat through my hour fifteen Calculus class occasionally stopping my reading to take notes on the material, then quickly being sucked back into the book (before you worry- I took Calculus as a Junior in high school so it is really but a refresher course). I worked my 12-8 wondering if work was slow enough that my manager wouldn’t care if I brought my book out of my bag & started reading it between collecting drive-thru payments.

But what all do I like about it? Well firstly I like Changez. A lot. I was really intrigued by him from the beginning, but once questions about his character came into play I was just totally head over heels for him. I felt like I payed more attention to every aspect of him, but it got to a point where I’d probably just defend him no matter what he did, because he’s just so interesting. Some of his actions are just weird, I know, but… I just like him.. the way he’ll talk about them afterwards to “us” seems to show some sense of awareness at least, so I think it’s okay to like him.

I also still liked Erica & was super sad about her situation, as well as how it hurt Changez & her mother. It’s just super crazy what stuff like that can do to a person so fast; I also thought it was interesting that Changez’s behavior once he returned to Lahore after her disappearance was probably super super similar to what she had been going through over thoughts of Chris- which Changez said he didn’t believe in when she was dealing with it. That’s the one sucky thing I thought he did, but otherwise very enjoyable..

I also just reallllllly love the writing style of the book. It was so easy to read but not in a way of being overly simple like they were trying to talk to a toddler (but maybe similar since he’s narrating to an ignorant American). The language was always very fascinating especially when they wanted to change the mood, which are things I typically found hard to follow when discussing books in high school, but maybe they just didn’t work for me the way this one did. I also think all of it was very well-thought out, & the benefit to finishing behind schedule allowed me to notice lots of potential foreshadowing details given that I had already read the ending in-class. But! that also didn’t ruin the experience for me or make the build-up at the end any less impactful! which is also very impressive!!!!

I just loved this book. I really want to write a more formal piece so I can collect & cultivate my thoughts in a more academic way than me pretty much just love-bombing it here, & I hope I can create something I’m really proud of so I can feel as though I’m living up to this work in a way.