Ten Things I Hate About Me and Jupiter Williams

[anitabuchan.livejournal.com]

2. Ten Things I Hate About Me by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Randa Abdel-Fattah also wrote 'Does My Head Look Big In This?', which I know is very popular and has won various awards. So when I saw 10 Things I Hate About Me I had to buy.

Jamilah is a Muslim teen who's proud of her Lebanese heritage and enjoys going to madrasa and playing the darabuka. However, at school she's known as Jamie, and dies her hair blonde and wears blue contact lenses to fit in. She keeps 'Jamilah' secret, afraid of being bullied or not fitting in.

I loved this book. I loved how painfully real I found Jamilah, torn in two between her pride in her identity, and her desperation to fit in and avoid to notice of the popular kids. She's clever and funny, but also insecure and lacking in confidence. This being YA chick lit, it all gets complicated when boys get involved. I saw the twist coming from very early on, but it didn't spoil it much. There's a good cast of well-rounded secondary characters, all with their own issues (and I love Jamilah's sister embroidering 'Save the Forests' onto her hijab). I also loved the ending: it wasn't what I'd expected, but given how Jamilah's character grew over the book, it also made perfect sense, and I think left me happier than if it had ended in a more conventional way.

3. Jupiter Williams by S. I. Martin

This has previously been reviewed by puritybrown here. It's YA historical fiction, set in London 1800, focusing on Jupiter Williams and his brothers. They were born free in Sierra Leone, but sent to the African Academy in London for their education. When Jupiter's brother Robert disappears, Jupiter goes to try and find him.

This is good - I enjoyed reading about the African community in London at a time when most books would have you believe it was all white. It left me wanting to find out more. Jupiter is definitely a strong character, if not a likeable one, and the author doesn't shrink back from describing the nastiness and horror of the time.

But I couldn't help feeling something was missing. At the end I was left thinking, But what happens next? I'm not normally a huge fan of epilogues, but I think that something was needed to make it feel a little more finished. There was no sense of resolution, or at least for me it didn't feel like there was. But I enjoyed it, and it intrigued me enough that I want to find out more about the African community in Britain at that time.

Comments

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed reading about the African community in London at a time when most books would have you believe it was all white. It left me wanting to find out more.

If you don't mind your history a wee bit random (but with links and suggestions for further googling)...

Place:

http://spiralsheep.livejournal.com/tag/black+history:+british

Time:

http://spiralsheep.livejournal.com/tag/black+history:+1700s

http://spiralsheep.livejournal.com/tag/black+history:+1800s

:-)

[anitabuchan.livejournal.com]

I love history any way I can get it! Thank you, those look great - I can't wait till I've got time to go through them all properly.