If You Could be Mine by Sara Farizan

Twitter Username: SaraFarizan

Publish Date: August 20th 2013

Publisher: Alqonquin Young Readers

Format: Audiobook, Unabridged

Narrated By: Negin Farsad

Introduction

Sahar is sixteen-years-old and in love with her best friend, Nasrin. They share secret kisses and promise each other their love. The problem is that they live in Iran, and homosexuality is forbidden under the threat of hanging. Then it comes to light that Nasrin has a marriage arranged by her family. Nasrin wants to continue the secret affair, but Sahar wants Nasrin exclusively. Sahar discovers a loophole in the law for them to be together, but the journey to that conclusion is complicated.

Narrator

            At first, I was weary of a narrator with a strong accent. My hearing isn’t always the best, and I knew there would be an abundance of unfamiliar words. As the chapters went on I was surprised that I was enjoying her voice and that I had no problems. Farsad delivers all her lines with the correct emotion, and she does dry humour very well. She is of Iranian decent, born in the United States, so I believe her voice to be authentic (as opposed to an English speaker attempting to impersonate and fail miserably).

Love Story

            The two main women are beautifully written for each other. Nasrin is confident and occasionally the target of the morality police because of her flashy clothes. Sahar is more conservative and she is intelligent. I can definitely see why they would fall in love. Of course, each has their pit falls. Nasrin is selfish. Sahar believes she can fix everything herself. A perfect couple? Of course not, but who are? Perhaps they are staying with each other because they have been together since they were children and perhaps because they are the only lesbians they know (highly probable for most of the book). What we do have is a couple that want to be together in a country that has forbidden their love.

That said, I don’t think I have ever disliked a love interest more than I have disliked Nasrin. But before everyone starts hating on Sahar for her target of affection, I bet most people have had a partner that they loved and a lot of people hated. It’s the eye of the beholder.

But Nasrin did aggravated me. As much as I wanted to pull my hair out at her stupidity, she is well-written. I get why she does most of the things she does, even if I hate her decisions. As I wanted Sahar to succeed I felt like Nasrin was the one impeding change and it was so frustrating in a good way.

Cousin Ali

This charismatic man is my favourite character. Sure, he’s a convenient character, another homosexual in Iran who knows the ropes and who has enough power in the underground to keep himself and his friends safe. I still like him – he does want everyone to be happy as they are. A little too easy going, but he’s an interesting layer in this story. And he is funny – my favourite line was when he said Sahar should leave and go to Turkey to find a particular kind of woman.

 

Story

Spoilers Ahead!

It is true that Sahar has no idea what she’s getting into, though I argue that the information must be difficult to come by. While it is not illegal to get sex reassignment surgery, it probably isn’t widely accepted, so you can’t just ask your parents about it. Sahar is desperate, and yes, her plan could work, and that’s what gives this novel the extra layer. It is plausible. What if she goes through with it? Will Nasrin still love her? Will Sahar’s family still love her, or will they shun her?  

Topics for discussion or a paper could be gender identity in an oppressive society or LGBTQ love in an oppressive society. These are fairly obvious topics, but there is so much content here. Plus, this novel takes place in modern-day Iran, so a student can do a lot of research about Iran and its policies. Something interesting that can be written about is a person’s ties to a country that is oppressing them – if they leave, stay to make it better, or stay and live with how the country is.

 Book Club

            An older audience would be the best audience for this. I have seen reviews of people saying that it is inappropriate for middle-graders, and I have not seen anything saying that this book is marketed towards middle-graders. It’s like taking Hamlet and getting huffy about it not being suitable for kindergarteners. Have you read the back of the book?

            Also, you should probably know your book club audience because of the subject matter.

            Something interesting for a book club would be to also have a display of Iranian architecture, clothing, and food, like those mentioned in the book, around the book club meeting space. This could perhaps cross some of the cultural barriers we have. This book lacks description about how Iranian society is visually, and pictures could be an excellent accompaniment. 

Ending

Spoilers Ahead! (And a bit of a rant.)

To anyone who wants to argue that Sahar should have left to Istanbul with Ali…she doesn’t want to leave her father. She also believes that Iran is her home, and she doesn’t want to abandon it. And ultimately, she doesn’t want to leave Nasrin either, even if she can’t have her. I’m not sure why this confuses people. It would be hard for me to leave too. There are many people, especially women, who will explain why people stay in situations that are not ideal or even dangerous.  

A book isn’t going to end the way you want it so it will suit you. Personally, I loved the ending because it was so bittersweet. The last 30 minutes or so of audio gave some small hope to Sahar, even though it is still not an accepted relationship in Iran. I think she can be happy and wow that make me happy for her.

Final Verdict

            I listened to If You Could be Mine as an ebook, but I think I should have first experienced it as a paper book to get the language ingrained in my head properly, though listening to the proper pronunciation was helpful. I was rooting for Sahar even though I didn’t know if she should follow through with her plan or not – I just wanted her and Nasrin to be happy. I highly recommend this book to older teens or teens that are interested in LGBTQ relationships or issues, or oppressive governments. However, be cautious with the subject matter.

 

Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters

Published: June 10 2014
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Website: Author’s Website
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged 
Narration by: Christine Lakin

Quick Review

Introduction

During a run, Swanee dies from an unexpected cardiac arrest, leaving the people around her reeling. One of the people left behind is her girlfriend, Alix. Swanee also left her troubled sister, Joss, behind.

The death of Swanee unravels the lives of everyone around her. With her death, Swanee’s lies also unravel, and it is apparent to Alix that her girlfriend was living a double-life. A mysterious caller continues to text Swanee’s cell, not knowing that she died.

Alix has burning questions, and for some reason, Joss isn’t helping Alix understand what Swanee did.

As Alix struggles to fathom Swanee’s lies and if she ever loved Alix, she becomes close to someone through her own lies. Alix has left her own trail of deceit and destruction in her quest to figure out Swanee, and she’ll have to answer to someone she met because of Swanee’s death. 

Narrator

            This was narrated by Christine Lakin, and I have no complaints. The narrator has a grasp of the subtleties of the emotions that she is delivering, but she is very natural sounding too. No matter what character she was reading, she sounded like someone I could meet in real life. This naturalness is something that Tavia Gilbert (narrator of Eve) doesn’t have. Such an effortless voice grounds this story in reality.

LGBT Lit

            Obviously, this story is about two girls in a romantic relationship, planning on spending their lives together. What I really enjoyed was that the book wasn’t all about “OMG I’M INTO GIRLS AND NO ONE ACCEPTS IT!” Alix and Swanee are already lesbians without doubts (so it seems), though they are “out” to various degrees. I appreciated that this book was a tragic love story gone wrong, and the characters involved happen to be young women. I think some of the elements were thrown in there because the author felt like she had to (it gets a bit preachy). The lesbian characters treat intimacy the same as heterosexual book couples. The media tends to glorify and sexualize lesbians, and it’s nice to see that this doesn’t happen in this book (not too much, anyway - what’s there is more of a funny way to hang out that is awkwardly sexual).  

Plot

            The very beginning was boring to me. As in, I was walking down the street in the cold pre-sun darkness and I was considering taking off my mitts to listen to a different audio book. Alix’s parents drugged her after Swanee died. Yes, it strikes Alix deeply, and for a stretch of time she can’t accept that Swanee is dead. But how do I let go of the fact that her parents drugged her? I can’t. Not only is it deplorable, it’s unrealistic. Mix the drugging with Alix’s inability to accept Swanee’s death, and that was a painful beginning.  

            Personally, I didn’t find this to be too angsty. Can we ever know how we will react if a loved one dies unexpectedly?

Protagonist

Alix has a fantastic character arch as she realizes her late girlfriend wasn’t that great of a person, even though Alix loved her. On the other hand, Alix isn’t the greatest person, girlfriend, friend, daughter, or sister in the world. While this bothers a lot of people, I enjoy imperfect protagonists. No one is perfect, and I do have to say that her parents don’t allow her too much grieving time (seriously, her girlfriend just died, how reliable of a babysitter do you think she’ll be?), so her behaviour is probably at its worst.

Final Verdict

            Alix discovers other people’s secrets that fundamentally changes how she sees them. This happens in reality as we grow older, our delusions are stripped away, and there are plenty of moments in like this in the book. This is a beautiful romance and tragedy novel that happens to have two girls instead of a girl and a boy. I highly recommend LIES to teens and those who enjoy teen lit and who are open to the concept of two people loving each other regardless of gender. I would make sure that it is an appropriate book club read before putting it on the list, though, as not everyone has the same views nor the respect for diversity.