a very large expanse of sea tahereh mafi

Mafi openly addresses many common misconceptions about Islam and what it means to be a woman of color in the face of racism, showing how differences can be applauded, not feared. Tahereh Mafi’s A VERY LARGE EXPANSE OF SEA (HarperCollins, 320 pp., 18.99 ages 14 and up), her first foray into realistic fiction after her best-selling dystopian Shatter Me series. Mafi (the Shatter Me series) infuses a contemporary love story with a heartbreakingly realistic portrait of one post-9/11 Muslim life in the United States. Meanwhile, Shirin finds solace by starting a breakdancing crew with her brother and his friends.

But the new couple soon becomes targets of racism, xenophobia, and bigotry. Against her better judgment, Shirin lets Ocean in and slowly begins to fall for him. That is, until she meets Ocean James in her biology class. She rages at those who assume that her religion and headscarf make her a terrorist, but instead of letting her anger “grip both sides of my mouth open and rip me in half,” she uses indifference as armor against the hostile stares of her peers. Published in 2018, best-selling author Tahereh Mafi’s first standalone novel was long-listed for a National Book Award.Hijabi Shirin, 16, starts at a new school in small-town America shortly after 9/11. A Very Large Expanse of Sea crafts a powerful exploration of cultural identity, cross-cultural relationships and the ways that post-9/11 prejudice still echoes in America. As Shirin and Ocean’s relationship grows deeper, the couple faces prejudice and criticism from nearly everyone around them-forcing Shirin to make a heartbreaking decision. But when star basketball player Ocean James, her white lab partner at her new high school, begins showing a genuine interest in getting to know her, Shirin’s guard slowly starts to come down.

In response, she’s withdrawn into herself, only emerging from her shell whenever she practices her dance moves with her brother and his break-dancing crew. Shirin, a 16-year-old Iranian American who wears a headscarf, has spent the year since the attacks of 9/11 enduring an onslaught of racist and Islamophobic abuse from peers, teachers and strangers. Tahereh Mafi is the National Book Award nominated and New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of An Emotion of Great Delight, the This Woven Kingdom series, the Shatter Me series, A Very Large Expanse of Sea, Whichwood, and Furthermore.

A very large expanse of sea tahereh mafi