By Sabaa Tahir (Amazon's #29 Best Book of 2022) ★★★★★
All My Rage is the story of two high school students, both of whom immigrated to the United States from Pakistan, and who found friendship based on their common background and position as the only Pakistani immigrants in the remote desert town of Juniper, California. They become best friends; that is, until “The Fight”, which effectively ended their friendship and left them refusing to speak to each other.
We join the story following “The Fight”. Sal is struggling to help his family run the motel they own, while his father drifts further into alcoholism. Noor dreams of a way out of Juniper, while living with an uncle resentful that she is in his care and wholly unsupportive of her doing anything other than earning her keep by working at his liquor store.
Circumstances bring them warily back together, and we get to ride along as they start to rekindle a friendship, explore how to forgive each other, and deal with a challenging set of circumstances. If it sounds like it’s a cookie-cutter teen story, it’s not. Instead, it’s a great representation of the ups and downs of being a teenager, shown through the unique lens of the immigrant experience. Ultimately, it’s about the power of friendship and forgiveness.
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