Review: A Very Large Expanse of Sea

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 Stars bumped, because it's such an important topic.

This is the first novel of Tahereh Mafi's that I've read. But oddly, I've followed her on Instagram for quite some time. Some of the other authors I follow, like Leigh Bardugo, would comment on her photos and I became intrigued about how stylish she was and started following her. Mafi always looks elegant and soulful. Earlier this year though she started posting some different photos. Photos not like the ones of her usual elegant outfits + poses, or photos of her husband and daughter, or of herself against some beautiful natural backdrop. First, back in February, she posted an image from the LA Times in which she was spinning around her hand, elevated off the floor. I saw it in my feed and was caught off-guard. Elegant. Tahereh Mafi. break. dances...? No. Way. Then in May she posted some pretty amazing photos (including one where she's balanced on her head) saying she was getting ready to shoot a video for her latest book in which the main character enjoys breakdancing. (Here's that video, by the way... IG video) By July I had serious questions. First I want to know how she keeps her hijab doing her head moves. Or really any dance moves. (No, really. This is a serious question, okay? You may not understand this, but as a person who can barely even keep a simple barrette in place on my hair, I want to know how she keeps her hijab not just in place but looking perfect. Is that magic?) My other question was about how I could get my hands on this book. Thank you Harpers Teen for sending me an ARC! I got at least one thing sorted. We won't talk about the other one.

A Very Large Expanse of Sea is the story of Shirin, a fifteen year old Iranian-American girl who has just started a new school (again, sigh) not long after 9/11. Shirin wears hijab (a head scarf) and has taken a lot of flack for it. She wears it by choice. It is emblematic of her showing her whole self only when and to whom she wishes. It isn't a big religious or parental prescription. It's about her choice about how she goes out into the world. When we meet Shirin, her sophomore experience basically consists of trying to talk and make as little eye contact as possible with her peers, and even with her teachers. From the story's opening, where her Honors English teacher can't figure out how to pronounce her name and instead of simply asking her what her name is so he can hear it correctly spoken right off the bat, mispronounces it Sharon (a nice Biblical name) and then tells her he thinks she's in the wrong class (because it is inconceivable that a girl in a hijab can do Honors English, natch), we can see her life isn't la vie en rose. Things go south when she points out her English is "fucking perfect." Let me warn you up front that this teacher isn't the only asshole teacher in this story. Shirin has been the object of insults and assaults (verbal and physical) for a while and her parents, who had strife-filled paths to the US, are a bit less than sympathetic. Shirin doubles up on her mental defenses and tries to just move forward. But not before bumping into a tall kid, Ocean James, who seems curious about her. Brushing everyone off with her cool demeanor, Shirin wastes no time brushing him off too, for a while anyway. But Ocean persists and he isn't afraid to ask her questions about her culture, her life, and more, even though he's occasionally shocked by Shirin's teasing, acerbic replies. When they become lab partners in Bio she chides him for sending too many text messages (she worries because of a family sharing plan) and says if he sends too many he has to marry her, and such. Over time, their relationship becomes more than a friendship and that spells trouble. Bigotry rears its ugly head and the couple are pressured from all sides (peers, faculty, parents) about their relationship. Ocean is his school's basketball team star and the xenophobic, jingoistic post-9/11 environment doesn't seem to want to tolerate their All-American star athlete dating some hijab wearing Iranian-American girl.

I loved this book, though I felt that Ocean wasn't well defined enough, in some odd way. I wanted a better understanding of how he got to be this fine upstanding person with what felt like zero input from parents or family. I couldn't understand exactly why he was willing to take such risks to be with Shirin, to stand by her. But Shirin didn't really understand why either, and it's her POV so maybe it all makes better sense this way. That's pretty much the only thing in this book that I could quibble with.

This book offers young people an opportunity to see the world, and some of the truly idiotic, bigoted people living in it, from the perspective of a young Muslim woman who just happened to want to wear a hijab. Mafi has stated that this book, though a novel, is based on her real life experiences. There several scenes that actually brought tears to my eyes. And I'm sad to say that I have absolutely no doubt that everything that she describes in terms of bigotry has happened to her, or to friends of hers. (I think she left out the one where an Iranian or Iranian-American person has to explain that, no they aren't Arab. /insert facepalm here/)

"The more I got to know people, the more I realized we were all just a bunch of frightened idiots walking around in the dark, bumping into each other and panicking for no reason at all. So I started turning on a light."

This book, which is one of those lights, should be on every high school's summer reading list. There's important stuff about seeing your fellow human beings in here.

P.S. Dear Tahereh, I am not surprised you breakdance because you are Persian. I'm surprised because you usually look like a fashion icon. Turns out you're a fashion icon who also breaks.


I received a paper ARC from HarperTeen in exchange for an honest review.

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