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Published Jun 2021
256 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
From bestselling and National Book Award–nominated author Tahereh Mafi comes a stunning novel about love and loneliness, navigating the hyphen of dual identity, and reclaiming your right to joy - even when you're trapped in the amber of sorrow.
It's 2003, several months since the US officially declared war on Iraq, and the American political world has evolved. Tensions are high, hate crimes are on the rise, FBI agents are infiltrating local mosques, and the Muslim community is harassed and targeted more than ever. Shadi, who wears hijab, keeps her head down.
She's too busy drowning in her own troubles to find the time to deal with bigots.
Shadi is named for joy, but she's haunted by sorrow. Her brother is dead, her father is dying, her mother is falling apart, and her best friend has mysteriously dropped out of her life. And then, of course, there's the small matter of her heart—
It's broken.
Shadi tries to navigate her crumbling world by soldiering through, saying nothing. She devours her own pain, each day retreating farther and farther inside herself until finally, one day, everything changes.
She explodes.
An Emotion of Great Delight is a searing look into the world of a single Muslim family in the wake of 9/11. It's about a child of immigrants forging a blurry identity, falling in love, and finding hope—in the midst of a modern war.
"Mafi confronts issues of mental health, suicidality, racism, and self-love in ways that will leave readers reacting viscerally and powerfully. Reading this novel is like being dropped straight into the everyday lives of a Muslim family in post–9/11 America. A simply real story, devoid of clichés, that will leave an indelible mark." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Mafi follows her National Book Award–longlisted A Very Large Expanse of Sea with another contemporary young adult novel of striking emotional intensity...With masterfully compelling prose, this surprises and ensnares, leading readers to an inevitable but gripping climax. Though there's a feverous feeling throughout the book, there's also formidable nuance in Shadi's paradoxical and contradictory thought patterns. Emotional implications of great magnitude and stakes that could not feel higher. A bluntly powerful read that shouldn't be missed." - Booklist (starred review)
"Underdeveloped secondary characters, a derogatory and seemingly out-of-character description of the burqa as 'those gross tent things the Taliban forces women to wear in Afghanistan,' and an abrupt ending that feels disconnected from the novel's larger themes detract from its portrayal of a Muslim family in America in the years after 9/11. Even so, Mafi clearly and movingly illustrates how grief can escalate uncontrollably and seep into every facet of life." - Publishers Weekly
This information about An Emotion of Great Delight was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Tahereh Mafi is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling and National Book Award longlisted author of An Emotion of Great Delight, A Very Large Expanse of Sea, the Shatter Me series, Furthermore, and Whichwood.
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