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Book Summary and Reviews of All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

All My Rage

A Novel

by Sabaa Tahir

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  • Published:
  • Mar 2022, 384 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Sabaa Tahir comes a brilliant, unforgettable, and heart-wrenching contemporary YA novel about family and forgiveness, love and loss, in a sweeping story that crosses generations and continents.

Lahore, Pakistan. Then.
Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Cloud's Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.

Juniper, California. Now.
Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding.

Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah's health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle's liquor store while hiding the fact that she's applying to college so she can escape him—and Juniper—forever.

When Sal's attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth—and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.

From one of today's most cherished and bestselling young adult authors comes a breathtaking novel of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness—one that's both tragic and poignant in its tender ferocity.

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Book Awards

  • award image National Book Awards, 2022
  • award image Michael Printz Award, 2023

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Tahir brilliantly shows how interconnected societal forces shape communities and people's lives through the accumulated impact of circumstances beyond their control: Substance abuse, debt, racism, trauma, and poverty are intricately woven together to tell a deeply moving, intergenerational story. Takes readers on an unforgettable emotional journey." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"An unyieldingly earnest generational story for contemporary audiences, Rage is a knife-sharp narrative with an obliterating impact that will leave readers thinking of it long after turning the last page." – Booklist (starred review)

"Tahir's lyrical prose unpacks both the beautiful and the brutal. She deftly captures the layers of grief, rage, family, examination of faith, and forgiveness, while managing to inject levity into dire situations and provide a semblance of hope...Put this book at the top of your list." - School Library Journal (starred review)

"This is not the Sabaa Tahir you know…but it's the Sabaa Tahir you NEED to know. All My Rage is a gorgeous, star-crossed story about the costs of the American Dream and the way unexpected routes appear when you need them most. I read this in a single day." - Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Two Ways

"Searing. Riveting. Beautiful. All My Rage takes the reader on an unforgettable journey into the heart of love. Exploring the painful truths of hidden traumas and the crush of broken dreams, Sabaa Tahir shows us the healing, redemptive power of forgiveness, of hope, of connection in her stunning contemporary debut." - Samira Ahmed, New York Times bestselling author of Internment

"We all know Sabaa Tahir is a master at creating epic fantasy worlds filled with terrifying, imaginary monsters. Here, Sabaa turns her considerable talent and skill to the real—but no less terrifying—monsters that dwell in the human heart. In richly evocative prose and with characters so well crafted I'm sure I know them, All My Rage takes a clear-eyed look at the ways in which we hurt and heal each other. It's a gorgeous meditation on grief and love and the possibilities each of us have for redemption. This book will stay with me for a long time to come." - Nicola Yoon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Is Also a Star

This information about All My Rage 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.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

letscra

Really Hecking Awesome
This book changed my life. It gave me insight on situations I've never personally been in. The characters felt so real, it was like I knew them. 10/10, would a 100 read again.

Chioke leo

All My Rage
All My Rage is more like a true life story that deals with facts and happenings among individuals. It portrays life as a tragic, romantic and comedical experience.

This book is recommended to all as it entails the various regrets and disappointments of life and how exactly to handle them.

Sabaa I see the good work here. Kudos !!!

kdowli01

Loved this
I'd really enjoyed Sabaa Tahir's fantasy books, so I was really excited to see how she was at YA, and oh my god it was so good! Thanks to @bookishfirst and @penguinteen for the early copy of this! 

Synopsis: Sal and Noor are two Pakistani-American teens who are trying to rekindle their friendship after a falling out. Sal's mom is gravely sick and he's doing everything he can to help the family motel survive, while Noor desperately wants to go to college but her uncle who takes care of her wants to stop her. This also flashes back through Misbah's life (Sal's mother) showing how the family got to where they were. 

This was amazing. Well-written and layered and powerful and emotional.  There are a lot of triggers so definitely check those out before reading, but otherwise run out and get this ASAP. This gave me so much to think about and was heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time. 

Rage is an emotion that is not really addressed much in fiction, at least not in a meaningful way that I've seen. Rage usually only comes up with someone evil, someone who's resorting to violence. But this does such an amazing job of showing Sal's and Noor's emotions and how they change over time and how rage ends up being not only justified but necessary. I really appreciated how that was addressed here, and making Sal and Noor so incredibly real. 

Faseel

All my rage
"All My Rage" by Sabaa Tahir is a powerful novel that explores themes of resilience, trauma, and the human spirit. Tahir's writing captivates readers with its raw emotion and vivid storytelling, creating a narrative that stays with you long after you finish the last page. The characters are well-developed, and the plot unfolds in a way that keeps you engaged from start to finish. It's a thought-provoking and impactful read.

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Author Information

Sabaa Tahir

Sabaa Tahir grew up in California's Mojave Desert at her family's eighteen-room motel. There, she spent her time devouring fantasy novels, raiding her brother's comic book stash, and playing guitar badly. She began writing An Ember in the Ashes while working nights as a newspaper editor. She likes thunderous indie rock, garish socks, and all things nerd. Sabaa currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

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