Q U I C K S T A T S
Characters- 0.5
Setting-⭐⭐
Writing style- ⭐⭐⭐
Overall rating- ⭐. 5
// Content Warning: Antisemitism / Divorce / Islamophobia / Racism / Xenophobia //
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Genre(s): Contemporary
Age group: Young Adult
Pub date: February 4, 2020
New York Times bestselling authors Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed have crafted a resonant, funny, and memorable story about the power of love and resistance.
P R E M I S E
YES
Jamie Goldberg is cool with volunteering for his local state senate candidate—as long as he’s behind the scenes. When it comes to speaking to strangers (or, let’s face it, speaking at all to almost anyone), Jamie’s a choke artist. There’s no way he’d ever knock on doors to ask people for their votes…until he meets Maya.
NO
Maya Rehman’s having the worst Ramadan ever. Her best friend is too busy to hang out, her summer trip is cancelled, and now her parents are separating. Why her mother thinks the solution to her problems is political canvassing—with some awkward dude she hardly knows—is beyond her.
MAYBE SO
Going door to door isn’t exactly glamorous, but maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer—and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural romance of the century is another thing entirely.
M Y R E V I E W
As soon as I read the premise, I prayed this book would have the right Muslim rep we all needed and of course, I was wrong. Again.
Yes No Maybe So is divided into dual POVs and follows Maya, a Pakistani American Muslim, and Jamie, a Jew who are determined to raise awareness of a racist bill about to be passed. I didn't find any of the characters likeable, except Jamie's grandmother who has a swaggy Instagram and is probably the coolest person out there.
Maya fasted voluntarily, good. But that's her extent of being Muslim. This entire book literally takes place during Ramadan and besides her parents, who have separated but are on good terms which was really good, and imam Jackson, there were no other Muslims in this entire book? Girl you live in America, there's obviously more Muslims than what you've given us.
Moving onto Jamie, who's only personality trait was being the sweet guy. I need some water because he's dry asf.
The part I hated the most, besides everything else, was the romance. Remember that this entire book takes place during Ramadan and the whole point of the holy month was diminished when Maya was first all I-can't-date-because-of-my-religion, and then not even a chapter later makes out with Jamie in a target dressing room and I- why?
This entire book screamed white boy 'saves' Muslim girl and why is it a thing?
Okay for the only positive besides Jamie's grandmother, I loved how they raised awareness of this racist bill, which if I'm not wrong is supposed to have an effect on hijabis? Anyways I liked how they were aware that every vote counts and blah blah. And that's it for the positives.
I highly recommend reading this review that goes into depth as to why this trope is incredibly problematic:
T R O P E S
Boy next door
Coming of age
Forbidden romance
Friends to lovers
R E P R E S E N T A T I O N
Jewish main character
Muslim main character
MLM relationship (side characters)
Queer side character
S I M I L A R B O O K S
Amina's Voice (duology) by Hena Khan (just a quick note that this gorgeous MG duology has zero romance and instead focuses on identity acceptance as a Pakistani-American and, as you can see, very different. Below I will include the premise because I had not written a review for this book but I rated it 5 stars on Goodreads)
A Pakistani-American Muslim girl struggles to stay true to her family’s vibrant culture while simultaneously blending in at school after tragedy strikes her community in this “compassionate, timely novel.” Amina has never been comfortable in the spotlight. She is happy just hanging out with her best friend, Soojin. Except now that she’s in middle school everything feels different. Soojin is suddenly hanging out with Emily, one of the “cool” girls in the class, and even talking about changing her name to something more “American.” Does Amina need to start changing too? Or hiding who she is to fit in? While Amina grapples with these questions, she is devastated when her local mosque is vandalized. Amina’s Voice brings to life the joys and challenges of a young Pakistani-American and highlights the many ways in which one girl’s voice can help bring a diverse community together to love and support each other
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