An Emotion of Great Delight by Tahereh Mafi
Publication Information: New York, New York: HarperCollins, 2021
Summary:
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.
Book Trailer
Read-a-Likes:
Darius the Great is Not Okay, by Adib Khorram
All My Rage by Saba Tahir
My Heart Underwater by Laurel Flores Fantauzzo
All-American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie Courtney
Links of Interest:
Author's Website: https://taherehmafi.com/
Author's Website: Tahereh Mafi-HarperCollins Publishers Official Page
Author Q&A : https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-10030/
AConversation between Tahereh Mafi and Marie Lu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot_Z6zIeg1s
Blog Post from We Need Diverse Books: https://diversebooks.org/an-emotion-of-great-delight-by-tahereh-mafi-is-about-containing-multitudes/