2014 Hub Reading Challenge discussion

I'm very surprised that this book didn't win a Stonewall this year. I was glad for the discussion of LGBTQ+ persons in Iran, and I enjoyed the love story, even though the MC's secret girlfriend clearly didn't love her as much as the MC loved the girlfriend.

I agree that I'm surprised it wasn't on the Stonewall list. I've wanted to read it ever since I read a review - such a fascinating premise. Unfortunately I felt the characters were generally a bit too one note to make the book truly outstanding.

It was difficult to read this book as I knew that it couldn't end well...no fairy tale ending. However, I really valued this story as it begins to fill a void in LGBT lit. I found it very informative and it inspired me to do some additional research on this part of the world and LGBT rights. I actually recommended it at a workshop that I presented on global LGBT rights. A good documentary to accompany it is Jihad for Love about being LGBT in a Muslim society. I am definitely purchasing it for my library as it will fit perfectly in International baccalaureate program.

There's a new book out that's a great read-alike, too. Moon at Nine

I thought the audio was great and have really decided that multicultural novel should be listened to versus read. The authentic voices really help the feel of the novel. Another great one is Same Sun Here

I agree that this book should have made it on the Stonewall list. It really got me thinking about homosexuality versus transgenderism (is that the right word?). This plus LGBT life in a Muslim society as well as life in a Muslim society in general make it excellent for book discussions.

I thought that the audio was pretty well done, although there were times when she really ran sentences together. I loved her voice. And, not that it impacts the audio in any way, but did anyone else think her voice was very cat-like? :)

I thought the narrator did a fantastic job and brought the book to life. It was very interesting and I enjoyed reading about Iran at a "people" level as opposed to a "political" level: reading about individuals instead of the generalized religious groups and their political agendas that we usually read and hear about in the news.