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    The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali
    The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali
    The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali

    Written by Sabina Khan

    Narrated by Richa Shukla

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    With a welcome mix of humor, heart, and high-stakes drama, Sabina Khan provides a timely and honest portrait of what it's like to grow up feeling unwelcome in your own culture.

    Seventeen-year-old Rukhsana Ali tries her hardest to live up to her conservative Muslim parents' expectations, but lately she's finding that impossible to do. She rolls her eyes when they blatantly favor her brother and saves her crop tops and makeup for parties her parents don't know about. Luckily, only a few more months stand between her carefully monitored life in Seattle and her new life at Caltech. But when her parents catch her kissing her girlfriend Ariana, all of Rukhsana's plans fall apart.

    Her parents are devastated and decide to whisk Rukhsana off to Bangladesh, where she is thrown headfirst into a world of arranged marriages and tradition. Through reading her grandmother's old diary, Rukhsana gains some much-needed perspective and realizes she must find the courage to fight for her love without losing the connection to her family as a consequence.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherScholastic
    Release dateJan 29, 2019
    ISBN9781338352870
    The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali

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    Reviews for The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali

    4.5/5

    114 ratings8 reviews

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    • 5/5
      TW : racism, domestic abuse, rape, violence, hate crimes

      Rukhsana is navigating life as a queer teenager in an Indian-American family. It was such an intense rollercoaster ride, super entertaining as well as heart wrenching. This book explores various forms of relationships (friendships, romantic, family, etc.) and works hard on dismantling outdated concepts (ex : Rukshana's worth as a bride is measured by her looks and possessions, while she fights to be recognized for her accomplishments. & to like also not be married off against her will.)

      I could NOT put this book down. But even if this story ended well for Rukshana, it's the real-life story of so many girls out there. Who aren't as fortunate.

      Also, the audiobook narrator (who also narrated Don't Read the Comments) is absolutely amazing!!
    • 5/5
      This book was excellent and it was all I could think of when I was not reading it. I loved seeing into another culture and how something so unfamiliar intermixed with a community I am a part of. There were some rough topics and dark parts to the story that mentally and emotionally I was not prepared for and found myself crying over at times. Trigger Warning for emotional abuse, physical abuse, rape, homophobia, and hate crimes.
    • 5/5
      Being an outsider to Bengali culture makes it hard to provide an accurate review of this book in terms of how realistic it is. However, I did find it to be an interesting and enlightening intersectional exploration of what it could mean to have a 2SLGBTQIA identity within the Bengali community. The story was nuanced, resisting the need to pigeon hole people as good or bad, while always believing in the possibility for change.
    • 5/5
      Amazing book!! Spoiler...the parents were atrocious but it was beautiful to read there transformation
    • 4/5
      Lots of great themes and a relatively quick read. I recommend!
    • 5/5
      Traumatic transformation for queer youth and their families across a bicultural landscape of Bangladesh and USA. Written in a simple tone easy to read and slow at times but always keeping the tension so you want to keep reading. The good news is the book has a happy ending. Trigger warning for those with abusive parents, rape survivors or homophobia discrimination and bullying experiences.
    • 5/5
      Such a beautiful and addictive story. I couldn’t stop listening. It was fun, deep and heart wrenching. Highly recommend!
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this audio book! When I wasn't listening to it, I found myself wonder what was coming next.