book review: the beauty of your face by sahar mustafah

The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah

(no star system)

STORY ✔️

CHARACTERS ✔️

PROSE ✔️

Synopsis: a coming of age story of a young American-born Palestinian who comes to her faith not through her family but in an effort to find community.

One-sentence review: The storytelling creates a suspense, while the flashbacks create depth. We learn how you can become devout to your faith through belonging and not inheritance.

Overall storytelling/structure: the story takes place mainly in a matter of minutes as a school shooting is occurring, but what connects that retelling are flashbacks into our main characters upbringing that explain how she is where she is and how she might survive. The perfect level of suspense!

Writing style/prose: well-written with some beautiful sentences I’ll keep going back to.

Characters: well-developed and easy to love, even when broken.

Mood: Not a light read as it is taking place during a traumatic event...and while her life was laced with traumatic events. But it is real and true to many people’s struggles to find themselves. 

Best quality of this read: the storytelling as it moves through time, both in short distances and in long distances.

Books Similar/Read if you like: Persepolis, The Beekeeper of Aleppo (review coming soon), Against The Loveless World, and any strong mother character-driven stories.

Goodreads rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️