This book has been sat on my shelf for YEARS waiting to be read. It's something that I just didn't feel that drawn to picking up and thought it would be a big tear jerker because the premise is that it's told from the perspective of someone whose sister has died.
10-year-old Jamie's older sister was killed five years ago in a terror attack. He still hasn't cried. His whole life was turned upside down when Rose died: his parents aren't living together anymore, he doesn't know when he'll next see his mum, he's having to go to a new school AND everything anyone does is always about Rose. He struggles to understand why his sister Jasmine, Rose's twin, can't see things from his perspective.
At his new school, Jamie makes friends with a Muslim girl and knows his dad would be angry if he knew: you see, his dad spouts hate about Muslims, blaming all of them for the attack that killed his daughter, even on the rare occasions he is sober. Jamie's torn, and is suddenly faced with understanding that perhaps not everything he thought was true actually is.
I found this a bit of a tough read, not really because of the loss of a sister, but because of the Islamophobia throughout. Although it's used to show how Islamophobic the parents are, it's something that was quite extreme in the book, and presented really as the only way the dad could understand his daughter's death. It kicks off in a shocking way, and if nothing else the book highlights how a parent's prejudice can easily be passed on to a child. There are a whole load of tough topics in this: the obvious ones are grief and loss, but it also looks into alcoholism, eating disorders and family break ups, all from the perspective of a child. I definitely think this was more of a teen book than YA. There were parts of it I did enjoy, but I struggled to connect with the characters, which is why I gave it three stars.
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