Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda goes to Italy in Arvin Ahmadi’s newest incisive look at identity and what it means to find yourself by running away.Eighteen-year-old Amir Azadi always knew coming out to his Muslim family would be messy–he just didn’t think it would end in an airport interrogation room. But when faced with a failed relationship, bullies, and blackmail, running away to Rome is … running away to Rome is his only option. Right?
Soon, late nights with new friends and dates in the Sistine Chapel start to feel like second nature… until his old life comes knocking on his door. Now, Amir has to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth to a US Customs officer, or risk losing his hard-won freedom.
At turns uplifting and devastating, How It All Blew Up is Arvin Ahmadi’s most powerful novel yet, a celebration of how life’s most painful moments can live alongside the riotous, life-changing joys of discovering who you are.
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“It is such a privilege, you know? To get to be yourself, all of yourself, in this great big world.”
How It All Blew Up is an interesting book about identity, family, acceptance and being true to yourself. I loved Amir’s character. He was real and multi-dimensional as he struggled with how his sexuality and culture clashed. Amir’s fear that his family would not be able to accept him was heartbreaking and something that too many people deal with in their lives.
I enjoyed all of the characters in this book from Amir’s family to his fellow high school students and his new Italian friends, who were so full of life, fun and yet complex. The Italian setting was described so vividly. I could picture the piazzas and bars and cafes. Arvin Ahmadi’s format of alternating between the interrogation room, Amir’s high school experience and his time in Rome worked really well to build curiosity about “how it all blew up”. This was a quick, enjoyable read with great messages about identity and unconditional love.
How It All Blew Up
By Arvin Ahmadi
This was a powerful read about identity, race and acceptance.
What do you do when you are a Muslim raised in a conservative Iranian family and the truth about your sexual identity is about to be exposed? Well, if you were Amir, you would run away to Rome. The novel is beautifully written and explores important themes that are important to be addressed especially in certain cultures where acceptance of certain identities are taboo. This was a quick read and enjoyed it for the subject matter and learning about Persian culture as well.
How It All Blew Up so far is amazing! I need to finish the rest of the book right now and find out why Amir went to Rome because of Gleato and what he did in Rome. I love how there are flashbacks and time changes throughout that ebook as seen through the interrogation rooms, and the days leading up to Amir’s graduation! This book is phenomenal from what I have read so far, because it has a small comedic twist throughout, such as when he is using math to figure out when he should come out to his family. Amir’s nervousness and everything else made him such a good well-rounded character and I need to know who Jake is and why Amir needs to pay him. There’s an air of mysterious around Jake and I want to know so much more about him!
This book did not do it for me. The beginning started out alright so I was hopeful, but…no. Just no.
The depiction of the characters, including the main character is not very enjoyable. Everyone seems miserable or unhappy which, in turn, made me feel like I was reading a miserable book. This book is supposed to be about acceptance or love, but the characters didn’t feel very accepting. They just kinda felt like they used each other for personal gain and that was it.
As well, I kept waiting for the climax of the book, especially since the book kinda starts at the end, but it never really came. It just kept moving along at a monotone rate and feel completely flat in the end.
I don’t have much to say other than this book wasn’t enjoyable.
How it All Blew Up is an LGBTQ+ coming of age novel about one boys journey with accepting who he is and his family accepting who he is. Thank you so much bookishfirst and penguinteen for this early copy to review!
I’m giving this book 4/5 stars. I really enjoyed it. A secondary favorite!
Our main character Amir is a gay Iranian Muslim who’s parents have frowned on gays his entire life. He was a great main character, and I loved seeing his transformation throughout this book into accepting himself.
Jahan and Neil were phenomenal secondary characters, the setting in Rome was beautiful. The jokes hit, the emotional parts tugged at you. Soraya is everyone’s dream little sitting.
I highly recommend this book to fans of contemporary romance and LGBTQ+ allies!
Amir is being blackmailed by a student so he runs away to Rome. He then meets an interesting cast of characters that become like a family to him during his time of need. This was my first time reading this author and it wasn’t a bad book but I felt like it lacked direction. The story line just went on and on and on with no clear point. There was this whole build up to the incident that happens on the plane and I found that to be lackluster and flat. Amir at times was bland and lack personality. I really wanted to see him flourish while in Rome but I felt shortchanged. I was also hoping to learn more about the Muslim culture and how Amir being gay could be an issue. The parents were but weren’t religious. The saving grace of the story for me was Soraya and Jahan.
A compelling and original coming out story. Amir is an Iranian American teenager who is gay and in the closet. When another student blackmails him about his secret boyfriend, he absolutely panics and flees to Rome. He is terrified of his parents finding out he is gay. The story unfolds as Amir goes to Rome, but also at the end of the story, as Amir and his family are interrogated in the airport after an incident on the plane. The dual storyline ramps up the suspense.
He finds a community of gay men in Rome who accept and educate him. He finally feels that he can be himself. Amir is a sympathetic but flawed character. He makes some errors in judgment in terms of honesty and he also has a hookup with an older gay man, which results in some negative fallout.
Themes of prejudice run throughout – there is homophobia, of course, but also addressed is the systemic bigotry against Muslim people.
I really liked the characters. Amir’s sister is amazing and tenacious in her search for Amir. It is heartening to see Amir’s parents put their love for him above their prejudices.
I devoured this in no time. This is such a heartfelt story about being gay and Iranian, and I also love the way both of Arvin Ahmadi’s books I’ve read have captured the way you might start hanging out with people all the time but really only know them in that particular context.