[Book Review] Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali

Synopsis (from Goodreads) :

A marvel: something you find amazing. Even ordinary-amazing. Like potatoes—because they make French fries happen. Like the perfect fries Adam and his mom used to make together.

An oddity: whatever gives you pause. Like the fact that there are hateful people in the world. Like Zayneb’s teacher, who won’t stop reminding the class how “bad” Muslims are.

But Zayneb, the only Muslim in class, isn’t bad. She’s angry.

When she gets suspended for confronting her teacher, and he begins investigating her activist friends, Zayneb heads to her aunt’s house in Doha, Qatar, for an early start to spring break.

Fueled by the guilt of getting her friends in trouble, she resolves to try out a newer, “nicer” version of herself in a place where no one knows her.

Then her path crosses with Adam’s.

Since he got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November, Adam’s stopped going to classes, intent, instead, on perfecting the making of things. Intent on keeping the memory of his mom alive for his little sister.

Adam’s also intent on keeping his diagnosis a secret from his grieving father.

Alone, Adam and Zayneb are playing roles for others, keeping their real thoughts locked away in their journals.

Until a marvel and an oddity occurs…

Marvel: Adam and Zayneb meeting.

Oddity: Adam and Zayneb meeting.

My rating :

5/5 stars.

My review :

Here it is – my new favorite contemporary book, by one of my favorite contemporary authors. I… I definitely have a lot to talk about. Do remind yourself that these points will be mine, and they may differ from yours. Nevertheless, if you like the book, you are living the serendipity, like me. If you do not, do not worry. Different people have different opinions, and we should highly respect that.

Alright, peeps. Without any further ado, let us move ahead to the review!

To make it short and simple – well, I will not make it exactly short and simple, where could be the explanation? – I will point out my honest thoughts according to different aspects. In this review, you will be getting my thoughts on the plot, the characters, the writing style, and some important issues in this book. Let us get going, shall we?

First and foremost, is the plot. It is certain that this book is going to be a love story. S.K. Ali has mentioned and warned us earlier, “This is a love story. You’ve been warned.”. Yup, the author is adorable. And it makes this story acceptably adorable, too! The story began by introducing the main characters – Adam and Zeyneb – who had different stories on their own. They lived in different parts of the world, but one thing for sure, they had something in common that they were not aware of. Okay, I will stop here. I will give my thoughts and opinions for the plot now.

The plot, for me, was simply acceptable. It was not cliché as there were many things that we would get from the story. If you know me, I am like most readers – as long as the plot is not that cliché and predictable, it will be great and acceptable. I loved the concept of having Muslims as the main characters in a YA book, and we got to see more Islamic perspectives in this one! For us, Muslim readers, it would be highly appreciated to have a little bit of sirah in a YA book, as everyone – Non-Muslims included – could learn more about Islam in a very good way. I also loved how the plot was complex – we would get some family relationships, some beautiful friendships, some Islamic knowledge, and of course, some romance. This is a love story. What is a love story without its actual love? Nevertheless, I appreciated the author’s effort of maintaining and keeping it halal between the characters. The author mentioned something about zina that we Muslims, were clearly aware of. We need more halal stories for Muslim characters, please!

Overall, I think the plot was wonderfully written. Well done, S.K. Ali!

Let us move on to the characters. The two main characters in this book were very, very, adorable and loveable. I loved these two so much, I could not contain my feelings any longer! Both Adam and Zeyneb had different personalities that made them unique. I loved Adam as a Muslim young man who actually held on to the rules – yes, men cannot touch women who are not related to them by blood. I loved Adam for being someone who held on to his faith firmly. Meanwhile, Zeyneb was such a wonderful female character that I now strive to be just like her. Her main personality of defending human rights is amazing. Her bravery was not a joke, and I loved her for that! At the same time, both of them made mistakes on their own, and they eventually learned to fix things and made them better. I loved how S.K. Ali made the main characters highly relatable, especially to Muslims. I could totally relate with Zeyneb who wore hijab, and I could feel her struggles of being a hijabi and a Muslim, too. There were times where sinful thoughts played in their minds, and that should be a lesson for us. Other than the main characters, I definitely loved the rest of the characters in this book. The evil and bad ones, well, I absolutely hated them, while the good and wonderful ones, no doubt, I absolutely loved them. I got to see more of Adam and his family members, and Zeyneb with hers, and how close they could get with their families respectively. I loved Hanna and Zeyneb’s best friends the most. They were just awesomely cool.

Next, I would be talking about the writing style. If you have read Saints and Misfists, you will realize that this author’s writing style is casually formal yet interesting in its very own way. I felt relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed with S.K. Ali’s writing style. It was kind of poetic for me, and I loved it that way. Her writing style in this book made things come alive, too. There were parts where waves of melancholic would attack you, and waves of happiness would splash and come together as one. Overall, good job for the writing style!

Last but definitely not the least, is the important issues in this book. I felt like a strong activist while reading this book, to be honest. There were topics that I would like to highlight here. One of them is Islamophobia. As someone who actually lived in a Muslim country, discrimination is not really common for us, Muslims, where Muslim girls who wear hijab will not be criticized to the utmost unapologetic ways possible, whereas Muslim girls in other countries may face this unfortunate, horrible thing. I would like to thank S.K. Ali for voicing out Muslims’ rights to hold on to their faith, ad stand up for what is actually right. We need more people like her – like all Muslim activists out there – to voice out the truth, the beauty of Islam, and how being a Islamophobic is just the same as being someone who betrays his or her life for the worst.

Besides that, regardless of being a Muslim or a Non-Muslim, judging someone by their skin color is clearly unacceptable. Please, for Allah’s sake, stop throwing discrimination towards others. Getting a place in Jannah does not depend on your skin color, and this is clearly vital as it is still happening around the globe. My country will not be excluded – I think it is very immature to judge someone by his or her skin color, and of course, highly disrespectful. Calling out bad names is certainly unacceptable, either. This book also brought up more about wars and innocent people, eventually, became the unfortunate victims.

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Okay, this is the longest book review I have ever written. I will stop here.

My final rating for this book is 5/5 stars. I would love to give 10/5 stars, to be honest. And yes, highly recommend!