A Girl Like That is a book framed by loss . It opens on Zarin and her friend Porus hovering above a car crash as their family members cry over the bodies they recently left behind. As Zarin's story is rewound to the beginning and pieced together by those who knew her (or thought they did), it's shape is almost too much to bear. The death of her mother, abuse at the hands of her aunt, sexual assault, and ostracization all weigh down on her but never succeed in weighing her down. Zarin continues to be unapologetically herself - a messy, complicated, brave, and lovely person - right up to the end. One of the most important books I've read, Bhathena is unquestionably a writer to watch.

I am sure this book deserves more stars as it must have been very difficult to write but this one just was so sad and heartbreaking for me. I cant enjoy, rape, drugs and religious police calling ones daughter the names they did just because she was in a car with a boy!! I am so glad Zarin had Porus with her what a way to die..so so sad!! I do have to say that the Epilogue was the

Have you ever been happy?
My thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a new to me author. She is simply brilliant with words and descriptions. This book had me holding my breath and waiting to see what happened next; page after page. I thought it was a book that really was well written and important to read. Thank you for allowing me to read and write about this.

This book was captivating and heartbreaking in all the ways you want a good novel to be! Although the setting and culture felt very foreign for an American reader, I still felt an undeniable connection to Zarin and her circumstance(s) as I continued to read the book. It is easy for the American reader to relate to the teen drama that occurs in Zarin's gender-segregated school and the her own angst against her guardians. Not to mention how well the author is able to tug at your heart-strings as the love story between Porus and Zarin unfolds. 

It is usually hard to read stories about cultures mostly foreign and strange, but the author makes a point to strengthen the reader's understanding of culture and life in Saudi Arabia; she makes room for the reader to make connections to the text in deep and meaningful ways. There are very clear similarities and differences we could pull to discuss the life of a girl in Saudi Arabia to a girl in America. The author chooses to tackle the issue of women's rights, which strikes a chord in both cultures. I expected this novel to give me more context to difference between these two countries, but I was surprising to see how this story illustrated more similarities than differences! 
The writing itself is paced just right -- in a way that the reader feels compelled to continue reading. There are minimal lulls in the writing. There are enough narrating characters in this novel and enough drama happening between them to keep the reader engaged. These characters have tough lives! They're deeply affected by the choices their parents, guardians, and siblings make. At the same time, these issues are all linked to societal critiques the author is trying to bring to light. 
I would love to use this reading to expose students to cultures outside their own and encourage them to make those kinds of connections, recognizing the similarities and differences. I think this reading would also be great for discussing character (and people) complexities!

I did not finish A Girl Like That because it threw me into an unfamiliar setting and an unfamiliar culture without any help. I don't necessarily want a glossary included, but some exposition or appositives that define terms or cultural mores would be helpful to make A Girl Like That more accessible as a window story.

This book was incredibly touching and interesting. The entire story completely captivated me! Diverse books are my favorite things to read and this book proves that to still be true!

From the publishers:
Sixteen-year-old Zarin Wadia is many things: a bright and vivacious student, an orphan, a risk taker. She’s also the kind of girl that parents warn their kids to stay away from: a troublemaker whose many romances are the subject of endless gossip at school. You don't want to get involved with a girl like that, they say. So how is it that eighteen-year-old Porus Dumasia has only ever had eyes for her? And how did Zarin and Porus end up dead in a car together, crashed on the side of a highway in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia? When the religious police arrive on the scene, everything everyone thought they knew about Zarin is questioned. And as her story is pieced together, told through multiple perspectives, it becomes clear that she was far more than just a girl like that. This beautifully written debut novel from Tanaz Bhathena reveals a rich and wonderful new world to readers; tackles complicated issues of race, identity, class, and religion; and paints a portrait of teenage ambition, angst, and alienation that feels both inventive and universal

My thoughts:
Before the reader even gets to know Zarin and Porus, they are dead, their spirits holding on to each other and talking as plainly as if they were taking a ride in his jalopy car about both profound and mundane things. The story of how they got there is slowly revealed in the rest of this novel through the perspective of these two characters but also through other characters and the misconceptions that these characters had or the things that were done. Time is interesting in this novel because it goes both forward and backward. It also deviates from the main characters into side stories that the main characters would never know about. The storytelling was so novel and the culture presented so foreign to me that as I got to know more about this world and these lives, I was hoping for some miracle at the end, but that was not to be.

This is a cultural story as much as it is a love story. It is a story about social mores that are unfamiliar to the American psyche. This is also an immigrant story, perhaps a story similar to our own dreamers. The author, Ms. Bhathena, in her author's note defines this story best:
My own story is different from Zarin's and Mishal's. Yet it does not make their stories any less true, nor does it diminish the reality of living in a world that still defines girls in various ways without letting them define themselves. This book is a love letter to them all.
Publication date: Feb. 27, 2018

This book opened my eyes and will be a perfect addition to our mission to add diverse voices to our very rural school.

TW: sexual assault, animal death, child abuse.

This is a book that will leave you feeling raw. My heart ached basically the entire time I read this because I instantly fell in love with Zarin and I wanted only good things to happen to her, but, you know, right there in the synposis it tells you that she dies. This is also one of those books where I don't really know how to put my thoughts into words other than IT WAS GOOD, READ IT NOW. That happens rarely, but about halfway through I could tell this was going to be one of those books. The writing is beautiful, the characterization is beautiful, that cover is beautiful, everything is beautiful. It looks at bullying, rape culture, abuse, and religion with a deft hand and it absolutely broke my heart even while I tried to keep myself at a distance. I highly recommend A Girl Like That - I think fans of Adam Silvera and Courtney Summers will like this one.

Zarin Wadia is an outsider. She's an Indian living in Saudi Arabia. She's an orphan; her mother was a dancer, her father a gangster. Unlike the aunt and uncle who raised her, she's only half-Parsi. And she has a reputation. Her peers are advised to say away from "a girl like that."

This book is painful. It begins with Zarin's death, her and someone named Porus. After that time skips back, and through four different perspectives the narrative explains how Zarin and Porus arrived at this moment. I knew from the get-go I shouldn't get attached to the characters, but I couldn't help it. They are crafted so lovingly that they jumped off the page, as real as you or I.

Zarin will break your heart. She is vivacious and clever and fun, but utterly stunted by the culture she inhabits. She is constantly admonished to temper her instincts, tame her personality, be more "respectable." This turns her into a girl with jagged edges, a girl looking to punch out before she gets hurt. But she is still vulnerable, and it is her moments of vulnerability that reveal just how absolutely sad and lonely and desperate Zarin is.

The writing is beautiful. The setting - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - is expertly painted. A book like this could easily have been a slog, but the lush and evocative writing makes it a pleasure to read. I was surprised this book was shelved as YA; though its themes certainly fall into the genre, the writing style brings forth a maturity that I rarely see in the genre. It's not exactly dense, but it's not a light beach read either. And it's not slow, despite being very character-driven. I couldn't put it down; the pages flew by.

The narrative explores belonging, ethnicity, misogyny, rape, polygamy, and more. So much of it was so personal to me, which is why I'm struggling to write this review without turning it into a personal essay. Suffice it to say that the particular type of misogyny exhibited here is one I grew up with and struggled against for many years, but I always had the outlet of United States, a society that is (on some levels, anyway) much more open than the Middle East (not that the U.S. doesn't deal in its own brand of toxic misogyny; it's just very different). Zarin has no outlet, and as she tells her story you get this sense of extreme claustrophobia. She has no escape; she's trapped in a culture that is suffocating her.

Zarin isn't the only one to suffer the effects of misogyny; it is prevalent throughout the book. There are boys who coerce girls into sex, boys who rape girls using drugs, men who cheat on their wives in their own bedrooms, men who take on second wives regardless of what their wives want, boys who objectify girls...and on and on and on. It's so bleak, but it's also nuanced: I liked that the author showed how the boys in this society are influenced by the behaviors of their fathers and their friends.

My one complaint has to do with narrative structure. The narrative weaves back and forth a lot, going from past to present to a different past and so on. This was kind of confusing, and a lot of times I lost my place in the narrative, unsure what was taking place now and what had already happened. But that's it. Otherwise this book was incredible; it carved a hole in my chest that I'm still recovering from.

I really must say I haven't ever read anything like this before. The perspective of the story as well as the way that the author starts the story with the death of the main characters. Set in a world I have never been to, I felt like the story telling was vivid and I really was intrigued by the story. I will be recommending this to our librarian and hope she will get it into the hands of our students quickly.

This book was a complete surprise for me. It's absolutely beautiful, told from several different perspectives allowing the reader to discover some incredibly serious and heavy topics from different POVs (rape, death, abuse, date rape, religion, sexism, bullying, etc).

Wow, this book was breathtaking. It explored some heavy topics including death, mental health, domestic abuse, date rape, religion, oppression, sexism, and bullying, but not in a way that scares the reader off. Quite the contrary, in fact! I started reading it on a Tuesday. Poor choice. I seriously considered calling in sick to work so I could keep reading!

Don’t worry, I still went to work. I just counted the minutes until I could leave to finish the book!
The Story
Sixteen-year-old Zarin Wadia is many things: a bright and vivacious student, an orphan, a risk taker. She’s also the kind of girl that parents warn their kids to stay away from: a troublemaker whose many romances are the subject of endless gossip at school. You don’t want to get involved with a girl like that, they say. So how is it that eighteen-year-old Porus Dumasia has only ever had eyes for her? And how did Zarin and Porus end up dead in a car together, crashed on the side of a highway in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia? When the religious police arrive on the scene, everything everyone thought they knew about Zarin is questioned. And as her story is pieced together, told through multiple perspectives, it becomes clear that she was far more than just a girl like that.

What I liked
So much about this book was incredible. The cover is GORGEOUS! I wanted to read it before I even read what it was about. Once I read the synopsis, I was immediately looking for where I could get it. One thing that I really liked about the cover was that the girl on the cover actually matched the description of the protagonist. I feel like there are quite a few covers with people who don’t match the characters and it drives me nuts. The beautiful woman on the cover looked just like Zarin is described down to the beauty mark.

Bhathena wasted no time getting into the story. She pulled a Tarantino and started with the shocking ending, then went back to explain how the characters ended up there. Talk about a good hook! It was so hard to put this book down.

The characters were so complex. Zarin was a great example of how harshly people can be judged without knowing the story. And Porus was just amazing. I love him.Every single character was grey. I always find that to be a huge plus. You never know what their next move will be. Not only does it make them more relatable and realistic, but it makes for some amazing discussions with other people who have read the book. There weren’t any static characters either. They changed throughout the story and developed along with the events as they unfolded. Part of what helped with character development was the shifting perspectives. I enjoy reading the motives behind each character’s actions. Multiple perspectives is a current YA trend that I really hope sticks around!

A huge part of this story is the culture. It takes place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, so there are very strict rules and the religious police are always watching to make sure they are followed. As a reader from the USA, I was pretty unfamiliar with the customs and laws but the author did a wonderful job of explaining the setting without it distracting from the plot.

What I didn’t like
Not much! It is hard to find anything I didn’t love about A Girl Like That, but no book is perfect. At some points, the story was a bit difficult to follow. I found myself rereading paragraphs here and there to catch up on what was happening. It was easy to figure it out once I went back a bit and hopefully the formatting in the final copy will make shifts in setting and time easier to follow.

My only other complaint was totally on me. Since it took place in a setting I’m unfamiliar with, there were a few words and phrases in other languages that I’m not familiar with. I generally figured them out from context clues, but still wondered about a few. I kicked myself in the end when I finished the whole story only to find out that there is a glossary at the end! It was a great thing for the author to include. If you know about it, it will be very helpful. I’m sure that would have been easier to find out if I hadn’t been reading an e-book copy. My bad!



Why you should read it
If you love badass women who stick it to the man, this book is for you. If you are looking for a book written by a diverse author who knows what they are talking about from experience (Bhathena was born in Mumbai and raised in Jeddah), this is the book for you. Same if you are looking for a book with diverse characters. If you are feeling misunderstood and want to read a book about someone who can relate, this book is for you.

Zarin’s story is so heartbreakingly beautiful and powerful. I highly recommend it to basically everyone. Even if you don’t typically like contemporaries, this isn’t the cheesy romance that most of them are. I can’t wait for Bhathena to get the praise she deserves for this book and hopefully write more amazing stories!

A very realistic portrayal of rape culture, although the man swooping in to save the girl narrative is beyond tired.

There's a book for every reader and a reader for every book....sadly, I'm not the reader for this book. I just couldn't really get into it. What I read was well written, and intriguing. I think there are definitely readers out there for this book. I love that we looking into a region/religion that we don't see often in YA writing. This book seems to tackle some important themes. Definitely worth recommending to readers. I definitely want to go back after publication and give this one another go.

<b><u>Review Trigger Warning: Rape mention</u></b>

<blockquote><i>”’When people say you’re wrong so many times over so many years, when they call you a bad person, you begin to believe them…But then you realize – who are these people anyway, who make you feel ashamed of yourself? Do they even matter? Do you even care what they think or say?’”</i></blockquote> <i>A Girl Like That</i> is one of the most hyped releases of early 2018, and after reading it, it’s easy to see why. This story not only lived up to my expectations, it completely blew them out of the water.

<i>A Girl Like That</i> starts off with the death of its main characters, Zarin and Porus (and I promise that’s not a spoiler, it literally happens on the first page). In the pages that follow, the novel goes back in time and tells their stories, as well as the stories of the people around them. This book reminded me of <i>The Book Thief</i>, in that even though the reader knows how the story is going to end from the first chapter, the climax still comes as a shock. I’m pretty sure I sat there with my hand over my mouth in surprise for a good five minutes when Zarin and Porus died at the end.

The pacing in this book is <b>utterly superb</b>. It has what, like seven chapters? Each chapter is split into 2-4 sections, each with a different narrator, and the paragraphs in each section flow super well without any breaks in them. It makes for a well-written and quick read, and made the tough subjects covered in the book not as scary.

And this book covered a crap-ton of tough topics. It was interesting to read about rape culture, racism, colorism, and feminism in a different backdrop than Western Culture. <i>A Girl Like That</i> was <b>real</b>, and I didn’t expect it to reach the level of grittiness that it did. It was painful to read at times, and every bit of it <b>packed a punch</b>.

The characters were all complex and nuanced. Sometimes they weren’t likable, but they weren’t supposed to be. Zarin was a kick-butt protagonist and I loved reading her and Porus’s relationship progress. Porus was super sweet. Mishal was another character that I enjoyed reading about – and though I didn’t really like her as a person a lot of the time, I always enjoyed the chapters that were from her point of view, and it made my heart content to see at least one of the narrators of the story receive a future and some semblance of a happy ending.

The romance in this story was <b>so freaking cute</b>. Though I’m not sure if it can be really <i>called</i> a romance, it was so sweet to watch Porus and Zarin grow up and become friends and it absolutely <b>kills me</b> that both of their stories were cut off so abruptly. I hope they get to be buddies in the afterlife because the ending of this book ripped my heart out and beat it to death.

To conclude, definitely pick this one up next February. The heartbreak it will give you is so worth it for the beautiful characters, top-notch pacing, and sweet relationship.

<b><u>Book Trigger Warnings: Rape, Rape with the aid of a Date-Rape drug, sexual assault, parental abuse, spousal abuse (mentioned)</u></b>

Is Zarin Wadia "a girl like that?" Zarin is certainly the victim of vicious gossip, but she is also a girl on the edge who pushes the envelope in a society where that has the potential to be dangerous to more than just her reputation. Zarin is from India but lives in Jeddah with her Aunt and Uncle. She is an outsider in Saudi Arabia because of her gender, her ethnicity, and her religion.
Despite all the restrictions, Zarin tries to be a typical teenage girl, at least typical for the girl who.has been cast as the rebel. She has few friends at school, she gets in cars with boys, and she sneaks around without her guardians knowledge. She is defiant and sometimes mean to her one true friend, Porus, to hide her vulnerability.
I enjoyed A Girl Like That. It wasn't always easy to read, but I loved getting a glimpse into a world that is so different from my own.

Boring. Could not get past the first few pages. I hate not finishing a book but did not feel bad about not finishing this one as I could not even get started.

I am always looking for diverse books and this is totally something I'd recommend to my students.