I really thought the premise for this sounded so amazing. I was so here for art, trans issues, and the experience of being a person of color in America colliding (and all the other topics I figured would come up in the process), but the way the story in this book was executed left a lot to be desired for me, unfortunately.

For me, pretty much half the issues I had had to do with thematic decisions, while the other half was all about the pacing. Thematic stuff first: the bird symbolism was so pervasive as to be almost laughable at points. There was the stuff I got - everything to do with the possibly imaginary birds - but then there was the stuff that bordered on the ridiculous. Like how basically every single character Nadir knows has a job or hobby that has to do with birds. One person has a bird sanctuary, another one is an ornithologist, another is doing a dissertation on them, still another is making mechanical birds, yet another is collecting artists who paint birds and only birds, and it just gets to the point where the symbolic value of birds in this story loses meaning entirely. They are too present; they over-saturate every single scene.

As for the pacing issues...these are present, to be fair, mainly in Nadir's sections. There were a lot of issues for me in those chapters - like how much of an info-dump happened at the beginning - but the main one that bothered me would be how Nadir would have these emotionally intense conversations with people, but rather than show the conversation in full, would instead interject a prolonged (usually bird related) analogy of how he was feeling at the moment and it would completely disrupt the flow to the point where I'd have to backtrack to the last line of dialogue whenever Nadir would decide to end the navel-gazing and respond. And though many of these digressions were emotionally valid, could they not have waited until the dialogue was done? Until it wouldn't have jarred the conversation completely off its rails?

This is less of an issue in the Laila chapters; those sections are, I think, the stronger half of the book, and end up delivering a really sweet ending for Nadir's sections. But even in those chapters it was difficult to see past the issues I had elsewhere.

Like I said: this sounded so good. I wanted to like this. But it just didn't work for me. Hopefully other (more bird-loving) readers will enjoy it more than I did.

This was a truly beautiful book—the prose, the story, and even the cover. Would recommend for magical realism fans as well as anyone who wants an emotionally resonant story to read.

My review will be published on April 19, 2020

The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukadar is going to be a difficult book to review. If you've read the blurb above then you know that at its core, this book is about Syrian Americans: their history, their struggles, their victoria and defeats, their humanity and so much more. But it's also about a few other things. And this is why I think it's difficult to review. It's not hard to write about because it's wanting in any way.

This novel is beautiful. Joukadar's writing is more like poetry than prose and each sentence is like the brush strokes in an impressionist painting. I had to keep reading to uncover more of the image I was being guided through.

There are several themes in this book. Probably one of the most important ones is identity. It's complex in this story. There is the identity we have from a cultural perspective, and from a personal connection with our family and friends. There's also the identity that comes from within us. Who am I? And what makes me who I am? Gender roles, historical significance, culture, Society, normas... there is so much that plays into who we are. Joukadar has taken a complex issue and broken it down so beautifully that it's impossible to stop reading.

This book is also about connections in a way. We are connected ... again ... to our histories and our culture but there are connections all around us that we don't necessarily see day today. We forge bonds with the people around us, the belongings that we cling to and the tasks we give ourselves

This book is written by an "Own Voices" author... and it's so gloriously evident. the main character is a trans boy who is on a journey towards his a name... an identity. Sometimes harsh and visceral, often touching and thought-provoking, this journey is remarkable.