While there were aspects of this book that I did enjoy, much of it felt like it was dragging on too long. There was good own voices representation and I did enjoy the inclusion of Farsi within the novel and how much language can bond people together. Overall, the structure got a little exhausting to read (especially the ending), but I am a sucker for found family.

3.5/5


I won a free e-ARC of this book thanks to PenguinTeen in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

In this novel we are following Amir Azadi, who has recently come out to his Muslim family and forced to go through an interrogation at an airport after he and his family have an argument on an airplane. As told to the security men during the interrogation, we learn that he had decided to run away to Rome, and things in his new life started to feel natural, until his past came back to haunt him and everything he had come to know was in jeopardy.

The story is told in a sort of dual-timeline aspect. The present day is when they’re in the interrogation room and the past is through flashbacks. It’s mostly told in Amir’s narrative, except when we get to the interrogation aspect, which also includes perspectives from his family members. I’ll be honest, those aspects got confusing sometimes and it was hard to differentiate who was who, but I did like that they were included in the story.

I’m sad to say this didn’t live up to the high expectations that I put on it. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t the masterpiece that I had pictured it to be in my mind. There were things that I found somewhat problematic and overall it just wasn’t knock-your-socks-off amazing.

So what were some of the issues I had? Well, Amir seemed to have very unlimited resources for an 18 year old who decides to leave his home on a whim. Once he got to Rome, every friend he makes are attractive gay men who befriend Amir and takes him under their wing. Not only that, but they are all older than he is. This felt wrong, and it’s constantly being pointed out how much younger he is than them, by the pop culture references and lack of knowledge. This book also is marketed as focusing on how coming out relates to Amir’s Muslim family but when he talks about it it is more of a culture thing.

I didn’t have issues with everything in this book. I enjoyed reading the book for the most part and I read this pretty quickly. There was one disturbing scene and I don’t know why that was included. I liked Amir’s character, but most of the time I had trouble remembering that he was actually 18, as he seemed younger than that.

Despite the issues I had with this book, I did like it. Was it all that I had hyped it up to be? Unfortunately, no. That’s typically the case when I do that. Will I ever stop? Most likely not. Should you still read this book? I think so. Just maybe go into it knowing that the synopsis is a bit wrong or misleading, and you should be good. Publication is set for September 22.

I loved this book so much. As a queer person who is having major struggles with family, this book was community for me. Ive had near identical issues with my family that Amir had with his. His internal struggles about being gay and being around gay people after having spent years hiding and flinching away from any signs of queerness were so authentic and painfully true to my own life. I felt seen. Arvin Ahmadi has been one of my favourite authors from the very first book and I’m thrilled to see his work improve exponentially. This book is his best work in terms of storytelling, creative narrative construction, and skilful use of blended timelines. I loved the vivid representation of Italy, the glimpses of queer community and family, and the hopeful message at the end that despite being brown or coming from a culture that the Western world wrongfully assumes is backwards, family will always be family.

Amir gets blackmailed with a picture of him kissing Jackson. Amir does not want to be outed to his very conservative Iranian family. He tries various ways to get out of it but ends up running away from home. I have read 177 pages and I just can’t anymore. It drags on so much, just focusing on small events between Amir and his Italian friends. Nothing of substance is happening.

this book is absolutely incredible, and is now my fave book of ahmadi's. it's so raw, personal, and poiganant. it doesn't shy away from any of the topics it places on the table, it's a tangible bleeding heart that will resonate with queer readers of colour just like myself. this is now an absolute all time favourite.

This packed in quite a bit for a book so short! I blew through it (see what I did there?) and thought it was fun while having its heartwarming moments.

I found the aspect of Amir and his family being held and talking to the US Customs officers a little silly (not the being held part—the part where he's giving them his life story), but I appreciated how the interviews were woven into the story, as well as how they managed to confront racial profiling and connect us more with Amir's family, since he spends most of his time away from/ignoring them.

I loved the way Amir jetted off to Italy, even though it wasn't for the best reason. I've always wondered what it would be like to make a spontaneous decision like that, so it was a fun experience to witness secondhand. (The beginning of the book also mentioned that this was based on true events, and now I'm super curious if Arvin did the same?? We stan a good travel story.)

I do wonder how stereotypical the descriptions of Italy were, though. Sometimes, it seemed like Italy and Italians were being described by someone like me, aka someone who has never physically been there.

I feel like Amir learns lessons about people, relationships and love, which was great to see. But I didn't particularly care about the relationships he made in Italy. Maybe because Amir grew attached to them so quickly, but not based on a lot of substance? I'm not entirely sure, but there was something missing. (And I agree with the reviewers who are now haunted by the nipple story, which was an irrelevant story within the story. I 1000% could have done without that.)

All in all, I enjoyed this book, but in a surface level way rather than having made an emotional connection. I am looking forward to reading more from Arvin, though!

Moving cities for his senior year doesn’t really bother Amir. He knows he can never come out to his conservative Iranian immigrant parents, so he just wants to keep his head down and get accepted to a college where he can begin his real life as his authentic self. This reasonable plan fails to factor in too many college rejection letters, a first, tentative romance with classmate Jackson, and classmate Jake’s threat to out Amir during their graduation ceremony unless Amir pays an impossibly large blackmail demand.

While his family heads to his graduation, Amir flees to the airport with some savings from editing Wikipedia entries and no clear plan. A chance encounter with a gelato store results in a flight to Rome, where he meets a wide variety of gay men who show him the delight of accepting his identity, as well as some of the pitfalls.

Amir and his new friends in Rome are well-rounded characters, while his mother and father, who appear in a series of flashbacks, feel a bit more like sketches. Little sister Soraya is a fierce and capable advocate, and Amir’s coming out story in a different culture provides a helpful setting against which to view his competing Iranian and American identities. EARC from NetGalley.

Content Warnings: Blackmail, threatened outing, homophobia, racial profiling, brief description of body horror '

I finished this book in a day, so it was a story that captured my attention or at least held it long enough for me to finish it. The book is formatted so that it is a countdown from how many days (plus) since Amir ran away to Rome and the moment when “it all blew up” on the airplane. This plot is cut by the things Amir’s family members say when they are being interrogated in the airport. Comping How It All Blew Up with Simon vs. was definitely appropriate because I got a lot of Simon vs. vibes from this book. I wasn’t “wow wow” when reading nor when I reached the last page. I kind of felt like I was watching everything from a distance and removed while being right there with Amir. Another thing I couldn’t stop thinking about was how the author gaslit a reviewer. As the book community seems to always be saying: reviews are not for the author (and don’t tag authors in less than glowing reviews).

I liked Roya, Amir’s mom, and some of the things she tells to the interrogators at the airport (these transcripts are dispersed among the story when it was actually happening. I highlighted a fair amount of her passages. Also, it was nice to see Rome as the setting, but it was through a pretty touristy and stereotypical “Italian” view.

I don’t remember how this book was pitched ,but if it does place emphasis on the fact that Amir is Muslim, I don’t think the strategy should have been that. Amir’s religion is a little bit in the background because he’s afraid to come out to his family due to how they may react which is based mostly in a cultural way, which is mentioned rather than placing all the “blame” for the more conservative reaction on Islam as a religion. In addition, the book is not about Amir and his religion more than Amir and figuring out who he is as a gay man who is part of an Iranian family. The strategy for the book probably should have focused on Amir trying to find who he is in an entirely different country, namely Rome.

I liked the parts where Amir is discovering that he may have a new family who accepts him with the other gay men he befriends. In this, they were welcoming, outgoing, proudly gay, bursting with energy and very much unapologetically themselves, which encouraged Amir to do the same. However, the main part, towards the end, where I was pursing my lips, was because of how those “friends” treated him (save one), and there was also a predator(ish) kind of situation that was so uncomfortable to read. And there was no resolution to that—it was just kind of swept under the rug and left there.

I received a copy of this book on netgalley in exchange for my honest review. This book was delightful to read. I loved the concept, the format, and the writing. This story is told out of order from several perspectives but mostly this is the story of Amir, an 18 year Iranian boy trying to reconcile his family, his culture, to his identity as a gay man. Such a rich and compelling story about being true to oneself and the power that is in love and in family. When Amir is being threatened with being forced out of the closet he runs and blindly chooses to go to Rome. This book is him explaining what happened on his journey to airport security after he and his family are detained for arguing on the plane. This book was beautiful, thought provoking, and generally an excellent adventure.

This was a fun travel based rom-com. One of the things I enjoyed the most was the aspect of the summer in Italy exploration. There is something lovely about getting to see a place through the eyes of a young person stretching their wings. That was one of the things I also liked about Ahmadi's book Down and Across.

The story had multiple perspectives and we were hearing the narration as the family members were being interrogated at the airport so that was unique.

Amir knows that he's gay, but dealing with his family finding pushes him to make some questionable choices. Fortunately, though there are some unhappy coincidences, he also experiences many helpful coincidences too. I thought there was a nice amount of humor, flirting, and romance. It makes for a nice summer read.

I will not be finishing this title. It’s come to light that the author has attacked a reviewer for their opinion, and I don’t spirting of that. I’ve also read that there’s a disturbing scene in the book that I’m very hesitant to read.

I did read about 15% of the book and I didn’t love or hate what I read. I felt the MC overreacted about literally everything. And I was having a difficult following along with where the story was going exactly.

I honestly have no idea how to review this book. I think, ultimately, the idea was phenomenal and had the potential to really open up an important conversation and become a poignant coming-of age story. That said, I don't think the execution necessarily reflected the story's potential. Some plot points never felt fully fleshed out and some of the characters, particularly Amir's Italian friends, lacked finesse and development.

A charming read. My favorite of Ahmadi's books. A coming of age for Amir that takes place in Rome? Pasta and gelato and romance and dancing. Yes, PLEASE.

How it All Blew Up is a fast paced, complicated coming out story. Just before graduation, Amir is blackmailed for money-- his blackmailer threatens to show Amir's conservative Iranian family a picture of Amir kissing a boy. In a panic when he can't come up with the rest of the cash, Amir flees to Rome. There he meets a supportive group of queer folks who help him learn to love who he is. However, when his family comes to find their missing son, it all blows up.

The structure is a unique mix of before and after chapters, with the before chapters labelled in a count down to the day it blows up, and the after chapters with each family member separated in to a different interrogation room telling their piece of the tale to the officers. Don't worry though, things wind up alright for this family, and the future looks bright for Amir.

Secondary characters are as fleshed out and flawed as Amir himself, and the Roman setting lives and breaths ancient dust and summertime humidity. All in all you'll get warm fuzzies from How It All Blew Up.

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC!

Here's the thing, there were times when I loved this book and other times when I wasn't sure if I was going to finish it. The book alternates between Amir's time in Italy and his family's time in an airport interrogation room for causing a scene on a flight, the latter of which is what kept me reading in times of doubt. My main issue with the book was that I did not feel like I really got to know Amir until the last 20 something pages. The entire first half felt superficial, a glossed-over and sometimes stereotypical portrayal of queer culture and very little insight into what starting a new life in Italy as an eighteen year old would really be like. But then it redeemed itself. The two best scenes in the book are when 1) Amir gives a heartfelt speech at a friend's party and 2) Amir's mother's impassioned insistence that she will always love her son.

"Many times, in this country, however, I am made to feel uncomfortable, just like this. It is normal for me, to feel that I have walking into a party that I was not invited to. To be interrogated. To have my every value, every detail of my existence, questioned."

I wanted more from Amir. Maybe the point of keeping so many of his emotions from the reader was that he was coming to terms with them himself. There was very little difference between the Amir in the interrogation room and the Amir recounting his life-changing adventures and I think had we been given the opportunity, as readers, to see more into his mimd instead of a few glimpses all the way at the end of the book, I would have been more invested.

I will leave you with this: I think the book is worth reading because the last 50 pages or so are very good. Be ready to have your heart split in two with the phrase, "But what if he doesn't change?"
I would love to see where Amir and his family go from here and the healing that they have to do to come back together as a unit, if it's possible.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3415959012

Told almost entirely in flashback, Amir unravels the story of how he ended up in Rome in an attempt to discover himself without any of the trappings of his upbringing holding him back. The joys and heartaches of his self discovery will engage readers and force consideration of what really makes a family. If you’re looking to build your LGBTQ selections in your library, this is a good place to start.

I devoured this book. From the fractured story structure to the desperation in Amir, I was hooked. I loved the escapism and love that Amir was able to find in his chosen community, the complications with being young and making mistakes, that the story took a hard look at culture and didn’t try to sugar coat reality. Amir’s struggle between his Iranian parents and his gay identity is heartbreaking and realistic. I loved the infusion of Iranian identity/culture in this specific story. And I cannot day enough about the STRUCTURE. So good. So clever. So compelling.

I read this book as an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Viking Books for Young Readers for the opportunity to read and review this story.

Content warnings: racial profiling, homophobic language, threatened outing, brief description of body horror

How It All Blew Up is a YA contemporary coming of age story about an 18 year old named Amir Azadi who is gay, Iranian, and being blackmailed by two bigots at his high school regarding his first same-sex relationship. Rather than face being outed to his conservative family at his high school graduation ceremony, Amir runs away to Rome (yes the one with the Sistine Chapel) where he learns to embrace both his queer and Iranian identities.

My feelings on this story are mixed, but overall generally underwhelmed. The story itself is cute, and I understand the comparison commonly drawn to Simon vs. the Homosapien’s Agenda. I would also add a parallel to some of the family dynamics from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. My favorite parts of the story are those were we get the perspectives of Amir’s parents and younger sister as they are being interviewed by Customers and Border Patrol.

I would encourage others to read the other reviews of this book, specifically Sofia’s (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3396575824) and Anna Luce’s (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3393706052). They and others identified some key issues with this story that I find I agree with.

A TL;DR of my thoughts would be that I enjoyed this, but didn’t love it. The plot is very cute and heartwarming, but for me lacked impact because it did not feel like there were any stakes because he relied so heavily on convenience. Amir happens to have an avenue to make enough money (from anywhere in the world) that he can escape the country (and continue to support himself once there), he happens to run into a very friendly gay bookseller almost immediately after getting to Rome, he happens to be adopted into a group of gay men living in Rome after meeting them once despite being at least a decade younger than most of them. All of these are minor issues that I could overlook while reading, but overall leave me feeling underwhelmed.

Lastly I would mentioned that I’m concerned to see several mentions of issues with the author in reviews of this book on Goodreads. I have not been able to find more concrete information in my own research, however what folks have said about the author responding inappropriately to a negative review is worrying to me.

I really enjoyed being inside Amir's mind on his adventures in Italy and navigating the fear of being outed, but something didn't quite click for me. I found myself wanting more of Amir's relationship and senior year before he left the country. The throwaway story about a nipple will haunt me forever, and I question its inclusion in this apart from an attempt at humor.

This book was fine. I don't feel it said anything new about coming out to a bigoted family, nor about being brown and/or Muslim in America. The characters in Italy bordered on caricatures of gay men, Italians, or both. The nipple story was not only unbelievable but also unnecessary and disgusting.