This middle grade novel in verse was beautiful. I loved the setting, Southern California in the 80s, and the diverse cast of characters. Farid, the author, stayed true to the voice of her young protagonist throughout the novel – which is something that I find other middle grade authors struggle with. While there are some heartbreaking moments in this story, I ultimately found the plot to be inspiring and hopeful. I would love to read more from this author in the future.

I was hoping I would enjoy this but I dnfed after 34%. I wanted to like it but it was super slow and I had a hard time paying attention.

Sometimes books in verse should be listened to as well as read, and I definitely think that is the case with this book, Wave by Diana Farid. The author brings voice to the poems and the characters compellingly, so much so, I listened to it again as so as the audiobook was finished. A coming of age story set in 1980s California, Wave follows Ava, a 13-year old Persian-American girl with OCD. Ava's voice is a unique and necessary one, Farid's writing nostalgic. Thoughtful, definitely a book I will recommend.

Great audiobook, really enjoyed it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

I think the experience of listening to this book through audio was amazing, for a novel in verse I would highly recommend it to get the full experience. I read this book some time ago now, but what sticks with me still was the amazing atmosphere Diana Farid created with her poetry. The book deals with some complex topics for a middle grade book but all were handled with much nuance and respect, while simultaneously never talking down to the younger audience.

This was a great and rather uniquely written story. I actually rated it 3.5 stars. I was very intrigued by reading this book as it brought me an altogether new style of writing with rather short chapters. It almost has a poetic effect but wrote more like a prose. It tells the story of a Persian family. This book was aimed at ages 10 to 14 yrs but because of its unique approach to the story. I am unsure if that age group would appreciate the story and meaning behind it. Unfortunately my 10 year old wasn't around for me to test this theory on.

As an adult I appreciated its approach and style. I listened to the audiobook which was read by the author. I loved her voice and time of her voice although the breaks were a little long for an audiobook which slowed down the pace a little. It was definitely a layed back slow pace book. It would make an excellent book to listened to before bed to relax you. Because of the books unique style I am still yet to decide whether I loved this book. I find myself in uncharted waters and need to do as Switzerland does and sit on the fence with this book. I would definitely like to sample more of this authors writing to fully make up my mind on this.

Many thanks to the author and publishers for bringing this rather unique style of story into the lives of a different culture. 

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog today https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/waves-by-diana-farid-rb-media-3-5-stars either under my name or ladyreading365

Thank you to Diana Farid , the publisher, and Netgally for providing me with an ARC of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This was a really well written and poignant novel (novella? it's pretty short ) that tackles some very difficult things, especially considering the main character's relatively young age. I was really impressed with how well the author captured the mind of a thirteen year old girl so accurately while still tackling issues that most adults would find challenging.
This is the kind of book that I personally, would have preferred to read in written format rather than listen to the audiobook. Don't get me wrong, the author narrated I think that was a fantastic choice, She did a great job! However, this book is written in verse and the narration really reflects that. This can be a good thing and a bad thing. I have listened to audiobooks for books written in verse before but because the narration came out sounding like pretty regular narration I didn't really notice. In this case, however, for me personally, the "melody" of the verse was a bit jarring at certain parts. On the other hand, because the book is narrated by the author, you can really hear the intent in the way the sentences are broken up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Recorded Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wave by Diana Farid is a novel in verse set in California in the 1980's that follows Ava, a Persian-American girl making sense of her place in the world. Ava's mother is a doctor and wants her to follow the same path, however, Ava is more interested in surfing and music than medicine. When an unexpected illness affects one of her best friends, how will she learn to ride the waves of life all on her own?

I listened to the audiobook for this novel and it was such a beautiful experience, read by the author herself, I found myself enveloped in Ava's world through the rhythm and flow of the poetry. The author did a really good job balancing the internal monologue of Ava and the action that moved forward the plot. If I had one criticism, it would be that I did find it dragged on towards the end and then suddenly a lot happened in the last few chapters—so the pacing was a bit weird but nothing too dramatic.

Wave is definitely a great middle grade novel or even one for those just starting to get into novels in verse and poetry. I'm sure that if you give it a try, you too will find yourself longing for the beach.

In 1980s southern California, 13-year-old Ava is a Persian American girl who loves to sing and to surf with her best friend, Phoenix. Ava is disappointed that her doctor mother is making her volunteer at hospital during the summer before ninth grade, giving her less time to hang out with her friends. When Phoenix’s cancer comes back, everything threatens to overwhelm them.

I really liked this story, although I think I would not recommend the audiobook version of it. <i>Wave</i> is a novel in verse, and the narrator would pause at the end of every line, even when it was midsentence, which took me out of the story. On the other hand, the author narrated the book herself, so if you don’t mind that, you know you are hearing the story exactly the way the author imagined it. The book is aimed at middle-grade readers but covers deep issues at a level appropriate for them. I think this would be a book parents and children could read together and both would enjoy. Details like Phoenix giving Ava a mixtape helped set the scene as the 1980s well.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

I enjoyed this audiobook. It was a quick listen. I enjoyed learning about the characters. I couldn't wait to recommend this story to my 8th grade students.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced audio copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Ava is a 13 year old Persian girl growing up in Southern California in the 1980s. She's dealing with pressure from her mom to grow up in to a doctor, racism, insecurity, and the growing pains of friendships as you go through puberty.

This title is written in verse and that style definitely suits the story. It makes the story flow, just like a wave. However, the narration for this title was awful. It was overall very staccato and disjointed. There were weird huge gaps between words and it felt stilted and awkward. It could have been a stylistic choice, but I don't think it served the story well.

I feel like the story reflects a lot of important issues and themes that affect everyone as they are growing up, and also include specific issues/themes that affect POC growing up in a predominantly white culture. However, I feel like this book was trying to do too many of those things at once. It brought up so many different issues that it was impossible to truly do all of them justice. The main issue from this story is (spoiler) the fact that her best friend Phoenix is dying of leukemia. This was handled pretty well, but this storyline started to take over the narrative and everything else just fell by the wayside.

I do think this is an important story and I enjoyed reading from the perspective of a Persian middle schooler-- I don't think I have ever read anything with that type of protagonist before. It's so important to see characters who look like you when you're growing up. I'm glad Persian-American girls will have Ava to relate to. I would definitely recommend having those kids read this in the physical format though. I wonder if the reason I didn't like this story as much as I expected to is because I just really hated the audio.

Format: audiobook
Author: Diana Farid ~ Title: Wave ~ Narrator: Diana Farid
Content: 4 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars

Set in the 1980s, California. Wave is about a 13-year-old Persian girl called Ava. She has a mild OCD - we can see this also from the style of the poems. Her mother is a single-parent doctor, and she wants Ava to become a doctor, too. But Ava, more than that, wants her teen freedom. To hang out with her friends, have fun, enjoy the music, and surf. Wave is a deeply moving and occasionally sad coming-of-age novel-in-verse.

I’m glad I had a chance to listen to this in an audiobook form read by the author - Diana Farid. This way, it sounded even more like a novel and not just a collection of poems.

Thanks to Recorded Books for the ALC and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own

Why did I listen to Wave by Diana Farid?
I saw Wave on Netgalley and thought that it sounded like a beautiful coming of age story. It's also set in the past (the year I was born) so I was curious about that. And it is written in verse format which is one of my favorite formats to read!

What's the story here?
Ava is a thirteen year old Persian-American girl living in Southern California in 1987. It is summertime and she can't wait to spend time on the beach with her best friends and listen to all her new favorite music. Unfortunately, things don't go exactly as planned and Ava is forced to confront many different emotions. Written in verse format, Wave tackles topics such as parental expectations, life threatening illness, racism, culture, parental divorce, grief, OCD, music, surfing, poetry, and friendship. All of these topics are very interconnected and provide a thirteen year old girl a journey to find her place in the world.

How did I like Wave?
Wave is written and set up as a middle grade story but the topics it tackles are something that can resonate with all readers. There is such a strong pulse throughout this beautiful story. I laughed with Ava; empathize with her as she felt her emotions; and cheered her on as she had her coming of age story. This really is her story through and through and I feel like this is something all readers can relate to.

Wave is just so beautifully written and I loved the way that there was a continuous presence of the idea of the eb and flow of waves. Be it waves in the ocean, waves of music, or waves of relationships there is a feeling of embracing the ride and seeing it all the way through. It is because of this that Ava feels so realistic as a character. As a reader, I was completely immersed into the character and the story.

How was the narration?
Wave is read by author Diana Farid and is three and a half hours long. I listened to it at 1.5x speed and really enjoyed how the chapters flowed. There was a beautiful sense of timing and the words are enunciated so that they are easily understood. I usually love when an author reads their own work because you can feel the passion for the project. Wave was a wonderful example of that.

A powerful story that is beautifully written, raw, emotional and unique!

13-year-old Ava is extremely relatable, pouring out her thoughts and emotions just like ocean waves. The word choices and the details immerse you into 1980s California.

Ava feels a great deal of pressure from her mother, who is adamant that Ava follows in her footsteps and becomes a doctor. Ava struggles with the absence of her father. Overall, she is trying to find her own path. She wants to focus on enjoying her summer - surfing, singing and exchanging mixtapes with her friends. But the summer takes a heart-wrenching turn.

Family relationships, friendships, identity, discrimination and loss are major themes. There’s excellent representation, as Ava’s Persian heritage is woven throughout this story. I love the incorporation of 80s music. (Playlists are included!)

This book is very accessible to a wide array of readers due to it being written in free verse. Many reviews mention that their kids loved the format. This is a perfect read for middle grade readers. And even as an adult, I felt the emotional punch.

Audiobook notes: Honestly, I struggled with the audio at first. There were moments when it felt slow and monotone. Another reviewer used the word ‘stilted’ and I agree. But as the story progressed and I got used to the author’s tone, it was more enjoyable.

I love getting the opportunity to hear the work read from the author, but I feel that having the physical book would have been more enjoyable in order to see the free verse format. and artwork by Kris Goto.

Thank you Netgalley, RB Media, Harry N. Abrams Publishing and Diana Farid.

Wave by Diana Farid is a phenomenal coming-of-age novel in verse. It's 1980s Southern California and Ava, a thirteen-year-old Persian American girl who loves to surf, sing, and read Rumi poems (which help her with her mild OCD). In the summer before she begins high school, her struggles come to a head. Her mother is making her spend the summer volunteering at the hospital to prepare her for her future career as a doctor (her mother's choice) and her best friend and surfing buddy, Phoenix, ends up hospitalized when his past lymphoma comes back.

Overall, this was a beautiful and heartbreaking story for middle grade readers to deal with some tough stuff. I loved getting to see through Ava's eyes. The audiobook was narrated by the author and beautifully executed. Wave is out now!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

CW: childhood cancer, child abandonment, racism

So incredibly beautifully written. Everything was poetic and heartfelt, you really felt for and with the main character– even if you are not a teenage Persian girl. The author pours their entire soul into this work and it shows.

I highly recommend this, for teens or young adults or full grown adults.

As someone with OCD, this was incredibly accurate and wonderful representation.

“Wave” is a coming-of-age novel narrated in the first person by Ava, a teenager of Persian-American origin, who has a passion for surfing and lives with her mom in California. Through the book, we find out about Ava’s daily life and her interaction with her family, her friends (Phoenix and Naz), and how she deals with her mother’s expectations. There is a tragic event which happens later in the book, but as it makes out most of the plot, I won’t give out too many details.

Listening to the audiobook, it felt as if I was reading a journal, which was interesting to hear, but I didn’t resonate to the way in which the ideas were presented. All the repetitions were a bit too much to listen to and it also gave a bit of OCD-tendency coming from the main character.

Special thanks to NetGalley, RB Media, Recorded Books, and the editorial team for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC in audiobook format and to you, my reader, for taking the time to read this honest personal book review.

If you are interested in other of my book reviews, make sure to follow me on GoodReads!

#LifeLongLearning #Wave #NetGalley

I definitely cried. I wasn't prepared tbh and all of a sudden I'm crying in my car so that was cool.

This is a really beautiful novel but for me I struggled with the audio. Others have said the exact opposite so I seem to be in the minority. Novels in verse are either a hit or miss as audio and sadly this was a miss. It's unfortunate bc the story is beautiful and I think it's because I listen to audios too fast for this. It was choppy and stilted and maybe if I could listen as 1x or 1.5x it would've been okay, but I set it at 2.5x just so I didn't get bored 😅

Anyway, this is set in 1980s and is centered around an Iranian American girl trying to figure out her future. The waves and music and writing call to her but her mom desperately wants her to go into medicine. During her summer at the hospital as a volunteer, Ava learns a lot and also learns that medicine isn't her future. Then her best friend Phoenix ends up in the hospital with a recurring cancer and she has to face what a future could look like without him. You're gonna cry.

I think this is technically YA because the MC is 13-14 but it reads like middle grade. There's some serious conversations about racism and bullying and misogyny all thrown in as well and it was done well.

This is one I'd recommend for reading vs listening but certainly one I would recommend.

This is a fantastic book for middle grade readers! So many relatable topics were covered in this story and serves as a great conversation starter for topics like discrimination, following your dreams, and dealing with the loss of a loved one. The verse format was fantastic and really made the book more powerful. A recommend purchase for middle grade collections.

In a Nutshell: A middle-grade novel-in-verse that covers quite a lot of serious themes and does justice to almost all of them.

Story:
1987, Southern California. Thirteen year old Ava loves many things things: surfing with her best friend Phoenix, singing, reading poems by Rumi. Unfortunately, she doesn’t enjoy the field of medicine but her doctor-mom has clear plans for her future. She sets up Ava to spend the summer volunteering at the hospital she works for, such that Ava can also become a doctor. (“If you are a doctor, you will always have find a job.”) Ava tries to balance her passion for her hobbies with her supposed responsibility towards keeping her single mom satisfied. To add to the issues, Phoenix’s cancer, which has been in remission, is back with a vengeance. This is turning out to be a summer vacation Ava simply doesn’t want to face.
The story is written in verse style, with quick poems covering a multitude of feelings and issues.

The approach of the book towards its content is quite paradoxical. On the one hand, it is written in a language exactly suiting its target age group of middle graders. Simple words, smooth flow, issues they can identify with. On the other hand, it covers such deep themes that one can’t help being stimulated into thought.

There is a whole range of topics included: parental divorce, OCD, poetry, singing, surfing, life-threatening illness, friendship, and parental expectations. Each of these, though discrete, is woven so well into the tapestry of the book that the result is a mellifluous harmony surging with the voice of a young girl struggling to find her place in the world. As she says in one of the verses, she is “not Persian enough at home, not American enough at the beach.” The cover page and the title reflect Ava’s love for the waves, and these is a recurrent idea in many of the poems.

While there is a small part about Ava’s mom having migrated from Iran before the revolution changed the country, the book doesn’t delve much into immigrant issues, which suited me perfectly. I was initially not a fan of cancer being written into the story but the author does complete justice to it and doesn’t milk the pain to enhance the impact. This isn’t Phoenix’s story but Ava’s, and the focus stays on Ava and her feelings right till the end.

The audiobook clocks at 3.5 hours and is narrated by the author herself. I am usually not a fan of books narrated by non-celebrity authors because they might write fabulously but most of them can’t perform. As such, the narration often sounds drab or monotonous. This book is a big exception. Diana Farid narrates the book with such beauty that even I, a person with not a single poetic bone in my body, understood the verses and their underlying pathos. Her voice has a lovely cadence and she enunciates every word clearly. Moreover, as she herself is the poet, she knows just where to stress and where to pause for effect. I would definitely recommend this book in audio format.

All in all, if a poetically-challenged person such as Yours Truly enjoyed this middle-grade novel-in-verse, it definitely has a lot going for it. Recommended for sure.

4.25 stars.

My thanks to RB Media and NetGalley for the ALC of “Wave”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.