"All My Rage is a heart-wrenching, ruthless story about high-school best friends Salahuddin and Noor who face devastating family trials as they navigate the desert terrain of racism and displacement in their everyday lives in Juniper, California. This evocative portrait of grief and adversity will keep you hooked until the last triumphant page."
After Salahuddin’s mother, Misbah, becomes severely ill, her tragic death leaves Salahuddin to take sole charge of the Cloud’s Rest Inn motel she worked so hard to build, whilst caring for his alcoholic father, even if by criminal means. Meanwhile Noor dreams of escaping Juniper, hoping to get into college so she can be free of her abusive, self-hating uncle who resents and berates her for embracing her Pakistani heritage.
More than just the framing of anguish and trauma, All My Rage is also a story of promise, of channeling rage and injustice into overcoming adversity and this made the story so appealing, as we want to see these characters flourish and surmount difficult obstacles.
All My Rage is a Point of View narrative which puts the reader inside the heads of the three narrators; Salahuddin, Noor and Misbah. I really loved each of these deeply emotional viewpoints as they each have their own distinct style and voice, such as Noor’s POV with its chilling use of repetition so as to more effectively detail the struggle she faces with her uncle.
Also, there is Misbah’s viewpoint which takes place in the past and gives the story much needed context. The use of setting was also significant as the dusty, arid landscape of Juniper conveys a desolate feeling of hostility much like the societal hostility that Noor and Salahudin experience as part of their everyday life.
The romantic attraction between Salahuddin and Noor was another strength. Despite the huge fallout that happened between them months before, they still share a powerful bond because of how deeply they understand each other. Their shared culture and affinity as trauma survivors is what draws them together.
One of Noor’s earliest memories is of being uprooted from the country of her birth because of a natural disaster, whilst Salahuddin resists human touch due to a vague childhood memory which plagues him. Tahir really succeeds in building a love between these two characters that is fraught and tender.
When the plot reaches its climax, their love is tested in the most tragic of ways and it had me holding my breath as I consumed each page.
I can’t comment much on the book’s representation of Pakistani culture as it’s not my place but I definitely felt immersed by all the vivid references to the food such as the paratha and lamb karahi, the use of the Punjabi language - which really makes me want to listen to the audiobook so I can hear how those sentences are supposed to sound - and the feeling of community, particularly through the characters of Imam Shafiq and his wife Khadija.
All My Rage is a powerful piece of diaspora fiction, a memorable story about overcoming the most challenging of obstacles.
| Primary Genre | Young Adult Fiction |
| Other Genres: |
All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
All My Rage features in the following genres: Young Adult Fiction, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Family and home stories, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Family Drama, Fiction
Paperback, Ebook, Hardback. £8.48. Digital. Available Immediately. Country restrictions apply..
All My Rage was written by Sabaa Tahir and published by Penguin Young Readers Group
£8.48. Digital. Available Immediately. Country restrictions apply..
