Saints and Misfits
Saints and Misfits—a William C. Morris Award finalist and an Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of the Year—is a “timely and authentic” (School Library Journal, starred review) debut novel that feels like a modern day My So-Called Life…starring a Muslim teen.
There are three kinds of people in my world:
1. Saints, those special people moving the world forward. Sometimes you glaze over them. Or, at least, I do. They’re in your face so much, you can’t see them, like how you can’t see your nose.
2. Misfits, people who don’t belong. Like me—the way I don’t fit into Dad’s brand-new family or in the leftover one composed of Mom and my older brother, Mama’s-Boy-Muhammad.
Also, there’s Jeremy and me. Misfits. Because although, alliteratively speaking, Janna and Jeremy sound good together, we don’t go together. Same planet, different worlds.
But sometimes worlds collide and beautiful things happen, right?
3. Monsters. Well, monsters wearing saint masks, like in Flannery O’Connor’s stories.
Like the monster at my mosque.
People think he’s holy, untouchable, but nobody has seen under the mask.
Except me.
There are three kinds of people in my world:
1. Saints, those special people moving the world forward. Sometimes you glaze over them. Or, at least, I do. They’re in your face so much, you can’t see them, like how you can’t see your nose.
2. Misfits, people who don’t belong. Like me—the way I don’t fit into Dad’s brand-new family or in the leftover one composed of Mom and my older brother, Mama’s-Boy-Muhammad.
Also, there’s Jeremy and me. Misfits. Because although, alliteratively speaking, Janna and Jeremy sound good together, we don’t go together. Same planet, different worlds.
But sometimes worlds collide and beautiful things happen, right?
3. Monsters. Well, monsters wearing saint masks, like in Flannery O’Connor’s stories.
Like the monster at my mosque.
People think he’s holy, untouchable, but nobody has seen under the mask.
Except me.
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Community Reviews
Trigger Warning: Attempted sexual assault
Janna experiences an attempted rape by someone she thought was a good person. To top it off he happens to be the cousin of her close friends and an avid contributor to the community. Throughout this story you'll feel the struggle Janna has, and sometimes the anxiety/panic attacks she gets, when she sees the "Monster".
I liked the concept of Misfits, Saints, and Monsters. Janna feels more like a "Misfit" in this one. Her dad has a new family and she doesn't feel like she fits in with them and to add to the discomfort she's got a crush on a boy that doesn't really fit into her world.
I really enjoyed the representation in this story. I don't know much about the Muslim community or religion so I appreciated the content around Janna and her beliefs. As a person who comes from a household with divorce I related to Janna and the conflict she had with what happened between her parents. I think family dynamics from different points of views or experiences is important and I'm glad we got to see that in this book.
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good Own Voices YA Contemporary that deals with learning to cope with sexual assault, friendships, family dynamics, and religion. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to pick this one up and you'll have to check out my review of book two posting soon!
Janna experiences an attempted rape by someone she thought was a good person. To top it off he happens to be the cousin of her close friends and an avid contributor to the community. Throughout this story you'll feel the struggle Janna has, and sometimes the anxiety/panic attacks she gets, when she sees the "Monster".
I liked the concept of Misfits, Saints, and Monsters. Janna feels more like a "Misfit" in this one. Her dad has a new family and she doesn't feel like she fits in with them and to add to the discomfort she's got a crush on a boy that doesn't really fit into her world.
I really enjoyed the representation in this story. I don't know much about the Muslim community or religion so I appreciated the content around Janna and her beliefs. As a person who comes from a household with divorce I related to Janna and the conflict she had with what happened between her parents. I think family dynamics from different points of views or experiences is important and I'm glad we got to see that in this book.
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good Own Voices YA Contemporary that deals with learning to cope with sexual assault, friendships, family dynamics, and religion. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to pick this one up and you'll have to check out my review of book two posting soon!
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