The book I choose to read is called A Very Large Expanse Of Sea by Tahereh Mafi. I choose this book because the main theme is racism and people going against the main character’s, Shirin, religion. This made me want to read this book because this is a huge issue in today’s world and seeing the point of view of someone being affected by this makes people understand what is really happening. Shirin is a Muslim who was born in America. The time period is right after 9-11 and all Shirin’s family wants in their lives is to be able to be in a free town where they are not discriminated against. That was quite a problem though because at the time a place like that did not exist for them. Shirin toughs it out and goes to high school. Shirin meets her love interest in the story, Ocean James. At first, Shirin doesn’t give him a chance because she doesn’t know people like him exist for her. He seems to be the only person who is actually interested in Shirin, and he starts to like her. She realizes he’s the most popular boy at school because he is a basketball star, and everyone starts to make racist remarks. Even Ocean’s basketball coach says he should break up with her because she is a distraction. Oceans’ mom does not approve of her either and tries to get her to break up with Ocean. They break up, but then Shirin realizes that Ocean really cares about her, and they can stay together and ignore the haters. Shirin’s family decides to move at the end of the story, but Ocean knows Shirin will keep fighting for her equality and rights to not be discriminated against.
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