All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

Bibliographic Information:

Title: All My Rage

Author: Sabaa Tahir

Publisher: Razorbill

Copyright Date: March 2022

ISBN: 9780593202340

Format: Print Prose Book

Genre: Contemporary Fiction/ Romance/ BIPOC Voice

Awards:

National Book Award Young peoples Literature- 2022

Printz Award-2023

Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award- 2023

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award- 2022

Interest Level: Ages 14 Up (All My Rage copyright info)

Plot Summary:

In Juniper, California it is dry, windy, and dusty. This is where Pakistani immigrant, Misbah, her son Salahudin, and her daughter in soul Noor live, but it is not their home. After Misbah's health takes a turn for the worst, Salahudin has to navigate life without his loving mom, one of the only people who truly understood him. But the life that Misbah has left for Salahudin is anything but easy. He is left with repairing his friendship with Noor, finishing high school, dealing with his alcoholic dad, and pulling the Clouds' Rest Inn Motel out of crippling debt. Noor is heartbroken as her surrogate mother is lost. While tipping toeing around her often irate and Islamophobic uncle, Noor worries she won't be able to escape Juniper for college. With many skeletons in each of Misbah, Noor, and Salahudin's closets they must learn the meaning behind love and forgiveness to balance loss and life.

Author Background:

Sabaa Tahir wrote some of herself into Noor and Salahudin. Growing up in the Mojave desert in her family's motel she enjoyed fantasy books and crazy socks like Salahudin and attended UCLA and loves rock music like Noor. She states that she started writing books when she was a newspaper editor (Tahir, n.d.). Some other works by Sabaa Tahir are The Ember and Ash series and her upcoming novel Heir. While reading this book I noticed something that caught my eye. Salahudin is asked to write a piece about a fictional story based on a real one. This made me ponder is All My Rage Sabaa's fictional story about real story... maybe so.

Critical Evaluation:

All My Rage snuck up on me. What I knew about this book going in was that it's well written and it will at some point make me sad. I severely underestimated how well written this book was and the severity of emotions I would feel while reading. Salahudin, Noor, and Misbah are such well defined and complex characters, they are not perfect but you fall for them instantly. This book attempts to address an extreme amount of very heavy burdens in life such as; alcohol and drug abuse, poverty, chronic illness, death, racism, islamophobia, sexual assault, abuse, and incarceration. Somehow even with all of these intensely real and serious topics Sabaa Tahir was able to tackle them in a respectful and reverent way without making the reader feel sad the entire time. I am not someone who typically enjoys a book I know will make me feel hard things. This book has changed me. I absolutely love All My Rage, its now probably one of my most favorite books of all time. I think anyone who reads this book can find something in it that they deeply relate to and hits them at their core. It's a perfect length. The multiple points of view for each chapter are dynamic and I looked forward to reading each side. All My Rage ties everything together so well and contains bits of joy and humor that makes it sparkle amidst such dark topics. Oh my good golly the ending had me balling, gave me the chills, perfect! Please read this book!

Creative Use for Library Program:

Teen Feels Playlist- Music plays a massive role in All My Rage, its a comfort to Noor. Librarians can place book marks or submission slips into books such as All My Rage that ask readers to write down a song that made them feel something that reminded them of how a character felt in the story. When teens return the book, the librarian will add their song to the Teen Feels Playlist so that teens can listen to it and feel not alone and create kinship amongst peers in their community.

World Mental Health Day- Create a small collection of content that has a central theme of mental health and professional help. Each work can have an accompanying item represented in the book that helped the main character cope with a mental health struggle. For All My Rage it might be a cup of chai. (See Saints of the Household for more)

Speed Round Book Talk:

The fortune teller told me I would have three children, one son, one daughter, and one of neither gender or the third gender. She told me I would fail them all. A story of souls for souls full of challenge, loss, love, and forgiveness.

Potential Challenge Issues or Defense Preparation:

This novel discusses some very serious themes and Sabaa does so in such a reverent way. This book does not dwell upon sadness and is purposeful in nature. Before this book starts Sabaa Tahir notifies the reader about the topics discussed in the book and concludes the book with a list of related professional organizations below encouraging readers to seek help for themselves or others.

I was curious how someone could truly dislike this book and I found myself reading some negative reviews. Everyone has different taste, however the few reviews that caught my attention were complaining about the "Muslim representation". I am assuming people are referring to the amount of Muslim customs and representation with the book, that they are thinking it to be less than anticipated. To this I want to say (while I am not Muslim and am just a lowly MLIS grad student) that in my opinion this story was not solely created to be a story about Islam, but to help describe the culture and lifestyle of the people within it. In addition, I think it's a challenge to say that something isn't Muslim enough or anything enough because everyones experiences are different and valid and important. Denoting or ranking faithfulness can often lead to disharmony.

To the right is an instagram post by Sabaa Tahir regarding discourse about banning All My Rage.

Reason for Inclusion:

I decided to read this book because of the amount of recognition it received. I have also heard a lot of really great things about Sabaa Tahir and was intrigued to read her first contemporary novel after writing a fantasy series. I am including this book into my blog because it is so amazing and I would recommend this book to anyone! I think that some award winning books can be dense in a way that seems a little full of itself. All My Rage is anything but. This book contains deep topics in a sincere and purposeful manner. While this is an emotional story I did not feel depressed or helpless throughout the novel. All My Rage gave me hope for love, community, and the soul. I think teens of any background can find something to relate to igniting a spark of meaning to them.

Check Out:

@catalina.asc created a Spotify playlist for all songs referenced in All my Rage

References:

ALA Media Relations. (2023, January). 'All My Rage' wins 2023 Printz Award. ALA. https://www.ala.org/news/2023/01/all-my-rage-wins-2023-printz-award

Goodreads. (n.d.). All My Rage. Accessed July 2024 from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57899793-all-my-rage

National Book Foundation. (n.d.). All My rage. Accessed July 2024 from https://www.nationalbook.org/books/all-my-rage/

Tahir, S. (2023, January). All My Rage: Sabaa Tahir's 2022 BGHB Fiction and Poetry Award Speech. The Horn Book inc. https://www.hbook.com/story/all-my-rage-sabaa-tahirs-2022-bghb-fiction-and-poetry-award-speech

Tahir, S. (n.d.). About. Accessed July 2024 from https://sabaatahir.com/about/

@catalina.asc (2022, March). all my rage by sabaa tahir [Playlist]. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0lYm8GWVR8f67nfhTseYRu?si=9687007c9a5b4978

@sabaatahir (2024, March). Been frustrated b/c I keep hearing in DMs of more schools challenging All My Rage. There’s a lot of talk that if... [Post]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4GM9ENua3Y/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link