A Thousand Lives Lived: Review: I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister by Amélie Sarn

I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister, by Amélie Sarn
Publication: August 5, 2014, by Delacorte Press
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary
Pages: 152
Format: Hardcover
Source: Borrowed
Rating:

Two sisters. Two lives. One future. Sohane loves no one more than her beautiful, carefree younger sister, Djelila. And she hates no one as much. They used to share everything. But now, Djelila is spending more time with her friends, partying, and hanging out with boys, while Sohane is becoming more religious.When Sohane starts wearing a head scarf, her school threatens to expel her. Meanwhile, Djelila is harassed by neighborhood bullies for not being Muslim enough. Sohane can’t help thinking that Djelila deserves what she gets. But she never could have imagined just how far things would go. . . .

My Thoughts:

For readers who enjoyed The Tyrant's Daughter? Yeah... Not so much. I actually did read that one and ADORED it fully which is one of the reasons and factors that took me to request a copy of this book. I was lurking around YA fiction for diversity and something new that would catch my eye with the contemporary aspect. To be honest, this wasn't what I was expecting and just a meh-read that thankfully was short and sweet.

I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister is a nice tale of sisterhood and loss, as well as politics and human rights. Looking at the way I feel when looking at the cover, I don't think that I'd recommend this one to anyone, unless you're very fond of a variety of novels that have diversity. The diversity part of it was a big factor that played to me giving this a high rating. Other than that, I didn't enjoy the rest of the book. Let's just narrow it down to a 'What I Liked' and 'What I Disliked' review, because this is just a tiny book, anyways.

"It is for Djelila that we cry today. She is not a symbol of a broken youth and even less the symbol of divide between two cultures. Djelila was none of that. All Djelila wanted was to live, that is all. We are here for our sister, the sister we will not forget, our sister, Djelila."

My summary consists of the basics. This is about two sisters: Sohane and Djelila. (To be honest, I even had to check the summary because I forgot Sohane's name. Whoops?) They're basically total opposites—Sohane is very religious while Djelila basically couldn't care less about the way she dressed up. She just wants to be normal. Sohane doesn't really mind what her sister does because she's her own person, but eventually things go too far when Djelila gets harassed and things go farther than they're supposed to. Not to mention Sohane being made fun of when she wears a head scarf to school.

What I Liked/Enjoyed About this Book:

-The pacing. While reading, you'll realize that you've never read such a quick read in your life, speaking of YA books. Sarn's story doesn't need much explaining, as there's so much more between the lines that readers need to figure out before, during, and after reading that the 152 pages just flew by so quickly. It took me about an hour to read, honestly. It blasts from different points so quickly. Enjoy that, my friends.

-The characters. Sohane honestly is the coolest chick around who has so much love and affection for the people around her that it's amazing. You think you've seen a gorgeous sibling relationship? You haven't until you've read this book. And most of the novel revolves around that relationship, just take a peek at the title. Sarn definitely knew what she was doing while forming the memorable relationship that shapes these kinds of diverse reads.

-Learning about the religion. Islam is a religion that I hear of quite often, but I don't know much about it except the typical things: the headscarfs or the holidays that the religion has. Reading from the perspective of a young girl who's very religious was a wonderful experience for me, and it's given me a broader understanding, actually. Double yay for that point.

What I Disliked About this Book:

-Something. I'm not exactly sure what it was still to this day, but I found it boring and I guess the premise is too overused in contemporary? Not the diversity aspect, but the whole loss thing? It didn't make me sad and lacked emotion, which leads me to my next point.

-No emotions involved in the writing. I couldn't feel depth, or sadness or happiness. This was just a straight monotone read, which might kind of frustrate readers for the length of the novel. Maybe if it had been longer, there would've been better writing? I don't know, actually.

All together, these two negative points affected my enjoyment of the novel by quite a bit, just letting you know. Remember—it's all about the quality, not quantity.

I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister could've been amazing, I feel. The story had the potential to fly into the stars and bring the sun to me, but I didn't feel nothing coming from it, except nice characters and a good use of diversity. But that was the author's choice. She had the choice to write about characters who are Muslim, and this brought the diversity up, which did impress me a lot. It's just... I found myself getting bored and seeing the lack of depth complete in this short book. Maybe, just maybe, some others will enjoy this more than I did. I guess you could. Take a shot, if you feel like it, but I'm not saying that I'm completely recommending it at all.