“I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister” by Amélie Sarn, translated by Y. Maudet

Images courtesy of GoodReads.com

The Facts

152 pages; published August 2014

The Basics

Devout Muslim Sohane struggles to deal with her grief and conflicting emotions about her more worldly sister, Djelila, who has been killed by religious extremists.

The Booktalk

Heart-shredding sadness abounds in this gorgeously written story of two French sisters of Algerian descent. Sohane is older. A devout Muslin, she has made the choice to wear a hijab (headscarf). Her family is baffled, the women in her community are indignant, and her school expels her. Her younger sister, Djelila, is on another path, rejecting their Algerian and Muslim heritage, wearing jeans and revealing clothing, and playing basketball at their French school. When her path crosses a gang of punky Muslim teens who want their women more traditional, the situation becomes deadly, leaving Sohane to struggle wit an almost unbearable burden of anger and grief.

Random Thoughts

• The elegance and poetry of the writing is simply stunning.
• This book is a deeply painful reflection on freedom and the many ways in which people interfere with each other.
• There are insights into both expat Algerian and French culture that are both puzzling and worth thinking about.
• The story has its roots in an actual crime in France, which makes it all the more tragic.

I’ll Recommend This To …

• Sophisticated readers of realistic fiction
• Teens with a keen interest in writing
• Anyone who wants a story that expands their understanding of the world
• People looking for stories guaranteed to make them cry