A Very Large Expanse of Sea is author, Tahereh Mafi’s, 10th book written in her career and quite honestly, her best. The book takes place post-9/11, following a young Muslim-American girl, Shirin, in her Sophomore year of high school. The beautifully written book tackles prejudices, bigotry, and hate crimes that follow Shirin wherever she goes. While also showing the beautiful development of a love story Shirin finds herself lost and confused in.

In summary, A Very Large Expanse of Sea opens with Shirin, a 16-year-old Muslim-American teen who wears a Hijab. She has just moved to her third high school in under a year, and she is not thrilled about it. Filled with anger about the 9/11 attack that rocked the country she was born in, she begins to see how people treat her after the attack, with distaste and disgust, as if she played a role in the attack, when in reality, Shirin states that she has never even been to Afghanistan, let alone corresponded with terrorists. Shirin sees that people at her school act like they know everything about her-what she stands for, her morals, values, personality,and her home life when in reality, they know absolutely nothing about her. They’ve just assumed that they have her all figured out.

As the story develops, we see Shirin, her brother Navid, and Navid’s friends start a breakdancing club in their school, which Shirin is thrilled about, as her and her brother have shared a passion for break dancing for the majority of their lives. During the span of after school practices and weekend competitions, Shirin also finds herself falling for Ocean James, star basketball player, town jewel, and the first person who doesn’t treat her like a terrorist. He seems unusually interested in Shirin, which really confuses her. He seems like he wants to get to know her as a person, to see what she is really like, compared to the type of person others assume she is. He is even unusually kind to her, and he confuses Shirin by acting genuinely interested when she speaks.

As Shirin slowly lets her guard down and begins to consider Ocean as her boyfriend, light colored hair, white skin, and all, she gets anxious at the thought of what people will say when they see the town’s star basketball player holding hands and walking with a Muslim girl. This terrifying thought and fear for Ocean’s reputation cause Shirin to build up her walls once more in fear of getting hurt.

I will not spoil anything about the ending, but I will say, it was not what I was expecting, though it was still heart-warming.

In an interview with Los Angeles Times, Mafi states that this book was inspired by her own life and experiences. I feel that Mafi showed great courage by being willing to revisit terrible parts of her past, and write them down for all the world to see. Mafi is a personal inspiration for me in my life. She seems so strong and capable and I am inspired by her everyday. I had the privilege of meeting her during the 2016 book festival, Yallwest, and she was so kind and lovely. She gave me every ounce of her attention as I approached the author’s table to ask for her to sign one of my books. It will forever be one of my favorite memories.

I spoke with Mrs. Byars, ERHS history teacher, who read the book a while back. The interview can be found below.

Being white and growing up in Southern California, I have never experienced racism the way Shirin and Mafi have, and I admire the courage and strength they showed during times of severe unfair treatment that they so wrongly experienced. I have grown to truly admire people of different religions and ethnicities. I feel that God put all of us in the world to spread love, not hate, and that we must always be careful of how we treat others, for we may never know what they have been through, and it is important to treat people with kindness, goodness, and respect, because we expect to be treated that way as well.

Tahereh Mafi is a wonderful and dedicated author who speaks directly to the heart and makes me feel emotions so intensely I can’t catch my breath. She is so intentional in her word choice and it just makes her writing that much better and more effective. I would rate A Very Large Expanse of Sea a five out of five star rating. It is easily one of the best books I have ever read, making me nearly cry in every chapter.

A Very Large Expanse of Sea has been on book shelves for a few months now and you can pick up a copy in any book store. If you’re lucky, you’ll find one signed by Mafi herself.