{"id":38977,"date":"2021-02-24T23:47:57","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T03:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=38977"},"modified":"2021-02-24T23:47:57","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T03:47:57","slug":"review-of-everything-sad-is-untrue-by-daniel-nayeri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=38977","title":{"rendered":"Review of Everything Sad Is Untrue, by Daniel Nayeri"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Everything Sad Is Untrue<\/p>\n

(a true story)<\/em><\/p>\n

by Daniel Nayeri<\/p>\n

Levine Querido (Chronicle Books), 2020. 356 pages.
\nReview written February 16, 2021, from a library book
\nStarred Review
\n2021 Michael L. Printz Award Winner<\/p>\n

I felt like I scored when this won the Printz Award. A friend had recently recommended it highly, so I had it checked out already, and didn\u2019t have to wait to get it on hold. Even with that strong recommendation and winning the top award for Young Adult books, I was not disappointed when I read this book, and I agree with the acclaim.<\/p>\n

The subtitle says this is a true story, but it\u2019s presented as fiction. We learn at the back that the author told the story of his life as a refugee from his own perspective when he was twelve. Since he wasn\u2019t able to verify facts, he went with his memories and changed some details \u2013 and called it fiction.<\/p>\n

The style makes this book memorable and delightful. He writes it, telling the reader the story, as his younger self told stories to his class when he was twelve. To give you the idea, I\u2019ll show you the beginning:<\/p>\n

All Persians are liars and lying is a sin.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what the kids in Mrs. Miller\u2019s class think, but I\u2019m the only Persian they\u2019ve ever met, so I don\u2019t know where they got that idea.<\/p>\n

My mom says it\u2019s true, but only because everyone has sinned and needs God to save them. My dad says it isn\u2019t. Persians aren\u2019t liars. They\u2019re poets, which is worse.<\/p>\n

Poets don\u2019t even know when they\u2019re lying. They\u2019re just trying to remember their dreams. They\u2019re trying to remember six thousand years of history and all the versions of all the stories ever told.<\/p>\n

In one version, maybe I\u2019m not the refugee kid in the back of Mrs. Miller\u2019s class. I\u2019m a prince in disguise.<\/p>\n

If you catch me, I will say what they say in the 1,001 Nights<\/em>. \u201cLet me go, and I will tell you a tale passing strange.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how they all begin.<\/p>\n

With a promise. If you listen, I\u2019ll tell you a story. We can know and be known to each other, and then we\u2019re not enemies anymore.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not making this up. This is a rule that even genies follow.<\/p>\n

In the 1,001 Nights<\/em>, Scheherazade \u2013 the rememberer of all the world\u2019s dreams \u2013 told stories every night to the king, so he would spare her life.<\/p>\n

But in here, it\u2019s just me, counting my own memories.<\/p>\n

And you, reader, whoever you are. You\u2019re the king.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sucking up, by the way. The king was evil and made a bloody massacre of a thousand lives before he got to Scheherazade.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a responsibility to be the king.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve got my whole life in your hands.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m just warning you that if I\u2019m going to be honest, I have to begin the story with my Baba Haji, even if the blood might shock you.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t worry, dear reader and Mrs. Miller.<\/p>\n

Of all the tales of marvel that I could tell you, none surpass in wonder and coolness the one I am about to tell.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That gives you an idea of the style, which continues the entire book. In a somewhat rambling but completely charming way, Khosrou, who was renamed Daniel so Americans could pronounce it, tells the story of his Persian forebears and life in Iran, how his mother became a Christian and they had to flee, and how things are completely different now in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

But that summary doesn\u2019t convey the power and poignancy of this story.<\/p>\n

His mother is portrayed as the hero of the book \u2013 utterly unstoppable. The stories inside the book range from tragic and frightening, including their time as refugees before they got permission to come to America, to more garden-variety encounters with unkind kids in Oklahoma, to mythic tales of Daniel\u2019s ancestors. He was a small child when he had to leave his home country and extended family behind, and he conveys that child\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n

He also weaves themes through the narrative so that I want to read it again to see what I didn\u2019t catch the first time. I think next time, I\u2019ll listen to an audiobook, because that will suit the style perfectly.<\/p>\n

levinequerido.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/everything_sad_is_untrue.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a>