Love, Hate & Other Filters

Teen love and real world drama collide in this fantastic YA coming of age story.

Maya is a high school senior with a passion for film-making, trying to convince her over protective parents to let her go to New York University for film rather than go to college closer to home. She’s also trying to manage her crush on the popular football star, who gets brought into her life through a school project. Their friendship grows into something more, and it seems everything is going to work out great for her.

Then a terrorist attack in their state brings harsh scrutiny to Muslims across the US, and to Maya’s family in particular due to their being the only Brown people in the small town, and an unfortunate coincidence that links them to the suspect. Maya struggles with her parents’ fears for her safety and the aftermath of the event making things weird with her crush. She must also face a classmate with a grudge against all Muslims who becomes radicalized by the attack…

On a slightly spoiler-y note, I like how the attack is handled. [Spoiler: the Muslim American initially believed to have conducted the attack was actually an innocent victim and a white supremacist was the terrorist responsible.] This is much more in line with actual terrorist incidents in the US, and reminded me of the Oklahoma City bombing which was initially blamed on Muslim terrorists before white supremacist Timothy McVeigh was identified. The classmate who attacks Maya because his older brother became an amputee in Iraq was also on point. The book reflects an American experience where Brown, Muslim, immigrant and other minority groups are always suspect even when white supremacy is the true culprit.

The heavy issues aren’t as central as the coming of age and love story, however, and it all comes out so beautifully. I will be on the lookout for anything else Samira Ahmed publishes.

A must-read.

Ahmed skillfully weaves the high school senior emotional experience–the family drama, the classmate drama, the big stuff, the little stuff, the romance, the friendships, the whole new future just a breath away–with the serious business of how a hate crime can ripple through lives, over and over again.

I swooned, laughed, related, cried, hoped. She brought out the layers we are made of from the parts that influence our decisions to those we try to ignore. The shoulds vs the wants. The sacrifices we weigh, accept, regret. So much is captured in this beauty of a novel that I will recommend it to anyone who will listen.

Did you already read THE HATE U GIVE and DEAR MARTIN? This should be your next pick.

This book moved me so much. The characters are deep and thoughtful and so real. I could gush all day, but I just loved this book. Maya’s life and her outlook on life is so very different from mine, and it’s so important to read about different perspectives. I’ve never experienced the racist hatred she and her family live with, and I greatly respect the care and detail Ahmed put into her novel.

I really enjoyed this book, it has a good story, easy to read and I liked the writing style. The characters were likeable and relatable, and the subject thought provoking. It felt like true story, something happening anywhere and everywhere in the world today. I also liked the way Maya sees the world as through a movie reel, capturing every memory as a film image.
Read and review free copy.

Quick engaging read with a lot of heart. This book sucked me right in as I followed Maya’s heartbreaking and inspiring struggle to claim her own identity as Muslim American. Full of pop culture references, beautiful descriptions and an authentic portrayal of an Indian American family, Ahmed captures the feelings that are universal about being a teenager while weaving a unique story.

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