[ Free Prime ] The Weight of Our Sky Author Hanna Alkaf – Andy-palmer.co.uk
A Music Loving Teen With OCD Does Everything She Can To Find Her Way Back To Her Mother During The Historic Race Riots In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, In This Heart Pounding Literary Debut Melati Ahmad Looks Like Your Typical Movie Going, Beatles Obsessed Sixteen Year Old Unlike Most Other Sixteen Year Olds Though, Mel Also Believes That She Harbors A Djinn Inside Her, One Who Threatens Her With Horrific Images Of Her Mother S Death Unless She Adheres To An Elaborate Ritual Of Counting And Tapping To Keep Him Satisfied A Trip To The Movies After School Turns Into A Nightmare When The City Erupts Into Violent Race Riots Between The Chinese And The Malay When Gangsters Come Into The Theater And Hold Movie Goers Hostage, Mel, A Malay, Is Saved By A Chinese Woman, But Has To Leave Her Best Friend Behind To Die On Their Journey Through Town, Mel Sees For Herself The Devastation Caused By The Riots In Her Village, A Neighbor Tells Her That Her Mother, A Nurse, Was Called In To Help With The Many Bodies Piling Up At The Hospital Mel Must Survive On Her Own, With The Help Of A Few Kind Strangers, Until She Finds Her Mother But The Djinn In Her Mind Threatens Her Ability To Cope
This book depicts the life of an OCD Malay girl back in one of Malaysia s darkest, if not the darkest, days in history The story starts off in a way that catches you off guard and every single word thereafter pulls you in and makes you feel like you never want to let go A good read and Hanna touches wonderfully on the different aspects of life of being kind to one another, of sacrifices, of accepting and loving each other, and o
Beautiful story even though quite heavy.
Such a lovely book Made me feels so many feelings It s been a long time since I felt this way Pretty hard to put the book down.
Good product
This is a fascinating book, both from the main character s OCD, which she attributes to having a Djinn inside her, and a look at a week of horrible violence in 1969 Malaysia Melita is 16 years old and just wants to have a good time at the movies with her best friend, Saf Instead, she is caught up in horrific violence.She spends much of the book trying to be reunited with her mother, a nurse, and expending much energy trying to hide her disorder She, a Musl
This book gets everything right the deep, complex relationships and emotions the complicated racial and political landscape of 1969 Malaysia and especially main character Melati s struggles with OCD It s also a tense, suspenseful page turner on top of all that I tried to stop reading it at midnight and couldn t stop until I finished it all in one night Though it was about an event in history I didn t know much about, it resonated with me as strongly as books abou
Melati faces demons daily, but when the race riots begin, her challenges are multiplied The book opens with Melati explaining that by the end of the school day, her mother has died seventeen times A djinn has shown her visions of many, many different ways her mother could die if Melati does not obey its commands She tries to keep the visions at bay, but is not very successful Being in Melati s head is frustrating and a bit torturous She has a strong will though and keep
I came here to review this book as soon as I finished because it s exceptional and the world deserves to know it.As the author mentions in the content warning note, the subject matter is heavy, but the book still finds ways to show the beauty of humanity alongside the extreme ugliness of violence and hatred and gives glimmers of hope and joy and love amongst the wreckage and despairThis story is beautifully written The writing is captivating, the characters are vividly real an
This is a beautiful book about a girl struggling with OCD in Malaysia in 1969 She taps and counts because her own mind is so chaotic, full of intrusive thoughts about her mother s possible death When violence breaks out around her, the chaos becomes all consuming But through empathy, friendship, and bravery, Melati navigates a new uncertain world to find her mom and help those she can along the way This is a fantastic historical fiction and I would highly recommend this for middle sc
What a compelling, page turning historical This book contains all my favorite things I look for in a YA historical gut wrenching tragedy, a window into a different place and time especially here, with one I haven t seen before in YA , and compelling characters I want to stay with Not only does this book provide a glimpse into a terrifying time in Maylasia s history, but it will also resonate with teens today who want to bring people together in spite of differences A must read
This amazing and meaningful book chronicles a short period of time in the life of 16 year old Melati during the heart wrenching race riots of 1969 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Not only does she lose her best friend to chilling violence and become separated from her mother, she struggles fiercely with unrelenting, undiagnosed OCD I love that this book provides a mirror for young Malaysian women and anyone suffering from OCD, and that the rest of the world is gifted with a window to an important cultur
This is my first time writing a book review on or anywhere other than Twitter for that matter but I m Malaysian and this is a book that truly, I didn t know how much we needed until now It comes with a trigger warning and honestly, all books should, people have no idea how difficult it can be to dive into any kind of content books, films, tv, art, etc without knowing if you will have to relive your personal trauma That said, it s also so crucial for people to read books like this, to put yourself in the
I m Singaporean, and while the race riots in TWOS focus on the 13 May Incident hah, classic euphemism , these sorts of race riots had been happening throughout the 60s in Malaysia which included Singapore until 1965 The Wikipedia article and citations on the 13 May Incident are a good starting point for those who want to delve deeper Apparently, gangs separating people trapped in cinemas into groups to kill not kill really happened People have already talked about the extremely detailed portrayal of mental illn
Full review templetongate.net A near perfect debut novel Alkaf gave warnings for graphic violence, death, racism, OCD, and anxiety triggers, and while portions were horrific, it wasn t as graphic as I expected I ve read much graphic material, or maybe it s because I never suffered from that type of trauma and saw it from a detached viewpoint Highly recommended, and I look forward to further stories from her.
Outstanding book, highly recommended.I knew nothing about the strife between the Malay and Chinese in 1969 Malaysia Melati is a compelling character and narrator, I couldn t put this book down.I can t wait for Hanna Alkaf s next book.Spoiler AlertThis would be a five star book if it didn t feel quite so rushed and neatly tied up at the end These are my only quibbles.