Hollow Fires
Ratings10
Average rating4.3
This powerful, gripping thriller from a New York Times bestselling author shows the insidious nature of racism, the terrible costs of unearthing hidden truths—and the undeniable power of hope. Safiya Mirza dreams of becoming a journalist. And one thing she’s learned as editor of her school newspaper is that a journalist’s job is to find the facts and not let personal biases affect the story. But all that changes the day she finds the body of a murdered boy. Jawad Ali was fourteen years old when he built a cosplay jetpack that a teacher mistook for a bomb. A jetpack that got him arrested, labeled a terrorist—and eventually killed. But he’s more than a dead body, and more than “Bomb Boy.” He was a person with a life worth remembering. Driven by Jawad’s haunting voice guiding her throughout her investigation, Safiya seeks to tell the whole truth about the murdered boy and those who killed him because of their hate-based beliefs. This gripping and powerful book uses an innovative format and lyrical prose to expose the evil that exists in front of us, and the silent complicity of the privileged who create alternative facts to bend the truth to their liking.
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The tone and structure of this reminded me a lot of The Hate U Give. I'd recommend this highly if you were invested in that story. the book is inspired by a real, horrific event that has been repurposed to talk about the Islamophobia that is upsettingly still so prevalent in the US.
This is an amazing book. It's also a hard one to get through if you are white. Yes, it's about race. It's also about privilege. I put it alongside books like Thirteen Reasons Why.
Hollow Fires, and Samira Ahmed, will make you think about your actions and how you treat others. It will open your eyes and ask/ponder the challenging questions about living in the United States and what being a good citizen means. And for me, living in this day and age is worth it.
Do yourself a favor and read it. Recommend it to everyone you know. And let's all strive to make lives better in the States.
This book definitely got heavy, especially toward the end, but I really enjoyed it! The twist was a bit obvious, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the latter half of the book at all. I think the portrayal of the emotions surrounding the reveal was especially well-written. Safiya and Jawad's POV's also felt very distinct, which is surprisingly rare in a lot of young adult fiction I've read.
Overall, a great book with important and well-researched theming!
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