chapters : 25 age group : young adult genre : contemporary
representation : poc
summary : layla karimi has been cursed by the evil eye.
well, that's what layla's superstitious grandmother tells her. and layla reckons it makes sense as she's sort of australian and sort of lebanese: a 'halfie' who doesn't really fit into either world.
and when all hell breaks loose at the first beach party of the summer, layla finds herself caught between her friends and the lebanese kids who call themselves 'the cedar army' (of which her cousin sufia is the queen bee). one group has been wrongfully accused and layla knows the truth that could help clear them.
but will she speak up?
notes : i'm new to the evil eye 🧿 i knew it was a spiritual thing but i thought it protects you from evil. turns out there is more to it. "the evil eye is a 'look' or 'stare' believed to bring bad luck for the person at whom it is directed." so the evil eye is a curse.
don't hate me for this but i really struggled to get into the book.
i really wanted to love it because 1 look at the cover + summary, 2 i would love me an aussie summer, and 3 because it deals with racism.
this is going to sound stupid but i'm used to reading these inverted commas "_" and the book has '_'. for some reason, my brain didn't always register that it's dialogue. and i got so annoyed with myself for it.
i don't read a lot of high school stories anymore and i now know why. my high school experience was full of trauma so idc about fiction high schoolers' problems that much. i don't care who is dating who and whose parents did this and that. so i didn't feel invested in all of the characters and their stories. but layla has toxic friends and i can relate to that.
although the book deals with serious themes and points out the unspoken cultural divide in high school, it still tried to be upbeat. some parts were dramatized or trying to be funny, but i just didn't feel it.
i tried to keep myself entertained and invested by starting an aussie dictionary. so i can at least say i have learned something.
the author is a great writer, no wonder the book won the matilda prize. and it's her debut novel which was published on 28 july 2021.
i am not australian so here's my aussie dictionary :
bungers
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