Monday, May 27, 2013

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

Teenagers, Sahar and Nasrin have been best friends since they were six.  They are also in love with each other, but Iran is a dangerous place for two women to be romantically linked.  When Nasrin's parents announce her impending marriage, Sahar sets herself on a different path hoping it will mean she can be together with her one true love, forever.

Nasrin is a spoiled, wealthy, brat and Sahar comes from a working class family.  Nasrin's domineering and controlling mother calls all the shots in her life.  Sahar's mother died several years earlier and her father is still grieving.  Whatever advice she gets about life comes from her free wheeling, drug dealing cousin, Ari.



I believe that homosexuality is an important topic that needs to be discussed among young people.  That this story is set in Iran succeeds in adding to the tension.  These two girls faced a crossroad in a culture that could offer little in the way of options. But I felt that none of the characters were very likeable and that the girl's relationship was very one sided toward Sahar.  Both of them were very immature.  By the end I still didn't see that they had changed in any measurable way.  I don't want to give anything away, but story's ending didn't fit with the characters that had been presented to the reader in the rest of the story.

If You Could Be Mine is an thought provoking story for young people who are struggling to find themselves and their own sexuality.  For me as a reader, the characters themselves were not believable in their actions.  But maybe that's because I am sure of who I am and I live in a country where there is not a complete acceptance of this lifestyle but there is an open and ongoing discussion.


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