In The Key of Nira Ghani Review

Title: In the Key of Nira Ghani

Author: Natasha Deen

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Trigger Warning: Character Death

Rating:  4 stars

Release Date: April 9, 2019

Synopsis

A Guyanese girl must find the balance between her parents' "old world" expectations and traditions while pursuing her dream of being a great trumpeter in this contemporary, coming-of-age story, written by an #OwnVoices author.

Nira Ghani has always dreamed of becoming a musician. Her Guyanese parents, however, have big plans for her to become a scientist or doctor. Nira's grandmother and her best friend, Emily, are the only people who seem to truly understand her desire to establish an identity outside of the one imposed on Nira by her parents. When auditions for jazz band are announced, Nira realizes it's now or never to convince her parents that she deserves a chance to pursue her passion.

As if fighting with her parents weren't bad enough, Nira finds herself navigating a new friendship dynamic when her crush, Noah, and notorious mean-girl, McKenzie "Mac," take a sudden interest in her and Emily, inserting themselves into the fold. So, too, does Nira's much cooler (and very competitive) cousin Farah. Is she trying to wiggle her way into the new group to get closer to Noah? Is McKenzie trying to steal Emily's attention away from her? As Farah and Noah grow closer and Emily begins to pull away, Nira's trusted trumpet "George" remains her constant, offering her an escape from family and school drama.

But it isn't until Nira takes a step back that she realizes she's not the only one struggling to find her place in the world. As painful truths about her family are revealed, Nira learns to accept people for who they are and to open herself in ways she never thought possible.

A relatable and timely contemporary, coming-of age story, In the Key of Nira Ghani explores the social and cultural struggles of a teen in an immigrant household.

Review

A special thank you to Perseus Books, Running Press and Netgalley for a free advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Being a teenager is hard, and this is even harder for Nira as she deals with expectations at home, expectations at school, and the person who she wants to be. I can't speak for sure on the immigrant perspective, but I found the premise fascinating and for the most part, this was able to carry through the rest of the book.

The differences in settings and environments was really well created and described. While I don't expect to have everything explained to me, it was able to skip long explanations of background and explain it partially just by comparing and contrasting how Nira acts and how she is treated depending on the different places that she currently is at. It was really enjoyable and I had a great time reading it.

I also had a great time reading about Nira's friends, especially Emily and Mac and how the relationship between them occurs through Nira's eyes and the differences in relationships between the pairs of them. It was super cool and I absolutely loved it. I had a great time reading all of this stuff and found so many of the background characters, like Emily and Farah fascinating, especially as this unlikely friend group begins to form.

Nira was just so awful at times, and I get that some of it is because she's a teenager but it even goes beyond this point at times and I just can't stand it. At some times I definitely understand where she is coming from but it just goes way too far at points and I just want something else to occur. I am not even sure what exactly but it just rubs me the wrong way, especially when I understand something very clearly and she continues to go on and on and on for the majority of the book about how she just doesn't get it. There are a few other things as well, but the way that Nira treats other people, particularly at school just rubs me the wrong way.

Overall, I really enjoyed so many of the things that occur within this book. The depictions of music and going for what you want are really cool and there were a few things that I honestly just did not see coming. It was definitely worth the time reading it and I found many things within this book really cool and well described. I just wish that Nira was a little more likable because her character just goes too far at certain points in time. I would definitely recommend checking out this book though.


Have you read any great young adult books about immigrant children? Let me know in the comments because I'd love to read some more and learn more. The one example that I can think of is Sanctuary Somewhere. I actually went to a UNICEF conference and learned some interesting things and reading this book at the conference was particularly interesting.

Thanks for reading!
Alyssa