All My Rage by Saaba Tahir

All My Rage, winner of the 2023 Printz Award, follows a pair of Pakistani-American teens from uncertainty through trauma to stability and hope.

All My Rage by Saaba Tahir. Razorbill (PRH), 2022, 400 pages.

Reading Level: Teen, ages 15-18

Recommended for: ages 16-up (see Considerations)

The Bleak Landscape of Frustrated Ambitions

Mizbah was told by her mother whom she would marry, because that’s how things were done in Pakistan back then (and even today). Her husband Toufiq is a gentle soul, though weak and indecisive. A local disaster sends the young couple to America, where they buy a motel in the bleak desert-y landscape of Juniper, California. Their one son, Salahudin (better known as Sal), grows up as an American teen in a traditional family, a hybrid who never quite fits in.

His best friend from childhood is also Pakistani: Noor, a girl orphaned at the age of 7 by an earthquake that destroyed her home and family. Her uncle rescued her from the rubble, brought her to America, and gave her a home. So to speak. The home is shelter and sustenance, but the uncle is a harsh and bitter atheist who expects her to help him run his liquor store indefinitely. He laughs at her college ambitions, unaware that she’s secretly applied to several and is anxiously awaiting their response.

As the novel opens, things are falling apart. The friendship is broken, Mizbah is in the hospital, and Toufiq has fallen into alcoholism. When his mother dies, Sal feels himself adrift in a hostile world, where he must shoulder all the responsibility his father has given up. Facing bankruptcy, it’s understandable that he sees a solution in drug-dealing—strictly temporary, just enough to get out of their financial bind. Understandable, but stupid, as he realizes even before the net drops.

“God is like water”

Given the premise, this story is going into some dark places, including drug overdose, alcoholism, and physical abuse. The positives are beautiful writing, well-drawn characters and a strong emotional core. One message that comes through explicitly is that everyone needs something larger than themselves to live for, whether it’s a cause, a religion, or a most significant other. Though she passes away in the opening chapters, Mizbah’s voice, narrating events “Then,” alternates with the action of Noor and Sal “Now.” She is a steadying presence throughout, as is her favorite saying: If we are lost, God is like water, finding the unknowable path when we cannot. No distinction is made between Allah and God the Father, but the one Christian character is portrayed sympathetically. With so many considerations (see below), Christians may prefer to give this novel a pass. Still (unlike many other Printz-award winners we could name), it has redeeming qualities.  

Considerations:

• Plenty of vulgar language, though not much profanity.
• One make-out session that’s interrupted.
• Two lesbian relationships are referred to but not central to the plot.

 Overall Rating: 4

• Worldview/moral value: 3.5
• Artistic/literary value: 4.5

Read more about our ratings here.     

Also at Redeemed Reader:            

• Review: We’re huge fans of another Printz-award winner with middle-eastern connections: Everything Sad Is Untrue.
• Review; Last year’s Printz-award winner, The Firekeeper’s Daughter, is another problematic novel with worthwhile themes.

The Firekeeper’s Daughter, also has some redeeming elements.We are participants in the Amazon LLC affiliate program; purchases you make through affiliate links like the one below may earn us a commission. Read more here.