Gr 9 Up—After The Fight creates a rift, Salahudin and Noor carry on shouldering their respective families' burdens
until a breaking point, when they must decide what the true value of their friendship is. This brutal, beautiful story is a
testament to the power of friendship and forgiveness in the face of fury and heartbreak

Two Pakistani teens living in California, who have been friends since they were little, struggle with issues of racism, mental and physical abuse, grief, and drug abuse. Can their friendship last when it all culminates in a fateful encounter with the police?

This Printz Award winner definitely deserves all the praise. The subject matter is sometimes brutal, but Tahir handles it beautifully, all while creating believable and complex characters and crafting a first-rate story. Definitely recommended. ( )

Lahore; Pakistán. Entonces. Misbah es una joven soñadora que acaba de casarse con Toufiq en un matrimonio concertado. Tras ser golpeados por la tragedia; viajan a los Estados Unidos en busca de un nuevo comienzo y abren el motel Clouds¿ Rest Inn. Juniper; California. Ahora. Salahudin y Noor son más que mejores amigos: se consideran familia. Al crecer como marginados en una pequeña ciudad desértica se entienden mutuamente mejor que nadie. Hasta que tiene lugar la Pelea; que destruye su vínculo con la furia de una estrella al explotar. Ahora; Sal se esfuerza por hacer que el motel familiar funcione mientras Misbah; su madre; pierde la salud y su padre se refugia en el alcohol. Noor; mientras tanto; camina por una terrible cuerda floja: trabaja en la licorería de su irritable tío mientras; a escondidas; planea matricularse en la universidad para escapar de él (y de Juniper) para siempre. Cuando los intentos de Sal por salvar el motel se descontrolan; él y Noor deberán replantearse el valor de la amistad y descubrir cómo derrotar a los fantasmas del pasado y a los que existen entre ellos. ( )

Representation: Asian main characters, side Black and Brown characters
Trigger warnings: Death of an aunt from an illness, parents from an earthquake and other people from electrocution in the past, racism, racist slurs, blood, grief and loss depiction, physical assault, injury and child abuse, abusive and alcohol abusing uncle, imprisonment of a child, hospitalisation, bullying, near-death experience from a drug overdose, forced marriage
Score: Five points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

Man, this book wasn't great and to say it was sad wouldn't be the right words to describe this one. I added it to my list a few days ago at the time of writing this review and a few days later I picked it up from one of the two libraries I visited and finally read it. When I finished it, I thought the novel was too depressing (don't get me wrong, a book can be depressing and still be enjoyable but it needs a balance of depression and more positive emotions, but this one didn't have that.) Did I mention this novel circled my recommendations once? It starts with one story's main character Misbah Malik living in Pakistan who is arranged to marry her predetermined partner when it cuts to the present day in Juniper, California with the other story's protagonists Noor (I initially pronounced it so that it rhymes with bore until she said it rhymes with lure so I switched to that) and Salahudin.

Another book similar to this I've read and enjoyed is Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed but I found that better than this one. I appreciate the author for writing this novel engagingly because of the outstanding descriptions of everything. Here is where the flaws surface; like other books I've read I could never fully connect to all the people who drive the story forward like Misbah, Noor or Salahudin and the plotline(s) were all over the place (I'll explain that later) making them disjointed and harder for me to read or enthral myself in. Now Noor and Salahudin had to get through the death of whom they call Misbah Auntie from kidney problems she refused to address properly (she'd use turmeric instead of going to the doctor) and already I felt miserable but the worst is yet to come. The past narrative told me that Noor's parents died in an earthquake in Pakistan and no one but another person, Chachu (her uncle) saved her with his bare hands which the book repeats sometimes to presumably drive it into my head. I don't understand why I had to look at Misbah's perspective in the past after she died in the present because it didn't add anything significant and distracted from the present perspective story. There are myriad issues the novel talks about much to its detriment as I felt it couldn't pick a single issue to focus on (like alcohol abuse, racism, child abuse and drug abuse) and instead it tried to concentrate on all of them but failed. Maybe if it picked one it could be better.

Everything takes a turn for the worst when Noor applied for seven different universities but to no avail and she tries to pay off the bills without Misbah (whose life went on a downward spiral) to similar results while also dealing with racist attacks at her school and the rage as she calls it bottling inside her (shutting down feelings never works well especially when she physically punches Jamie, the culprit, in return.) Chachu uses a (destructive) coping strategy, alcohol to deal with all the struggles in his life which didn't go to plan as he abuses Noor so she runs away. At least Jamie got karma in the end, Noor got accepted to a university and both people in the present move on ending the book swiftly. I won't reread this but I might read An Ember in the Ashes and its succeeding instalments. ( )

Compelling story of two families - Pakistani born Toufiq (Abu) Malik and his bride Misbah, who come to the California Mojave Desert dusty town of Juniper and purchase a motel, raising their son Salahudin AND Noor Raiz, orphaned at the age of 6 from a horrible earthquake in her parent's Pakistani town, who lives with her uncle "Chacu" Riaz and his American wife Brooke. Alternate narration moving into the past for Misbah, and the present with Salahudin and Noor. Poignant examination of two teens trying so hard to help their families, live with limited resources, and follow their dreams to attend a good college and become more. Subplots include death of the mom, Misbah, Sal's father's out of control drinking, Noor's uncle's physical and mental abuse towards her, bullying from a really horrid teen girl, and a slimy drug dealer student who beguiles Salahudin into dealing. A traffic stop throws both Noor and Sal into jail, facing drug charges and deraling their future plans, as well as tearing their friendship apart. Dramatic, but realistic with Noor's and Sal's internal monologues reflecting their teenage perspective. Sympathetic characters, including their English teacher, a doctor who knows Salahudin's childhood trauma, & a local imam and his wife also provide great support and validation for Noor's and Sal's respect, if not devotion, to their Muslim faith. The Pakistani words, food, and customs add to the overall atmosphere of the immigrant story, but might deter less mature readers, as well as all the alternating narration, serious themes of drugs, death of family, addiction and abuse. One of my favorite quotes - spoken by Misbah, loving advice to a despairing Noor : "If we are lost, God is like water, finding the unknowable path when we cannot". ( )