All My Rage is a young adult novel written by Pakistani-American author Sabaa Tahir that was published in 2022. I bought this from Barnes and Noble for my spring break reading and it definitely didn’t disappoint me.
The story starts years back, in Lahore, Pakistan. Kind and Sweet 18-year-old Misbah dreads getting married to a man she never met. What if he’s an alcoholic? Abusive? Aggressive? She dreams of one day owning a hotel/a restaurant. She wants to follow her dreams, and have a life filled with love. Misbah is married to Toufiq in an arranged marriage and they immigrate to Juniper, California where they own a family-owned motel.
The story then takes the reader to present day, Juniper California where two main characters Noor and Sal live. An 18-year-old Pakistani-American Salahudin Malik has to figure out things in his complicated life, as his loving mother Misbah is battling terminal illness and his dad is losing himself to alcohol abuse to get through grief. Sal can’t trust anyone for his problems, especially after his best friend in the whole world, Noor, has ended their friendship. Well, Who is Noor? Noor Riaz, an orphaned Pakistani American teen, has a dream path that she wants to follow. But she’s stuck having to take over her Pakistan-hating uncle’s liquor store. Noor’s uncle, which she calls Chachu uncle, has a hatred of his Pakistani roots and culture and has restricted Noor’s dreams and goals. But the only person that has been like a parental figure has been Sal’s mom, Misbah auntie. But now, there has been a separation after Noor and Sal’s fight. After Misbah auntie’s death, Noor and Sal’s life has fallen apart and they don’t know how to pull their life together after their conflicts. Misabh auntie was a pillar of support for Noor and Sal. Noor has been having trouble figuring out her life after countless rejections from school, her uncle not allowing her to go to college, and grieving the loss of a person she truly cared for. On the other hand, Sal has been trying to save the motel that his mom took care of, figuring out what decision he should make to pull his life together, help his dad solve his alcohol addiction, and try and figure out what his feelings are for Noor.
How will Noor fulfill her dreams of going to college? Will Sal and Noor be able to fix their friendship and bridge the gap? Will Noor get over the loss of the only parental figures he had? And how will Sal figure out his shattered life after mother’s death and alcoholic father? Can Sal help his father? Please read to understand the situation in this story.
If you like stories of action, grief, family, friendship, love, forgiveness and coming of age, I highly recommend this book. However, I want to recommend this book to ages14 and older given the amount of serious topics being covered.
This book has melted my heart by the numerous challenging topics covered.
It is interesting to note the points of view of three great characters of Misbah, Noor and Sal. The emotional journey will definitely touch your heart and wet your eyes to understand other points of views.