I’ve heard it said that good books mirror for readers their experiences of our world and open windows through which readers can share the experience of others. That is how we find solace, find ourselves, grow, learn, build empathy, and how we erase the “other” of difference. We especially need good books that serve as mirrors and windows for the varied experiences of the LGBTQI community. If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan (Algonquin, 2013) organically and compellingly does both, and in a remarkable context.
Seventeen-year-old Sahar is in love with her best friend Nasrin. Nasrin loves her in return, and the two share stolen kisses and a growing heated attraction. Seems they are both so far ahead of so many of our LGBTQI YA characters. But they live in Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death and if they are caught, if anyone notices even the way they look at each other, they could lose their lives. As Nasrin’s arranged marriage to a man approaches, Sahar is desperate to find a way to stop the wedding so they can be together. And their frantic fear at being parted causes them both to take risks. Then Sahar, through her cousin Ali, finds a possible solution. In Iran, it may be a sin to be homosexual, but it is not a sin to be transgender. The government will even cover the costs of sex reassignment surgery. Sahar stumbles blindly after the obvious, if wrong, solution. And while her thinking may be frustrating to an objective reader, her leaps of faith and lapses in judgment are in character and logically resolved. There are no perfect happy endings – there can’t be for Sahar and Nasrin – but the resolution is satisfying, if a bit tidy.
Farizan does a wonderful job of exploring the subtle and not-so-subtle contradictions and variances in experience for gay, lesbian, and transgender Iranians, including the varied experiences of those who choose to transition. Many of the secondary characters are interesting and well developed, and she does an admirable job of creating a sympathetic and believable would-be-husband for Nasrin, one who it is difficult to paint with the brush most often used for fictional men in his position. Woven throughout the novel are details of modern life in Iran, especially for those who take small and large risks as they push against the societal strictures. Sahar’s voice and point of view allow insight into the complicated emotional place for a girl who is simultaneously a lesbian, a dutiful daughter, and an Iranian. While Sahar’s feelings for Nasrin are clear, the depth of Nasrin’s and Sahar’s relationship could have been more fully developed, as could the subplot of Sahar’s relationship with her grieving father. Additionally, at times the prose felt stilted or distant, telling the reader what Sahar was feeling rather than drawing the reader into Sahar’s inner-most being. However, the experience of exploring Sahar’s world and her small part of Iran’s LGBTQI community makes for a worthwhile read with moments of beauty, humor, truth, and strong emotion.
If You Could Be Mine will certainly serve as a mirror for many young people struggling to understand themselves and their hearts in a complicated world. A mirror for a young person dealing with the pain and sorrow of first love and first loss. A mirror for someone who, because of family or culture or circumstances, must hide who he or she really is. But even more remarkably, it opens many windows. A window through which readers can experience what it is like to be gay, to be lesbian, to be transgender, to transition, and even to question in confusion. A window through which a reader can view the ways in which our hearts can fool our minds and lead us to make rash decisions, even foolish ones. A window into a culture so different from our own, one in which being born female automatically restricts your options and opportunities. And yet, a cultural window that also serves as a mirror back, for many in the United States still fear to come out where they live and could lose their homes, their jobs, their children, or even their lives because of who they are and who they love. In a time when we are sometimes quick to condemn other cultures for their injustices, it serves as a possible exploration of the roots of prejudice and hate, and a mirror back on the ways our society or community might still have room to grow.
5 comments for “Review: If You Could Be Mine”