CW ✨'s Reviews > A Thousand Questions

Something that I've been thinking about lately is how to reconcile the divide and animosity between 'native'/'mainland' people and people of diaspora. If you know, you know. Sometimes, it feels insurmountable and sometimes I feel hopeless about what we can possibly do to bridge that gap - we're just too different, born from different worlds though often lumped together, and friction and resentment arises when we try to reconcile.

And then, you read a book like A Thousand Questions that makes me feel kinda hopeful that it is possible - it just takes a lot of work and honesty and a willingness to understand each other. This is the power of middle-grade, y'all. A story for younger readers that just... is so honest and frank but so good and understanding. I loved this.

- Follows Sakina, a Pakistani cook's daughter and servant, and Mimi, a biracial Pakistani-American girl, and the friendship that blooms between them during Mimi's holiday in Pakistan during the Pakistani election.
- I'm honestly in awe of how powerful yet understated this book is. When it is pitched as empathetic, that is absolutely true - the two girls have a powerful sisterly friendship that brings them so much joy, but their friendship is also fraught with misunderstandings, cultural differences, and confronting class privilege - yet they overcome it, try their best to understand each other, and that was such a beautiful and hopeful thing.
- It's also about Mimi searching for her white father, who is estranged from the family, yet she writes letters to him to express herself. Moreover, the story also explores friendship, family dynamics, and class differences.
- Honestly, I loved this book so, so much and I am in awe of how this is a book written for younger readers, but actually explores a lot of stuff that adults still grapple with in such an accessible, gentle, yet honest way.

Trigger/content warning: threat of violence, chronic illness (diabetes), hospitalisation of loved one