This novel confronts head on the complicated realities of life in a world that is not designed for the oppressed to thrive in. Chapters alternate between Noor’s and Salahudin’s perspectives, with snippets of Misbah’s past sprinkled throughout. Life was easier when she had Salahudin and his kind mother, Misbah, in her life, but a fight has left her unable to forgive him, at least for now. Orphaned Noor’s dreams of college are slowly waning her malicious Pakistani immigrant uncle, who hates all things Pakistani, has made it clear that Noor’s future involves working behind the counter of his liquor store.
But instead of worrying about college and his future career prospects, Salahudin is preoccupied with his mother’s kidney failure, his father’s alcoholism, his family’s deteriorating motel, and Noor, who hasn’t spoken to him in months.
With pervasive racism coming from everyone from classmates to police officers and doctors, Juniper is a sinkhole that the estranged best friends are desperate to leave. Seniors Salahudin and Noor, both 18, are caught in the throes of life in the small California desert town of Juniper, where being a working-class person of color means being treated differently.
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