I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister

May 19, 2014
In short anguished chapters, 18-year-old Sohane narrates scenes from the weeks before and months after the brutal murder of her younger sister, Djelila. Raised in an Algerian Muslim family living in Paris, the two girls seek to establish their identity in different ways: the observant Sohane decides to challenge the 2004 French law against wearing religious symbols in school, while Djelila’s western clothes and makeup incite neighborhood thugs, ostensibly policing female virtue, to call her a whore. While Djelila defends her sister’s choice (“She tried to explain the paradox that shocked her: how I was required to remove my head scarf at school, while others in our housing project wanted girls to be more traditional and conservative in their attire”), Sohane regrets her own judgmental feelings, which kept her from being her sister’s ally. French author Sarn includes a glossary of Arabic words and terms related to Islam, as well as a note about the real-life event that inspired this moving story, which provides rich material for conversation about family relations, religious identity, and civil liberties. Ages 14–up.

June 1, 2014
A teen grapples with both her own identity and the role identity played in her sister's death in this French import.It's been one year since Muslim Sohane's younger sister, Djelila, was burned alive by religious extremists in their apartment building in the projects. She recounts the incidents leading up to Djelila's death, using present tense to place readers directly in the scenes and past tense as she recalls what happened from her current state of grief. Sohane and Djelila remain fierce allies, but Sohane questioningly (and sometimes jealously) notices that her sister has started to break away from their family's Muslim traditions by sporting tight clothes and drinking alcohol. She, on the other hand, explores her religious and feminist beliefs ("Is it possible to be a woman and Muslim at the same time?") by wearing the hijab. Both sisters' actions are noticed immediately. Djelila becomes a source of contempt by a Taliban-like gang, while Sohane is expelled from high school for wearing a headscarf thanks to a French law that requires strict separation of church and state. The story, based on actual events, never becomes a question of whether Sohane should wear her headscarf but ruminates on how young people cope with being siblings, second-generation immigrants, feminists and believers. Rather than overwhelming the narration, these themes twine together powerfully.Quiet yet thought-provoking. (glossary, author's note) (Fiction. 14-18)

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June 1, 2014

Gr 7 Up-In France, 18-year-old Sohane-the "intelligent one," and her 16-year-old sister, Djelila-the "beautiful one," are as close and as opposite as can be. Since their family is Muslim, Sohane tries to dress modestly, follow the rules, respect her faith, and obey their parents while Djelila questions authority, wears modern fashions, drinks alcohol and smokes, and stands up against the neighborhood Muslim boys' ongoing, angry confrontations in which they accuse her of insulting Islam. At first, Sohane is secretly glad that the bullies are trying to put Djelila in her place. She laments their childhood when Djelila was her best friend and looked up to her, and wishes that she could stop lying to their parents to cover for her sister's rebellion. Then, Sohane decides to stand up for herself in her own way. Although head scarves are forbidden by law in schools, she begins wearing one, gets expelled, and chooses correspondence studies. Soon, Djelila's bullying turns horrifying and deadly when one hateful boy sets her on fire. In smooth translation from French to English, and in seamless chapters transitioning between present and past, this short, fast-paced, tragic story contrasting two clearly drawn Muslim sisters explores similar contemporary cultural and religious issues portrayed in Randa Abdel-Fattah's Does My Head Look Big in This (Orchard, 2007), though without the humor.-Diane P. Tuccillo, Poudre River Public Library District, CO

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2014
Grades 7-10 Studious Sohane, 18, has always taken care of her beautiful sister, Djelila. But at Racine High School, Sohane becomes more religious, while basketball-playing Djelila wears tight jeans and makeup and kisses her boyfriend in public. When Sohane decides to wear a headscarf to school, something forbidden by French law, she is expelled. This controversy is overshadowed when Djelila is horrifically murdered by a tormentor for making different choices than her sister. Written in first-person present tense, sometimes directly addressing Djelila, Sohane narrates the story from past to present. Sarn provides almost nothing in the way of describing the settingit could be Racine, Wisconsin, as easily as a Parisian suburbbut her passion comes through loud and clear. The issue of a woman's right to freedom of choice is important and timely, and there's plenty to think about here as Sarn presents both sides of a complex issue that will be new to many American teens. A glossary of Arabic and Muslim terms is included.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2014
A year after Djelila's brutal murder, Sohane recalls her loving but sometimes difficult relationship with her beautiful younger sister and the guilt she carries for not protecting Djelila. Growing up Muslim in a French housing project, Sohane and Djelila have always been close, sharing all of their secrets, worries, and hopes, even as they go their separate ways at school. Once on the bus, carefree Djelila smokes cigarettes and chats animatedly with her popular friends while Sohane sits quietly, later joining a group of serious students like herself. When a gang of boys from their project begin jeering and spitting at Djelila for her tight jeans and short tops, accusing her of shaming Islam, Sohane is fearful, calling the gang "our Taliban," but Djelila laughs them off. As Djelila socializes and plays basketball, Sohane chooses to wear a headscarf, which gets her expelled because of France's law against religious attire in schools. Sohane works even harder at her correspondence coursework but is increasingly fearful for Djelila as the boys continue following her home--until the horrific day when the sound of screaming leads her to a nightmare of flames in the basement. Based loosely on a true incident, Sarn's poignant novel surely raises issues of religious freedom, but it is foremost a coming-of-age story about personal choice and the uniquely powerful bond between sisters, which holds beyond diverging paths and even death. lauren adams

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2015
A year after Djelila's brutal murder, Sohane recalls her loving, difficult relationship with her beautiful younger sister. When a gang of boys from their French housing project accuses Djelila of shaming Islam, Sohane is fearful. Djelila laughs them off--then tragedy strikes. Based loosely on a true incident, Sarn's poignant novel is a coming-of-age story about the uniquely powerful bond between sisters. Glos.

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)