Book Review: An Emotion of Great Delight by Tahereh Mafi

‘An Emotion of Great Delight’ by Tahereh Mafi was published in 2021. It is her sixteenth novel, and one of few stand alone stories amidst her popular series, Shatter Me (2011-2021).

Due to the nature of the events in this story it is worth acknowledging that it may prove triggering. ‘An Emotion of Great Delight’ contains explicit racism, islamaphobia, assault, grief, detailed depictions of mental health struggles, and mentions of suicide and suicidal ideation.

This novel is incredibly poignant and evocative, telling the story of Shadi, a seventeen year old Iranian girl living in the USA in the wake of 9/11. Set in December 2003, just two years after the attack that began the War On Terror, Shadi encounters grief in many ways: in the racism she experiences from ignorant white people in her town, from the fractures being made in her own community amidst FBI investigations into Muslim communities across the USA, to the personal loss that shattered her world into pieces. Her brother’s death.

This book hits you in the face with the straight faced ignorant racism that Muslim people face even now. When Shadi is simply sunbathing in the school car park, she is accused of using the car park as a place to pray, which was apparently not acceptable. She was told to pray at home and waved away. It was infuriating that she wasn’t heard and gives you a taste for what Shadi has been dealing with for the last two years since the initial fallout of 9/11. You immediately understand her frustration and rage. It’s a microcosm that offers you perspective before things get more aggressive, later.

Mafi uses powerful, visceral imagery when providing insight into how Shadi is bottling up her emotions. It’s incredibly powerful to show these reactions instead of just being blatantly obvious with the anger. There were plenty of opportunities where the immersive nature of her description had me empathising but also reconsidering how I articulate my own emotions.

It is incredibly clever to leave the cause of Mehdi’s death up to reader interpretation for the first half of the book. It offers you an opportunity to think the worst of people around Shadi, especially after she experiences a variety of ignorant comments and racial abuse. You’re supposed to think Mehdi was killed in a vigilante revenge killing like many young Muslim men were at the time. You’re supposed to assume this kind, flexible older brother was killed because of 9/11. But he wasn’t. And that just makes it harder to process.

Had Mehdi’s death not been an accident, spurred on by an argument, the response would have been different in the family unit. By lacking that one constant thing to blame, they attack each other like many families do after the loss of a child. And being intimately close to it as we are, through Shadi’s eyes, we see how the survival instinct and the desperate need to try and avoid causing more emotional distress just causes a maelstrom of miscommunication.

This book had me reeling with emotions. Not wanting to share your family’s secrets is something anyone can understand, especially in times of Great emotional distress. I wanted to weep for Shadi as she navigated the mess of what she can and can’t say, and what she’s expected to say and how that clashes. Emotions are complicated and words are hard. Shadi’s silence is incredibly powerful.

I would definitely recommend this book.