´But I didn´t want to be that kid anymore. I didn´t want to be my parents´ baby forever, cute and innocent and harmless. I didn´t want to be their toddler, the one who tripped and hiccupped and made everyone laugh´.
A teenager growing up in an Iranian-American family in America, Amir is gay. He is sure about that but he is afraid of sharing his truth with his family. Not necessarily extremely religious but culturally conservative, his parents already expressed their opposition to gay identity and Amir is sure his coming-out story would break him for his family.
Amir belongs to a new generation that does not problematize his sexual, cultural and religious identity. He can be all of them at once, and it´s only a matter of context to be accepted as such by the others. Due to an unusual turn of events, he decides to run away from America to Rome, inspired by a gelato stand he´ve seen at the airport. An escape that will change his life and will not only make him brave enough to accept his identity, but also to openly talk about this to his parents. The only problem that this revelation took place in an airplane on the way back to America and they will end up being interrogated as non-American trouble makers.
Maybe I can say that I´ve read more complex coming out stories, especially with a multicultural touch, what I´ve liked about this book is intertwined stories: the accounts of the events before and during the escape to Rome, intercalated to fragments from the police interrogation.
How it All Blew Up is a short yet pleasant read, as well as insightful about the struggles about coming out and why mutual acceptance of an identity (sexual, cultural, religious) is so important in the family as well as in the society.
Rating: 3 stars
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