Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed

How can an author go wrong with a cute French boy? She can't. Samira Ahmed knew exactly what she was doing when she wrote Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know. I'd give this book a 9/10. With a relatable main character, feminist themes, and an exciting historical mystery, it's impossible not to love this book. I would hate to mention anything negative, but the truth is it's not perfect. However, the proportion of good : bad makes the bad almost obsolete.

(I'd recommend reading a synopsis before this review. There's one here.)

Khayyam is an Indian/French/American Muslim. Her dad is Caucasian/French, her mom is Indian and Muslim, and Khayyam grew up in Hyde Park in Chicago. However, this book takes place in Paris, France. Khayyam is like most teenagers - she's emotional, gets her feelings hurt, and has complicated relationships. She has moments of confidence and moments of insecurity - while she mostly is comfortable in herself, there was a moment or two where I cringed, but not everyone can be 100% confident all the time. I loved her voice - the way Ahmed brought her voice to life seemed like she was talking directly to me, one teenager to another. It lent a very personal cast to the details in the story. However, Khayyam lets emotion get the better of her once or twice, in ways that seemed forced by the author. I wished Ahmed had done a slightly better job describing Khayyam's feelings about Leila and her history - she seemed rather hysterical once or twice, and that's not my 'internalized misogyny'. It was just immature. However, I loved how much Khayyam came to care for Leila, the mysterious woman from the past.

Speaking of immaturity, let me please vent about Zaid - her maybe-ex-boyfriend. Khayyam definitely deserved better. Zaid was sweet at times, yes, but I would have rather seen him done with Khayyam before she got to Paris. The whole were-we-even-dating seemed immature. How do you spend a year in a relationship with someone without defining said relationship? I feel like it could be a month or two or maybe even three, but that much time, especially with someone who avoided talking to you about it seems claustrophobic and awkward. Also, Zaid was really selfish. I'm not sure if we were supposed to like him or not, but I still don't understand why Khayyam gave him so much think time in Paris, after they had broken up, when she had a cute French dork boy who was obviously smitten with her.

Ah, cute French dork. Also conniving French dork. I can't elaborate on this without spoiling anything, but know that he gets his redemption. Yes, Khayyam still leaves at the end of August, and he doesn't go with her (sadly). But, he does mess up and he does redeem himself.

As for the history element, I don't know what true or what's false. I'm not a history buff, so if you are some details might bother you, but the way Leila's voice was covered up made me angry, but it also made me think. How many other women have been marginalized throughout history with one hell of a story to tell, but no one is listening? The fact that Khayyam and Alexandre were only able to find 'the lady of raven tresses' because men paid attention to her - through old letters Alexandre Dumas' estate kept, Lord Byron's poems, and Delacroix's paintings and sketches - made me a little angry, actually. Back to the history element - all three aforementioned artists are involved. With absolutely no background knowledge, I was able to follow the plot and grasp the different clues and elements quickly. Don't be discouraged from reading this because there's a heavy history element.

Lastly, the feminist element - it was absolutely prevalent throughout the book. There were a couple times when I felt that Ahmed was force-feeding us the themes and the obvious misogyny from the past, which was a little frustrating. This book was targeted at a YA audience, specifically one who definitely knows about feminism. It wasn't bad, and was the entire point of the book, but it just became a little tedious at times.

To sum up, Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know by Samirah Ahmed is a kickass YA fiction novel with great characters and an interesting and engaging history element - it's not perfect, but it's pretty close! 9/10.