(I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.)

This book just wasn't for me, sorry! I normally would explain here what the book is about, but I'm honestly not even sure... It's a narration of the life of a girl who doesn't speak and her family, I think that's all I can say.

I listened to the audiobook in a couple of days, but honestly I did't feel any interest for the characters or the plot. It's divided in many short chapters, which made it lighter to read, but I feel like it lacked structure or connection between the stories. I really liked a couple of chapters that touched on difficult topics (mental illness, rape, death...), but I didn't care for the rest of them. Nevertheless, I did really enjoy the poetic way of writing of the author, as well as how good she was at conveying emotion.

I think I would have liked this book much better if I had gone for a physical copy instead of the audiobook, but who knows?

2/5 DNF at 32% wanted to love this but just couldn’t get through it.

I really loved the audiobook work for this but it was just too much emotionally for me to get through.

I can be hit and miss with audiobooks, but I actually felt like the audio version of Somebody Loves You really worked. It added an understanding and a boost of emotion that might be lost in print. This is a deep and sometimes haunting read about vulnerability and personal challenges.

I feel bad rating this so low, but I don’t think I understood this book like I was meant to. I found myself with more questions than answers and didn’t follow the story very well which was a real shame.

The writing is beautiful but the story just didn’t do it for me. I was initially intrigued but within a hour of listening I had lost track of exactly what the point / flow of the book was because it flitted about. One particular dark chapter packed a punch and was very moving.

Different writing style. Prior to reading the synopsis twice, I felt like I was listening to random thoughts that the author had written in hopes of producing something, a book? a poem? Something triggered the synopsis reread , and I tried to focus differently on the words. Ultimately, this doesn't work. It reads like a critical thinking homework assignment and less like an informative thought provoking work. Sadly, the intended topic is missed and the use of profanity out of nowhere was ridiculous.

Thank you NetGalley and Saga Egmont Audio for accepting my request to read and review Somebody Loves You.

#NetGalley
#SagaEgmontAudio
#SomebodyLovesYou
#MonaArshi
#LiteraryFiction

I absolutely adore the book cover. It's a beauty, and appropriate to this unique novel.

Don't expect a linear plot. This book is made up of chapters of various length, some of them are really short, and they feel like excerpts from the diary of a young girl. Living in a Pakistani family in London, one day Ruby chooses not to speak, and instead she is sharing with us her thoughts and feelings through this book. Her mother is suffering from mental illness which of course affects the life of each family member. Ruby faces racial discrimination, falls in love, and in general has to cope with every aspect of being a teenager. As adults, we tend to forget how difficult it is to be a child and what an emotional rollercoaster adolescence is.

Delicate prose, almost like poetry, narrated by the author herself in the audio book. This was a very interesting read, I enjoyed listening to the audio version.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Saga Egmont Audio for this Advance Review Copy.

This is an oddly put together yet brilliant novel. Arshi's background in poetry shines through as many of the chapters have a lyrical quality. There are intense metaphors that conjure complex imagery. Arshi's narration has a witty and knowing quality to it that lends the text a lightness that otherwise might have become heavy. This is an audiobook that deserves and demands your full attention while listening. Not one for commutes or to have on in background but one where you need to take the time to immerse yourself into Ruby's world.

Told in short slice of life chapters that capture moments from, Ruby's life, Somebody Loves You at first can seem disjointed. It unfolds delicately and doesn't reveal its complexity until near the end. Ruby as character is seen as an eccentric that needs to be fixed. She doesn't talk. While this does not necessarily make her a bystander it gives her space to observe things around her with having to comment on them. Contrasted sharply with Rania her older sister is outgoing, rebellious, and charismatic they both cope with their mother's bouts with mental illness in their own sometimes conflicting ways. Its a book that before you know it has it hooks deep in you.

It is a resplendent debut novel.

This book just wasn't my style. It jumped around a lot and was hard to follow with little or no plot progression. I did appreciate the short chapters and the narrator was very good. I think there are people out there that will really like it, it just wasn't for me

received this book as an Advanced Reader Copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I genuinely wanted to like this audiobook. I listened to the whole thing, from beginning to end, waiting to like it, and it just never happened. It's not offensive, the writing isn't terrible, and the plot itself isn't uninteresting, but the story itself was so extremely bland and boring that I literally had to actively make myself focus, otherwise it felt like my brain was going numb. It's a shame, because some of the wording that the author used was beautiful and the plot itself was interesting. That can't change the fact that it was one of the most dull things that I have ever read, however.

“Everything worth saying can be written on your fingernail,”

Ruby stops talking when she is young, but she doesn't stop observing or feeling. These delicate, poignant vignettes show flashes of her life with family, friends and neighbours. Her sister Rania, talkative, bold, rebellious. Her mother -often absent- and finds refugee in gardening but it's often smothered by her mental health problems.

Arshi's debut novel demonstrates her gorgeous, poetic style and ability to write startlingly beautiful sentences. But she also uses simplicity with brilliant precision so that Ruby's silent observations spark and flash with insight and humour. Her silence speaks volumes and her voice comes through clearly and authentically. A really accomplished work that works really well as an audiobook.

Somebody Loves You by Mona Arshi
is a lyrical story of Ruth who has chosen as a young child to be mute in the world. As we learn about Ruth's reasons we enter her world filled with the noise of people in pain.

The author also narrates Ruth's journey which lends a poignancy to Ruth's inner thoughts. It gave me chills to realize we are hearing Ruth's conscious since she does not speak.

Told as Ruth's observations about everything from mental illness, physical and mental abuse, race, love and thankfully hope. At times a bit meandering but still poetic.

I received a free copy of this audiobook via #netgalley for fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

In a Nutshell: I tried my best to like this book but it just wasn’t the right fit for me. (Partly because I went for the audiobook. More on this below.)

Story: (I have no idea how to summarise this plot! There is no plot progression!)
Ruby has given up talking. Her elder sister, more outgoing and bombastic in her nature, does more than her fair share of it. And even her busy parents talk enough. You see, Ruby defines everyone around her in terms of their quantum of verbosity. And she has decided that she needn’t add more talk to this world. But how does this stance impact those around her?
That’s all I can say. There’s really nothing more to it. The narrative contains Ruby’s interactions with her kith and kin, and her personal thoughts on various topics.

The book is written in Ruby’s first person perspective, so it’s kind of ironic that she’s speaking to the reader without speaking to anyone around her. It makes you feel like you are reading the innermost thoughts of a young girl who is misunderstood by all around her.

This is supposed to be a work of literary fiction so I was kind of prepared for the slower pace and character-oriented narrative. Both of which are dominant factors in this novel. But what I didn’t expect was the plot to be randomly structured with short chapters in the form of reminiscences and opinions rather than a linear narrative. This would have worked fabulously had I read it. But when you hear the content, the plot doesn’t make much sense and it takes a while, if at all, to get into it. I still trudged through somehow to the end, hoping for a satisfactory ending if not a happy one. But even that was denied me.

I can make out the quality of the writing. The author has a fair grip on where she wants the story to go, even if it is not directly evident to us. The language is very poetic and the emotions, hard-hitting. There are many complicated themes such as racial diversity, immigrant issues and parent expectations highlighted in the tale. But all these points are moot if the narration doesn’t help you get into the story. The audiobook is read by the author herself, and I’m very sorry to say this, but while she has a clear reading voice, it isn’t exactly conducive to an audiobook. Her tone is slightly hushed and lulling, not exactly the kind to keep you hooked onto a narration of a literary book. I kept tuning out and this 4 hour audiobook took me much longer to complete.

Basically, all my complaints stem from the fact that the audiobook doesn’t really work for this story. It might be a power-packed emotional experience but none of it was apparent in the audio form.

Recommended only if you want to READ a somewhat depressing literary fiction.

My thanks to Saga Egmont Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “Somebody Loves You”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook. Sorry this didn't work out better for me.

*I received an arc by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Look I really wanted to like this, but I was just confused.
I don’t think I can fairly review this book because clearly I missed something, some greater point…

Though from what I did get, I quite enjoyed, which is important to point out!

This short novel is lyrical and poetic in its narration, a treat! Told from the perspective of a girl who has chosen silence to the bewilderment of her family, each chapter reads like a character study in vignette. The reader is given observations on love, race, mental health, sex, religion, immigration, marriage, friendship, etc, from a single perspective over the course of her life.

The audiobook is read by the author, who delivers her story beautifully.

Coming-of-age book that focus on family tragedies are a relatively common category with story beats we all recognize. "Somebody Loves You" did not break the genre or add anything particularly fresh to it. However, it slotted in nicely to the genre with beautiful writing and the ability to make small moments feel lived in. The beginning of the book in particular when the main character is young is written incredibly well.

Thank you to Netgalley and Saga Egmont Audio for providing me with this audiobook to listen to in advance of its release!

This story is a bit difficult to summarize, as a large aspect of it is its lacking linearity (I never really felt certain if that was a purposeful effect, or me not being able to follow).
Ruby, the protagonist, decides at a young age to stop speaking. So she moves throughout this book recounting to the reader, but not aloud to her peers, anecdotes and defining moments of her childhood/adolescence as she deals with being ostracized for her lack of speech, and being the daughter of a mentally ill woman.

There were two major issues for me, despite the writing of this being crisp, engaging and occasionally upsetting (intentionally). Firstly, this is clearly a book that suffers in audiobook form. This was meant to be read from the page, not listened to. I think I would have been able to follow a lot easier, and reread more closely, passages on the page, as opposed to the audiobook version. The benefits and enjoyment derived from an audiobook are lost when there isn't a solid reference point to follow— and I say this as someone who listens to audiobooks often.
The second issue is an addendum to the first, and I already hinted at it: the narrative structure is confusing. I get the sense that the effect that is meant to be achieved is one of a sort of continuous dreamlike state, and gentle but also visceral vignettes of the sharp memories of Ruby's life. This certainly works as a literary concept, of course, but in this form, it was difficult for me to establish connections or visualize the world when it felt that the timing and chronology of the scenes were so vague,

Overall, these issues were large and impacted my experience greatly. As I said, the writing is strong, and the narrating was clear as well, but there was also an utter lack of clear resolution or finality. And that is perhaps a silly nitpick to pull, as any story could have an open ending because that is the most realistic kind of ending one could give a story.
But in this case, it felt a bit blunt, and like the story was just left at a random moment. There are many things that never recurred or were never explained, and again, I don't believe those things are owed to the reader every time, but already with my difficulty in connecting to the story, this left me feeling like I had missed something. The poetic language would have a stronger impact if the story felt clearer and more cohesive.

What a collection something I plan on getting in print as soon as I can financially.
I hope to be able to revisit regularly

SOMEBODY LOVES YOU by Mona Arshi tells the story of a girl who does not speak. Written in short vignettes, this quick read navigates topics of mental health, parenthood, racism, and the power of voice.

I've never read anything quite like this before, but there is no doubt that Mona Arshi is a wonderful writer. Her descriptions are lush even though the book is only 170 pages and each chapter just a few pages each. However, because it is so short and spans about ten years of time, I was left confused on more than one occasion. That can always be the fault of the reader and not the writer, though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Egmont Audio for this advance listener's copy.

A gentle story of Ruby and Rania who live with their immigrant parents in England. Delightfully narrated by the author, it tells the tale of Ruby and her selective mutism, her rebellious sister Rania and her mother who suffers from depression brought on by her loneliness and all the difficulties of daily life and being afar from her homeland. Day to day life of this family is realistic and enjoyable, with high and low points as with everyone’s lives, and the sisters manoeuvre theirs with style and honesty. Their mother’s sadness affects their daily lives as aunties and family from afar arrive to support the family, and they all learn to make accommodations for her, to support her.

An enjoyable audiobook
Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review

A series of beautifully written, interconnecting vignettes about a young girl who decides to stop speaking,

Unfortunately, this book did not hang together well enough as a novel for me. I craved more plot and had trouble keeping up with where we were in the author's story. This may have been made more difficult by the fact that I was listening to the book as an audiobook (narrated by the author, a former human rights lawyer). I feel guilty that I am giving up (I always feel guiltier when it's a story about another culture as I love the learning literature brings), but I just can't make myself keep listening. I don't know what I'm waiting for: is the narrator going to speak again someday? I guess I'll never know.