There is no easy way to talk about Laleh Khadivi's A GOOD COUNTRY, because it is not an easy book. This is far from a negative observation --- it is a highly astute, prescient, electrifyingly urgent novel for these uneasy times.

We meet Rez as a wealthy Laguna Beach teenager. His parents are Iranian but do not practice the Muslim faith, and he has never needed to learn what they have sacrificed for him to be born an American. And he is, undoubtedly, an American. We meet him as an all-American teenage boy, Reza Courdee, who asks to be known as Rez, a good student who is Berkeley-bound. Privileged with a wealthy background and his America-loving parents, he loves to surf, gets high, parties, and, as per many American teenage boys, is distractedly infatuated by girls and sex.

"Laleh Khadivi is an excellent writer, with astute sentences and a measured, sure hand. Again, this is not an easy read, but it is vehemently worthwhile."

It comes down to events, as a friend of his recognizes in the book. Events that beget events, bigotry founded on nothing, which begets violence, which begets hatred, and then more bigotry, and so on. It doesn't begin with the Boston bombing, but that incident catalyzes a slew of Islamophobia that irrevocably changes Rez's self-perception and his understanding of the world. More and more incidents occur, and his surfer friends want less and less to do with the brown kid. He turns to other immigrant teenagers, descended from Islam. He seeks community as white America continues to reject him. When he turns to the mosque, he discovers peace and a semblance of what almost all teenagers, anywhere, crave --- belonging.

I do not want to spoil the ending, because I read this book without knowing where it was going, and I was sharply grateful for the opportunity to watch the narrative unfold. But if you know the ending, this is still wildly worth the read. Khadivi's mission is a complex one: to present a truth so violently obvious it should be understood by any American, Muslim or non-Muslim, but its fundamental misunderstanding causes untold suffering. To explore massive power structures through the perspectives of a vastly relatable individual. This is perhaps a sort of coming-of-age story, but to come of age as a Muslim American today is not a single or a simple narrative. The one Khadivi chooses to tell is devastating but real.

The truth unfolds gradually, naturally and steadily, and then all at once your heart is tight with denial and recognition, fear and sorrow, and understanding. I do not know if every reader will come away with understanding, with a recognition of the solemn depths to which this novel delves, or if some readers may come away betrayed, disgusted that Khadivi spun such an excellent, engrossing, outright relatable tale that leads somewhere so current and dark --- even taboo, perhaps. I wholly understand such a reading. But I hope not. I think her work is urgent and shatteringly powerful. Evil is not monolithic; it is important that we recognize this. Hatred and violence are not black and white --- or brown. Violence is not born in a vacuum. There is no forgiveness to be found here, I think, but only some very hard, very necessary truths.

Laleh Khadivi is an excellent writer, with astute sentences and a measured, sure hand. Again, this is not an easy read, but it is vehemently worthwhile.