The path from stoner surfer to radicalisation seems hard to understand, but A Good Country connects those points in the journey of Reza ‘Rez’ Courdee. Born to Iranian immigrant parents in California, his childhood is one of high expectations and high achievement. By late high school, his search for a place between his white American surfer friends and Persian heritage sees him sneaking out, trying weed and hooking up with girls. Despite these rites of passage, Reza comes to understand he will never be fully accepted as ‘American’ after he’s on the receiving end of increasing hostility following the Boston marathon bombing and a terrorist attack at a local mall. His Muslim friends – confident, generous Arash and strong-minded Fatima – become more serious about their faith, and though sceptical at first, Rez’s curiosity and desire for brotherhood draw him deeper into extremism and away from the ‘good country’ his father wanted for him.

A Good Country is the final in a trilogy of books following several generations of an Iranian family (though it also successfully stands alone). The complexities of the lives of each generation are eloquently explained by Arash’s older brother, in reference to the Tsarnaev brothers: ‘Those kids are just dominoes, knocked down by all the dominoes before them, and today, they have knocked down the dominoes after them whether it is another inspired bomber, another fanatical anti-Islam party in Europe, some war or death, who knows? Only time will tell us.’

Rez’s longing for acceptance and the novel’s sense of place were authentically believable. I was compelled by both the story and the poetic, decisive writing. This timely novel will surely fascinate older teenagers as well as adult readers.  As someone who reads a lot of YA, I enjoyed Khadivi’s exploration of the common YA theme of belonging, as well as the eerily resonant intersection of global events and personal lives. A Good Country gives a useful, intriguing insight into the forces driving the disturbing frequency of terrorist attacks we see in the news. After reading it, it’s easier (if not easy) to understand how other young people from Muslim countries, living in the West, might choose a similar path to Rez’s.

Pilgrim Lee