This story, following a music-loving teenager named Rana in 1996 California is one full of love, love for writing, love for music, and love for other people. It narrates the life of Rana, reeling from the death of her best friend and finding her own talent through a haze of loneliness and unsettling family dynamics.

I loved this book so much more than I thought I would. I read it on a whim because I like the cover art, and was left crying by the end of it. Author Shideh Etaat finds the perfect balance between fiction and reality through the storytelling of Rana. As a lover of rap music and Tupac, I felt the story was incredibly compelling and relatable, even to the teens of today.

Rana’s family is a main focus of the book, and the dynamic between herself, her mother, her brother, and her father is one that is almost identical to a myriad of South Asian families in present-day California, the bridge between immigrant parents and first-generation children growing longer and wider as time goes on.

The book explores themes of queerness in immigrant families, a flawed main character learning how to live for the first time, and how the people around us can shape our experiences and our enjoyment of life itself over time.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a deep, thoughtful, funny read about love, life, loss, and how both writing and music can bring people together through anything. I could read this over and over again and still never get bored of the, frankly, beautiful writing that Etaat portrays as Rana’s as she learns to navigate her own life with herself at the helm.

Tanvi G.

Rana Joon and the One & Only Now by Shideh Etaat is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library.