If You Could Be Mine Summary
Sara Farizan

If You Could Be Mine Overview

If You Could Be Mine is the story of two teenage girls living in Iran, a place where their romantic relationship is punishable by death. Sahar, who is 17, narrates the story of her love for Nasrin, 18. When Nasrin is to be married off by her family, Sahar decides she must act. She tries multiple ways of trying to break up the wedding, including trying to arrange a sex change operation so that she can marry Nasrin instead. Ultimately, their culture has the last word. The book explores several themes, including how the things people really want are bad for them; there is a hidden world that is more real than people's false fronts; surrogates fill holes in characters' lives; and people create traps for themselves and others. The book also questions what is stronger: the individual or the culture that surrounds them?