How It All Blew Up — Arvin Ahmadi

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda goes to Italy in Arvin Ahmadi's newest incisive look at identity and what it means to find yourself by running away.

Eighteen-year-old Amir Azadi always knew that coming out to his Muslim family would be messy, but he wasn't expecting it to end in an airport interrogation room. Now, he's telling his side of the story to the stern-faced officer. Amir has to explain why he ran away to Rome (boys, bullies, blackmail) and what he was doing there for a month (dates in the Sistine Chapel, friends who helped him accept who he is, and, of course, drama)... all while his mom, dad, and little sister are being interrogated in the room next door.

A nuanced take on growing up brown, Muslim, and gay in today's America, How It All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi will delight fans of both Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda's heartwarming plot twists and comedian Hasan Minhaj's hilarious explorations of uncomfortable truths. It's the story of one boy's struggle to come out to his family, and how that painful process exists right alongside his silly, sexy romp through Italy.