Book Review: People Change

Are some people destined to be together or is it a matter of timing? People Change by British-Iranian author Sara Jafari is a novel which tries to answer this question. I went into reading this book believing it would be a fairly straightforward, second-chance love story. Something that might be good to keep on hand for a beach read during the summer holidays.  Instead, I was met with a novel which while readable and easy to follow, explores a layered, thoughtful narrative of two people’s love for each other reminiscent of Sally Rooney’s work and how their path to happiness has been coloured by their family, social factors such as racism and abuse as well as their uncertainty about their evolving sense of self. 

First published in 2023, People Change follows two British-Iranian people Shirin and Kian who are unexpectedly reunited at a house party in London after last seeing each other at school in Hull, East Yorkshire over ten years ago. When the former school friends are reunited, they are drawn back into each other’s circles with old feelings and memories resurfacing for the pair. Shirin, an assistant editor at a successful publishing company, is taken aback by the man she encounters who has remarkably changed from the schoolboy she remembers from her youth. The novel switches between Shirin and Kian’s points of view and swaps between the past and present, slowly building the picture of why the protagonists were first separated and whether they can belong together at this point in their lives. 

Surprisingly, the romantic aspect of Shirin and Kian’s relationship in the present timeline I find is one of the weaker elements of the novel. Their immediate reintroduction in the first chapter does not give the bond much time to breathe and the circumstances behind their reunion were slightly flimsy, making their connection slightly light. While the protagonists’ bond during school was nicely developed, I did not feel their dialogue or interactions in the present created the chemistry needed to shift their connection from a friendship into a romantic connection. The inevitable curveball thrown their way takes place during the section of the novel where Shirin grows most and Kian’s reintroduction in the closing pages seemed more like a necessary plot point more than an organic conclusion. 

The more interesting sections of the novel centred on the impact of the character’s family ties, friendships and trauma has come to shape their present. Despite having achieved her dream job in the publishing industry, Shirin feels stuck in the position which she has found herself, pigeonholed into a diversity hire role and suffering from depression. Kian is attempting to carve out a living for himself through his art and has not yet found a profession in his mid-twenties, resisting pressure to settle down to do something else. I liked how Jafari explored Shirin’s changing friendships and the importance of her relationship with her grandmother which made her feel a lot more defined and three-dimensional than her counterpart Kian especially in the latter half of the book. 

People Change is a romance novel which situates its central relationship within the context of the characters’ wider lives and ambitions, informed by past troubles and insecurities. Jafari probes the internal and external factors which mean people can be together. Life in your mid-twenties is tough and your dreams may change but some things are supposed to be. 

Written by, Eve Hutchinson