City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the Worlds Largest Refugee Camp | 
pickWhile I found his book informative and relevant, I felt that the emotional aspect of discussing refugees was missing. I never felt moved like I thought I would. These stories are tragic, resilient, and even hopeful at times, but the writing seemed to be very straight-forward and I wish we could have better felt what these people went and go through. Still, it was a good read.
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#refugees #kenya #somalia #nonfiction
From the book flap: "To the charity workers, Dadaab refugee camp is a humanitarian crisis; to the Kenyan government, a "nursery for terrorists"; to the western media, a dangerous no-go area; but to its half a million residents, their last resort."
Update: Beautifully written, but such a sad story with no real conclusion. War and politics have trapped refugees doing their best to navigate their way through a messy situation.
If like me, you have ever wondered what life in a refugee camp is like, then please pick up this book, now out in an updated paperback edition. The Dadaab Refugee Camp in northern Kenya is home to half a million people. This book looks at the lives of nine of its residents. Timely and necessary. #diversereads #ReadOutsidetheLines #refugees #Picador
pickI cannot say enough good things about this book! Considering our present crisis with whether or not to allow refugees to resettle in our country, it is an excellent picture of what life in a refugee camp is really like and the difficulty that already exists to be approved to come to America. I don't think I will ever forget the stories of those shared in this book.
I'm only on the prologue and this book is already illuminating so much of our current situation. "Poverty does not necessarily lead to extremism." Ben Rawlence.
"To live in this city of thorns is to be trapped mentally, [&] physically, your thoughts constantly flickering between impossible dreams & a nightmarish reality. In short to come, you must be completely desperate."
This book broke my heart. I spent a year teaching refugee youth English & many are from Dadaab camp. Their stories were told on these pages. I'm grateful that some (even if it's too few) end up in America.
? Somali boys in Syracuse
#TBRtemptation Two books about refugees that I just heard about from podcasts! They both sound really good!
pickThis has been compared to "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" by Katherine Boo, but instead of the slums of India, the refugee camps in Kenya. While the stories of the nine refugees give a human sense of the dire situation in Daabab, I did not find myself as invested in the characters as I did in Boo's writing and skimmed the second half. Very eye-opening to the complexities of refugee life in Kenya particularly of those from Somalia.
⭐⭐⭐.5/5
Read the first few chapters of this last night and will be my office lunch read today. I had no idea that one of the biggest camps in Kenya is more of a city now with half a million people calling it home. Hard to still call it a camp when it's that large and was established (and has been funded) for over 25 years. City of Thorns follows the lives of nine refugees, how they got there, what it's like. Very compelling so far.
pickThis was such an interesting read. Rawlence does such a good job presenting the struggles and challenges faced by refugees 📚📚📚📚📚
