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“We are all migrants through time.”
This book is proof that a novel doesn‘t have to be long to make an impact. The magical realism element was smart & thoughtful - ripe for analysis & discussion. A lot of the writing is lovely & really resonates, but sometimes the long run-on sentences felt tedious to me. Still, it‘s a very worthwhile inquiry of the global refugee crisis & the migration experience, appealing to the humanity in us all.
pickGoodness this one hits hard. Dystopian fiction that feels not many miles from our reality. I‘ve always enjoyed dystopian fiction but this is bleak; watching Eilish‘s normal life unravel, the decisions made too late, her desperate attempts to protect her children from the state. The questioning as to how you would respond to these circumstances. An extremely powerful way to tell a terrifying story💔
pickThis was a quick read. YA, it features three tales of families seeking safety in three different timelines, from three different countries: Nazi Germany, Communist Cuba, and the war in Syria. Immigration is a hot topic, with violent, white supremacist right wing fantasies. We all have a right to live a life free from oppression and violence. This book asks us to see the humanity and worth in our fellow human beings.
picknonfiction - published in 2020. This National Book Award Finalist shares the real-life experience of Omar Mohamed, a Somali refugee who lives with his younger brother in a camp in Kenya. When Omar gets the opportunity to attend school, he knows it‘s his chance to create a better life for them. This graphic novel gives readers a peek into a refugee‘s life, challenges, and hope.
pickIt's hard for me to find the words to express how moving this story was. It was absolutely heartbreaking but also had moments of beauty and love. I'm so glad I finally had the chance to read it.
#readaway2024
pick#ProphetSong by #PaulLynch is a fantastic read that smacks your head every other page. It depicts an Ireland that is slowly descending into fascism and civil war, being told by a mother of four who struggles to save her children. Very moving and an ending that will not let you go.
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#WhereAreYouMonday
This Monday I‘m in Northern Germany, outside of Hamburg with a newly separated mother of a toddler and her eccentric Aunt Vera, who came to the village as an ethnic German refugee from what is now Poland after WWII. A bit romantic comedy, a bit family history, a bit satire on society, especially city life vs rural.
pickA unique approach to a story of migration, refugees. Not so much a portal fantasy as a quiet meditation on how the world might or might not change, how people might or might not change, if doors opened into other parts of our world, rather than onto other worlds.
For all that an event like that could be considered large scale, the story itself feels small-scale in its focus primarily on two individuals. 1/?
