Reviews

5+stars. An all timer.

A deeply moving and exquisitely constructed book of stories through the eyes and about the lives of migrants and refugees. Empathy, compassion, walking in someone else’s shoes; whatever the terminology you choose to use, it is a lost art in our world today. Not enough people truly care or are concerned about others. Let alone others’ situations or understanding on a level of love. They only see the perceived threat of another impeding on what they have, their idea of what should exist, and plain old fashioned differences; be it language, skin color, or culture.

This book digs deep into the stories and lives of people living their lives the best way they know how, attempting to improve the ups and downs of life, as well creating opportunities for themselves and others to improve their day to day conditions in this world. Whether we want to admit it or not we are deeply tied together in ways and on levels that would astound us if we would just take the time to educate ourselves about others.

The author has crated a beautiful and heartfelt novel of intertwined stories displaying the cruelty of misguided, misinformed, and uneducated people. At the same time taking that three quarters empty glass of negativity and showing the reader the three quarters full glass of perseverance, adaptability, hope, and determination. Recognize each other’s suffering, feel each other’s hurting, listen to each other’s pleas, and let compassion and gentleness be our first instincts.

hdestiny1's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

teaviant13's review against another edition

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3.0

It was good. Which is not something I say often. I am pretty miserly with the stars. I live for reading and I can be a bit of a bitch about what I like and what I don't like.

The story did pull me in however I felt the characters were a little bit flat, the prose perhaps a little too timid. These are real issues that are being struggled with across the globe and I wanted, perhaps, a bit more fire and a bit more insight. I was carried along by the story more by my own need to finish it than by the writing.

mkupfer's review against another edition

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5.0

Some books you lie there after finishing and need to take a breather with the quiet tsunami of emotion it makes you feel.

ari__s's review against another edition

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4.0

With immigration so centralized in our current discourse in the country, this book is an important reminder that human migration is not something that just happens in the States. The intricacies of the character overlapping, all in some way centralized on the main narrator mirror the complexity of the refugee and immigrant experience. There seems to be a realness to each chapter and character that isn’t neatly packaged away with each conclusion. In fact, the book closes each chapter and itself with resonance of continuation, that the travels don’t end. It’s that lack of finality that encourages readers to be persistent in thinking on the experience of migration and of displacement, and the loss and hopefulness tied up within it. The tone of this book is quite frank as it unflinchingly leans into the complexity of the immigrant, refugee, and asylum seeker experience. Habila’s writing forbids you to minimize his characters, as briefly as you meet them, into simple boxes, and insists that you pull back the shrouds of single narratives we hold to appreciate the multitudinous experiences of his characters.

elienore's review against another edition

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emotional informative mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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