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jonahbarnes's review against another edition
It’s great and you should buy it and read it.
maddmum's review against another edition
5.0
What a wonderful book! It was so great to hear your story and listen to you read it.
I can’t imagine how strong your Mum was but you are pretty strong too for coming out the other side with an outlook like you have.
Thanks for sharing your story and faith.
I can’t imagine how strong your Mum was but you are pretty strong too for coming out the other side with an outlook like you have.
Thanks for sharing your story and faith.
pnewb's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
bugtourmalinereads's review against another edition
Had to return to library but LOVED this one.
connanro's review against another edition
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
keegan_rellim_taylor's review against another edition
4.0
I have mixed feelings about this book. If I were an English teacher, I feel like this would be a great book to assign as a book club selection for fifth grade students. Having said that, I don't see it as a book that my own children would choose to read. It is really stirring and impactful (as seen from all my saved quotes and favorite scenes). However, it is also kind of disjointed. The storytelling jumps around in chronology, which makes it a little hard to stay in flow. In some ways, it feels like a book that adults think kids would like/should like to read and that adults like.
However, I would love it if my kids *did* read this story. Some of the comments I have seen here on Goodreads show that it's really relatable to other people who grew up as refugees. I appreciate that Nayeri shared his experience in a way that it might be accessible to children so that they can see refugee children as people.
***
Some favorite quotes:
"(Nobody in America likes grammar Nazis. Not even the neo-Nazis who live in Owasso, Oklahoma.)" (p. 14)
"Memories are always partly untrue." (p. 37)
"That's what forgetting your grandpa's face feels like. There's no good in it. Nothing to gain but nothing. A piece of your heart makes a sound like a groan and disappears. Then you poke at it sometimes, trying to remember what was there by the shape of the hole. That's it. You are less. . . . You don't get to choose what you remember. A patchwork memory is the shame of a refugee." (p. 49)
". . . Every story is the sound of a storyteller begging to stay alive." (p.59)
"We lived in an apartment before Ray. Brentwood Apartments. It was a nice place. I once saw a kid explode his tongue with a car battery, so I guess it was the kind of place where they value education." (p. 64)
"It's a miracle that anyone would ever fall in love with someone else and--of all the people in the world--that person loves them back. Like if you fell off a building and landed in a pillow truck, somehow." (p. 73)
"The better question is, Can God create a law so bid that He himself has to obey it? Is there an idea so big that God doesn't remember anything before it? That answer is love. Love is the object of unusual size." (p. 75)
"Sometimes you just want somebody to look at a thing with you and say, 'Yes. That is a thing you're looking at. You haven't lied to yourself.'" (p. 254)
"We never compared our memories, ever. I think because where they were the same, they were painful and obvious. And where they were different--even just a little--they were so important to each of us, that we hated each other for not remembering them as we did. For years, we couldn't forgive each other for misremembering even the color of our grandmother's scarf." (p. 254-255)
"Mrs. Miller says I have 'lost the plot,' and am now just making lists of things that happened to fill space. But I replied that she is beholden to a Western mode of storytelling that I do not accept and that the *1,001 Nights* are basically Scheharazade stalling for time, so I don't see the difference." (p. 300)
"In a refugee camp, it's the waiting that will kill you. The whole point of a refugee camp is that there are *actual* people trying to kill you. But really, it's the slow numbing death of hopelessness that does it. You have to imagine a room that's just a cement cube--nothing beautiful in it. If you're not careful, this is also what becomes of the parlor of your mind." (p. 303)
*****
Other thought-provoking sections:
The discussion about hosting, manners, and going hungry on pages 144-147
The observations about food looking like poop but tasting delicious on pages 187, 190-191
The conversation between Mrs. Miller and Khosrou about the truest thing about a person on page 273. I like it especially because it's the first time that you know for sure that Mrs. Miller is listening to Khosrou and that she cares about him.
The scene where Khosrou's dad visits his class on pages 323-329.
However, I would love it if my kids *did* read this story. Some of the comments I have seen here on Goodreads show that it's really relatable to other people who grew up as refugees. I appreciate that Nayeri shared his experience in a way that it might be accessible to children so that they can see refugee children as people.
***
Some favorite quotes:
"(Nobody in America likes grammar Nazis. Not even the neo-Nazis who live in Owasso, Oklahoma.)" (p. 14)
"Memories are always partly untrue." (p. 37)
"That's what forgetting your grandpa's face feels like. There's no good in it. Nothing to gain but nothing. A piece of your heart makes a sound like a groan and disappears. Then you poke at it sometimes, trying to remember what was there by the shape of the hole. That's it. You are less. . . . You don't get to choose what you remember. A patchwork memory is the shame of a refugee." (p. 49)
". . . Every story is the sound of a storyteller begging to stay alive." (p.59)
"We lived in an apartment before Ray. Brentwood Apartments. It was a nice place. I once saw a kid explode his tongue with a car battery, so I guess it was the kind of place where they value education." (p. 64)
"It's a miracle that anyone would ever fall in love with someone else and--of all the people in the world--that person loves them back. Like if you fell off a building and landed in a pillow truck, somehow." (p. 73)
"The better question is, Can God create a law so bid that He himself has to obey it? Is there an idea so big that God doesn't remember anything before it? That answer is love. Love is the object of unusual size." (p. 75)
"Sometimes you just want somebody to look at a thing with you and say, 'Yes. That is a thing you're looking at. You haven't lied to yourself.'" (p. 254)
"We never compared our memories, ever. I think because where they were the same, they were painful and obvious. And where they were different--even just a little--they were so important to each of us, that we hated each other for not remembering them as we did. For years, we couldn't forgive each other for misremembering even the color of our grandmother's scarf." (p. 254-255)
"Mrs. Miller says I have 'lost the plot,' and am now just making lists of things that happened to fill space. But I replied that she is beholden to a Western mode of storytelling that I do not accept and that the *1,001 Nights* are basically Scheharazade stalling for time, so I don't see the difference." (p. 300)
"In a refugee camp, it's the waiting that will kill you. The whole point of a refugee camp is that there are *actual* people trying to kill you. But really, it's the slow numbing death of hopelessness that does it. You have to imagine a room that's just a cement cube--nothing beautiful in it. If you're not careful, this is also what becomes of the parlor of your mind." (p. 303)
*****
Other thought-provoking sections:
The discussion about hosting, manners, and going hungry on pages 144-147
The observations about food looking like poop but tasting delicious on pages 187, 190-191
The conversation between Mrs. Miller and Khosrou about the truest thing about a person on page 273. I like it especially because it's the first time that you know for sure that Mrs. Miller is listening to Khosrou and that she cares about him.
The scene where Khosrou's dad visits his class on pages 323-329.
spaceyboy's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful beautiful book. Really gives you perspective on important things in life. The passage asking if you would rather a god that listens or a god that speaks? This whole book gave me a lot to keep and hold with me.
debrabrinckley's review against another edition
5.0
This book gutted me. I think it should be required reading in every school in America.
livhamlin's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0