Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.62 AVERAGE
4.62 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
I'm usually not a fan of autobiographies, but this was just a really well-told story that happens to be autobiographical.
Danny grows up in Syria as a Gay youth who's strict family will not accept him for who he is. He soon finds himself living a double life in Syria, Egypt, and eventually Lebanon, while waiting to emigrate to Canada. When he finally makes it to Canada, he finds his troubles are far from over. This was an eye-opening book from the perspective of a Canadian who sees their country as a generally welcoming place for refugees.
Danny grows up in Syria as a Gay youth who's strict family will not accept him for who he is. He soon finds himself living a double life in Syria, Egypt, and eventually Lebanon, while waiting to emigrate to Canada. When he finally makes it to Canada, he finds his troubles are far from over. This was an eye-opening book from the perspective of a Canadian who sees their country as a generally welcoming place for refugees.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
crying! so good! so many themes! biological family trauma, chosen family love, joy under authoritarianism, journalists need to do better, boundaried storytelling of how much the author gave his story to reject POC trauma porn.. the list weaves on between his gorgeous, poetic prose. this hit all the thoughtful right notes for me.
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Excuse me while I go out any buy every single book by Danny Ramadan. In this memoir, Danny engages his reader by exploring all aspects of his life. You will see the light-hearted moments, the triggering moments and everything in between. If you are looking for sensationalized trauma, move on. If you are looking for real events and emotional retellings you are in the right place. I listened to this in audiobook format and I was in love from the first few sentences. I am going to purchase this one in hardcopy as well because I loved it so much. The writing is so so so good that at times I couldn't wrap my head around it. Thank you for sharing your life with readers, Danny.
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
medium-paced
The author is a very good writer. He’s honest and cynical, heartfelt and intentional with his storytelling. He resists anthropological consumption of his life by addressing the reader directly and challenging you to examine why you feel entitled to his deepest traumas (in particular, details of his time in prison in Syria).
That being said, because the book engages primarily with his experiences of home and self and community, while setting other boundaries that close the doors to deeper reflection on the state vs its people, borders, prisons, etc., it’s unclear what he wants us to do with what he’s sharing. He stays in the comfortable territory of identity politics. This book is good for people who perceive Canada as a utopian safe haven and refugees as a homogenous group of sad people from an ambiguously poor, oppressive country where it is impossible to experience any shred of joy, pleasure, or community.
I always approach memoirs with a level of gratitude and grapple with critiquing people who are doing substantially more than I am, in this case for newcomers and for the LGBTQ community, but this author was a little bit too individual liberalist and pinkwashing and ‘corporate pride’ for me. I have a bit of a bad taste in my mouth since reading his Tablet article “A Syrian in Jerusalem”.
That being said, because the book engages primarily with his experiences of home and self and community, while setting other boundaries that close the doors to deeper reflection on the state vs its people, borders, prisons, etc., it’s unclear what he wants us to do with what he’s sharing. He stays in the comfortable territory of identity politics. This book is good for people who perceive Canada as a utopian safe haven and refugees as a homogenous group of sad people from an ambiguously poor, oppressive country where it is impossible to experience any shred of joy, pleasure, or community.
I always approach memoirs with a level of gratitude and grapple with critiquing people who are doing substantially more than I am, in this case for newcomers and for the LGBTQ community, but this author was a little bit too individual liberalist and pinkwashing and ‘corporate pride’ for me. I have a bit of a bad taste in my mouth since reading his Tablet article “A Syrian in Jerusalem”.
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced