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rjproffer's review against another edition
5.0
A collection of messages of pain and intolerance in connection to their country of origin stands in my mind against the hatred that has simmered and erupted in these days of Brexit and Trump.
mrspenningalovesbooks's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this memoir. The collection of refugee experiences was both eye-opening and humbling. To see so many of the phrases people use about refugees and their experiences as they come to a new country was devastatingly brutal and beautiful.
“Yet what all displaced people have most in common, regardless of where we come from, regardless if we are “official” refugees or “illegal@ immigrants, is our trauma. The trauma that propels us to this land, and the traumatic experiences that await us.”
“I believe that for the rest of your life, you carry that border inside of you. It becomes part of your psyche, your being, your identity.”
“Yet what all displaced people have most in common, regardless of where we come from, regardless if we are “official” refugees or “illegal@ immigrants, is our trauma. The trauma that propels us to this land, and the traumatic experiences that await us.”
“I believe that for the rest of your life, you carry that border inside of you. It becomes part of your psyche, your being, your identity.”
incredibella's review against another edition
5.0
content/trigger warnings: death, murder, imprisonment, family separation, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, rape, sexual assault, physical violence, bullying, racism, sexual harassment, xenophobia, islamophobia, antisemitism, police brutality, war, self-immolation mention, cancer mention, surgery mention, homophobia, internalized homophobia, torture
this collection of essays is extremely powerful and emotional. i would highly recommend it to anyone interested in hearing or learning more about the experiences of refugees. while it was difficult to get through at times, it's an incredibly important read.
this collection of essays is extremely powerful and emotional. i would highly recommend it to anyone interested in hearing or learning more about the experiences of refugees. while it was difficult to get through at times, it's an incredibly important read.
simlish's review against another edition
5.0
The Displaced is absolutely one of the best things I've read all year. Most anthologies have stronger and weaker parts, but while I could pick out the absolute strongest essays in The Displaced, there's no way I could pick out a weakest one -- the quality is uniformly very high. It was absolutely much heavier reading than I was really capable of between obsessively checking the news, this election week, but it wasn't as hard to track as some heavy things are -- most of the essays are pretty short, so it was easy to get all the way through each one before my attention span crashed.
The contributors cover a wide swathe of experiences, both geographically and over time. My only complaint is that all of the writers were children when they became refugees -- there's one essay where the story of a man who became a refugee as an adult is told secondhand, as he was interviewed by the writer. It seemed like a strange oversight, and I know it's not for lack of adult refugees, so I wonder what went into that decision making. Since all of the writers were children when they fled, they were not involved in the decision making of fleeing, which feels like an important perspective. It shifts the focus pretty forcefully onto the assimilation/homemaking of being a refugee, which might have been the point, but I don't know, it just felt like a pretty glaring absence to me.
The main themes were the concept of home and how it's affected by statelessness, the way being a refugee lingers far past gaining a new permanent home, and what residents of host/destination countries project onto refugees. The concept of ghosts showed up repeatedly -- refugees as ghosts, homeland as a ghost, the past as a ghost. Ghosts showed up almost as often as the journey itself. While the exacts of each journey were obviously different, the emotional through lines were the same from essay to essay, person to person.
One thing I quite liked is that the forward starts with a request that reading this book not be all you, the reader, do to engage with refugee issues.
The contributors cover a wide swathe of experiences, both geographically and over time. My only complaint is that all of the writers were children when they became refugees -- there's one essay where the story of a man who became a refugee as an adult is told secondhand, as he was interviewed by the writer. It seemed like a strange oversight, and I know it's not for lack of adult refugees, so I wonder what went into that decision making. Since all of the writers were children when they fled, they were not involved in the decision making of fleeing, which feels like an important perspective. It shifts the focus pretty forcefully onto the assimilation/homemaking of being a refugee, which might have been the point, but I don't know, it just felt like a pretty glaring absence to me.
The main themes were the concept of home and how it's affected by statelessness, the way being a refugee lingers far past gaining a new permanent home, and what residents of host/destination countries project onto refugees. The concept of ghosts showed up repeatedly -- refugees as ghosts, homeland as a ghost, the past as a ghost. Ghosts showed up almost as often as the journey itself. While the exacts of each journey were obviously different, the emotional through lines were the same from essay to essay, person to person.
One thing I quite liked is that the forward starts with a request that reading this book not be all you, the reader, do to engage with refugee issues.
giovannigf's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
darthchrista's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
medium-paced
5.0
This feels like a core sample selection of refugee stories. Maybe that’s not quite right cause they are not all the same story. Similar yes but not the same. A couple of stand out things: Most refugees want what we want. Just here (whether that is USA or another non home country) and not under an authoritarian dictatorship or amid violence and oppression. And some words or questions I want to remember when I meet someone who has a different home country: Tell me about your home country. The place you came from. What will you miss. What do you wish I knew? I want to remeber they had a whole life before being forced or feeling compelled to leave for any number of reasons.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
A couple of the essays talk explicitly about the atrocities of life. Since this is an essay collection a reader could skip those if needed.dustycabbage's review against another edition
4.0
4 stars. A great selection of pieces, and as I usually struggle with essay compilations, I thank Nguyen for putting these writers' voices together. As indicated from the title, one can assume this will be a moving piece of work, but while moving my heart, it also moved my mind just as much. Why do refugees have to show unending reverance for their sponsors or saviors, why are refugees not enough until they are too much? The questions raised across all of these authors provoke insightful questions and answers that many of the population aren't ready to face. As someone whose parents were refugees, I found a lot of my family's history amongst these pages, and yet, as I never experienced these things first hand, all I can do is listen and share. Of the essays, Nayeri's and Azam's were my favorites, but all of the works shine on their own.