Reviews

The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri

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wind_hunter's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative lighthearted sad fast-paced

5.0

alexmirande's review against another edition

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5.0

I absolutely loved this book. Nayeri's storytelling is compelling and nuanced. She put words to thoughts and feelings I've had before. The book taught me a lot and it has given me lots to think about.

tmathews0330's review against another edition

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5.0

A beautiful insight to the human spirit. A reminder of what we all share and the experiences we don't. Poetically written.

calla91's review against another edition

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challenging emotional medium-paced

4.25

kojafar's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative sad slow-paced

3.75

It was highly informative and I learnt lots about the way refugees’ lives tend to pan out. I didn’t think it was an especially optimistic book although she did try at the end. It did jump around quite a lot so it was difficult to keep track of things, and the end went on a little too long And I had more or less lost interest.

But still a very important book which should be read by lots of people.

seekerxr's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.25

What an absolutely haunting yet necessary read.

The writing style is so brutal and evocative -- I genuinely might have made at least 50 highlights over the course of the book. There were so many lines that just hit like a gut punch, almost like something you want to wince away from but you just can't stop reading. The emotions in this book bleed over so clearly that even as a person born and raised in America and 100% white, I felt like I was transported into situations and emotions I've never experienced and likely never will.

This was a very heavy read, but I don't regret reading it for a second. The way she described how impossibly hopeless it is to be a refugee, how you have to convince people that you've been through something terrible but you have to do it the right way, you have to prove you suffered in the specific ways that convince them that you deserve safety; it's just utterly heartbreaking.

I wish I could think of more to say about this book because it was truly unlike anything else I've ever read, but all I can say is that it will sit with me for a long time and I hope I learned a few things from it that I'll carry with me.