Scan barcode
ruthiella's review against another edition
2.0
Ostensibly this book is about the places where we seek refuge, whether one is literally fleeing for one’s life due to one’s political or religious beliefs or whether one is simply seeking comfort from the slings and arrows of our personal present and past. I get the message but the novel failed for me ultimately as fiction. I never believed it.
The book switches between the perspectives of Niloo, a young Iranian-American who emigrated to the U.S. with her mother and brother in the 1980s and Niloo’s father who remained in Iran. From the ages of 8 to 28 Niloo only sees her father four times.
Niloo is allegedly so scarred by the immigrant experience that she cannot find her figurative refuge until at 30 she meets up with some of the Iranian diaspora in Amsterdam. There she becomes connected to the culture she rejected while living in the U.S. and becomes involved with those fighting against the far-right Dutch anti-immigrant movement. Meanwhile, her dentist father is divorcing his third wife in Iran and considering immigrating himself, that is if his children will forgive his abandonment of them 25 years before.
Oh man, on paper this is a much better book than the one I read. Niloo has the emotional maturity of a 6 year old and this is what unfortunately drives the present day plot. Also, other than the repeated reference to her first night in Oklahoma which was spent in a homeless shelter and how she was the only middle eastern kid in school and didn’t know the lyrics to pop songs, there is no backstory to Niloo’s experiences in the U.S. as a child and teenager. As a Christian (the reason her mother had to leave Iran) did she not have had a support network of friends from church and from youth group? And there are so many pockets of Iranians in the U.S. Her father has no problem hooking up with any number of such people the world over and yet none of these became part of Niloo’s American life? So she was so starved for Persian connections that she is drawn only to them in Amsterdam? Naw, you just have to accept her tormented childhood and adolescence because the author tells you so. I do not doubt that children of immigrant parents raised in the U.S. feel conflicted about their familial heritage and American culture. But Nayeri didn’t sufficiently show this conflict for my satisfaction as a reader. And I also don’t understand Niloo’s poverty while growing up in the U.S. Her father is loaded. He is constantly throwing money around. Why didn’t he send some to his children?
Which brings me to Dr. Hamid, her dentist father. I guess the refuge he seeks he tries to find in his subsequent marriages and in opium. But again, this just didn’t seem real to me. And he is both the comic relief and the heavy weight in the book, which doesn’t quite work.
Possibly because it is from an adult perspective which is more in keeping with my own experience living in a culture outside of my own rather than that of a child, I much prefer Americanah as a book about how one can’t go home again. That book, despite the fact that Adiche and I are miles apart in our backgrounds and experiences rang true to me in a way that Refuge simply did not.
Read for TOB 2018
The book switches between the perspectives of Niloo, a young Iranian-American who emigrated to the U.S. with her mother and brother in the 1980s and Niloo’s father who remained in Iran. From the ages of 8 to 28 Niloo only sees her father four times.
Oh man, on paper this is a much better book than the one I read. Niloo has the emotional maturity of a 6 year old and this is what unfortunately drives the present day plot. Also, other than the repeated reference to her first night in Oklahoma which was spent in a homeless shelter and how she was the only middle eastern kid in school and didn’t know the lyrics to pop songs, there is no backstory to Niloo’s experiences in the U.S. as a child and teenager. As a Christian (the reason her mother had to leave Iran) did she not have had a support network of friends from church and from youth group? And there are so many pockets of Iranians in the U.S. Her father has no problem hooking up with any number of such people the world over and yet none of these became part of Niloo’s American life? So she was so starved for Persian connections that she is drawn only to them in Amsterdam? Naw, you just have to accept her tormented childhood and adolescence because the author tells you so. I do not doubt that children of immigrant parents raised in the U.S. feel conflicted about their familial heritage and American culture. But Nayeri didn’t sufficiently show this conflict for my satisfaction as a reader. And I also don’t understand Niloo’s poverty while growing up in the U.S. Her father is loaded. He is constantly throwing money around. Why didn’t he send some to his children?
Which brings me to Dr. Hamid, her dentist father. I guess the refuge he seeks he tries to find in his subsequent marriages and in opium. But again, this just didn’t seem real to me. And he is both the comic relief and the heavy weight in the book, which doesn’t quite work.
Possibly because it is from an adult perspective which is more in keeping with my own experience living in a culture outside of my own rather than that of a child, I much prefer Americanah as a book about how one can’t go home again. That book, despite the fact that Adiche and I are miles apart in our backgrounds and experiences rang true to me in a way that Refuge simply did not.
Read for TOB 2018
meeshreads's review
5.0
One bonus of waking up way too early is being able to read a huge chunk of a wonderful book like this one in one sitting. I loved this book and have a lot of feelings about it. Anyone who has ever felt out of place or left behind should be able to find something in this book to connect to, and I enjoyed every character.
kikiramone's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
jacquelynjoan's review
5.0
Nayeri is a great writer. Her writing is pretty and compelling and her subject matter is important and engaging. Teaspoon of Earth and Sea enthralled me and affected me. Refuge was wonderful and it drew me in and I loved it, but I loved Teaspoon more. Can't wait to read her latest book, Ungrateful Refugee!
michelejenn's review
4.0
Next to the dictionary entry for "bittersweet" there should be a picture of this book. It was absolutely beautiful. Full review here.
jbridiemay's review
5.0
Utterly beautiful, a book that I’ve had on my shelves for years and so glad I finally read. It’ll stay with me.
“We’re all strangers to ourselves,” said Bahman. “More so as we age. So, it’s good to remember what you loved as a child”.
“We’re all strangers to ourselves,” said Bahman. “More so as we age. So, it’s good to remember what you loved as a child”.
katers415's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this book and the glimpses into Iranian culture as well as the perspective of being a refugee. Despite his flaws, I think Baba is one of my favorite characters in a while. I literally laughed out loud at a few of his comments. Also, the food sounds amazing. Don't read hungry.
karingforbooks's review
3.0
More like a 3.5. I can't decide. It's a well written book (with the exception of one glaring typo that they're going to fix in future) with a good pace. The best parts were the snap shots of the cities that Niloo and her father visited in over the years, and the snap shot in time, one of them being in 2001. I enjoyed how it went back and forth between the visits in first person from Niloo's POV to third person Amsterdam following her and her husband. The setting was great. However, the characters didn't feel relatable to me. I didn't like them, particularly, and since I've never immigrated, it made it hard to relate. That said, this was also a good book because of that; it provided a (albeit fictional) portrait of an immigrant's life in today's world, specifically Europe, and I think it did a good job. It's important to know other's stories, which this book described beautifully. I just couldn't relate to the characters, or even like them for the most part, hence the reason it's a 3.5. Still a well written book though.
kristinaskliffnotes's review
4.0
Whenever I see books about refugees, I am waiting for the worst possible story of horrorify unimaginable things. I have to read a book like this when I am ready for some reality. It also has to be a time where my kids are not extremely busy or on a sleepover, so I can concentrate.
So, when a book club I am in chose this book, I really was not looking forward to reading it. Then I started the book and everything changed.
It is a beautifully written story going back and forth from present and past. Middle Eastern culture is fascinating and I really should read more. The characters are well written and I could picture each person in my mind. It did not water down what refugees had to go through, but it was readable while being interrupted by daily life tasks.
The ending did get a bit wordy, but overall satisfying.
So, when a book club I am in chose this book, I really was not looking forward to reading it. Then I started the book and everything changed.
It is a beautifully written story going back and forth from present and past. Middle Eastern culture is fascinating and I really should read more. The characters are well written and I could picture each person in my mind. It did not water down what refugees had to go through, but it was readable while being interrupted by daily life tasks.
The ending did get a bit wordy, but overall satisfying.
chalkletters's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
As a Third Culture Kid, I’m always drawn to novels exploring the theme of home. (And yet, somehow, I don’t think I’ve read a single novel about a character with that kind of upbringing.) I even keep a Google doc of quotations about ‘home’ as well as a Tumblr sideblog for descriptions of fictional homes. Refuge didn’t actually make it onto either, perhaps because the theme suffuses the background of the whole book, rather than being presented in quotable snippets.
Refuge takes a little while to get going. The opening chapters focus on Iranian divorce proceedings, which is somewhat interesting, but doesn’t do a lot to hint at what the story is actually going to be. On the whole, Niloo’s outside perspective of her baba is more charming than the chapters from his own point of view. The story comes into its own where Niloo interacts with the Iranian community she finds in Amsterdam, and in watching her navigate her relationships with her family and her husband.
While Dina Nayeri doesn’t describe the buildings her characters call home, she evokes the sense memories extremely effectively in her descriptions of food. Much of the books feels warm, even when characters aren’t getting along, which supports the importance placed on community and communal eating. The Hamidi family dynamics are their most interesting when they’re all together. The sections with just Bahman in Iran don’t come to life in the same way. (And not only because he’s going through drug withdrawal for parts of them.)
The ending doesn’t wrap things up neatly, which leaves the reader wondering what will happen. That feels appropriate, especially as that is so often the case with real life. This isn’t a case where the dissatisfaction of not knowing harms the experience.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use and Addiction
Minor: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, and Islamophobia
More...