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40 reviews for:
What We Remember Will Be Saved: A Story of Refugees and the Things They Carry
Stephanie Saldaña
4.33 AVERAGE
40 reviews for:
What We Remember Will Be Saved: A Story of Refugees and the Things They Carry
Stephanie Saldaña
4.33 AVERAGE
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
informative
fast-paced
This broke my heart and healed it, in a way, too. A reminder to ask questions and listen to the stories so we can remember all these dear people carry. We are not our passports or the labels foisted upon us. Ask and listen to the stories around you and remember with them.
This book started a bit slow for me. I didn't really get into the narratives until half way through, but then I found the narratives powerful. It's very timely to have read this now, as violence ravages the middle east. We need more people speaking out for peace, and it makes me really appreciate the budding adult generation who is out there protesting on college campuses. Too many innocent people are getting caught up in conflict, I am grateful to this author for writing about the realities of war refugees.
I hope this book makes clear that the people we call “refugees” are artists, historians, musicians, chefs, mother and fathers, children and siblings, and those on the front line of heritage preservation. It could one day be any of us.
from What We Remember Will Be Saved by Stephanie Saldana
First, I will state: You must read this book.
You must read this book for the sheer beauty of the writing and story telling. You must read this book to understand that no one leaves their home willingly, but for survival. You must read to learn the true scope of loss when conflict drives one to leave everything behind, except memories and the ways we preserve them. You must read this book to see how entire cultures and peoples are displaced and destroyed, how they long to return to what was lost.
Maybe you will think that you will go back. But don’t go back. The distance going back is the same as for going forward.
refugee quoted in What We Remember Will Be Saved by Stephanie Saldana
Second, I will state: Like a refining fire, this book will break your heart and strengthen your resolve. You will be angry. You will marvel at human indifference and fear. You will cast your eyes around and wonder how you can make a difference.
That was what I was learning: that when all else is taken away, then we have no choice but to create what we carry.
from What We Remember Will Be Saved by Stephanie Saldana
This book evolved from years of interviewing refugees from Syria and Iraq, learning of their home villages, the catastrophe of war that drove them away, their sorrows and losses, how they keep their past life alive. An embroidered dress showing the daily life and places of the hometown lost. Music. Food. Story. Knowledge.
Story is what keeps us whole.
from What We Remember Will Be Saved by Stephanie Saldana
You learn about their past, their struggles to survive, their new lives, so hard won.
You must not think that I saved my family. I didn’t save them. It was the women and children who kept me alive. If it wasn’t for them, I would have let myself die on that mountain. But I stayed alive because they needed us to save them.
quoted in What We Remember Will Be Saved by Stephanie Saldana
And you will think of your own story, how lucky you are in your easy life, or how your ancestors faced such things, or consider if this will someday be your future.
The words of these people will echo in your heart.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book through LibraryThing.
from What We Remember Will Be Saved by Stephanie Saldana
First, I will state: You must read this book.
You must read this book for the sheer beauty of the writing and story telling. You must read this book to understand that no one leaves their home willingly, but for survival. You must read to learn the true scope of loss when conflict drives one to leave everything behind, except memories and the ways we preserve them. You must read this book to see how entire cultures and peoples are displaced and destroyed, how they long to return to what was lost.
Maybe you will think that you will go back. But don’t go back. The distance going back is the same as for going forward.
refugee quoted in What We Remember Will Be Saved by Stephanie Saldana
Second, I will state: Like a refining fire, this book will break your heart and strengthen your resolve. You will be angry. You will marvel at human indifference and fear. You will cast your eyes around and wonder how you can make a difference.
That was what I was learning: that when all else is taken away, then we have no choice but to create what we carry.
from What We Remember Will Be Saved by Stephanie Saldana
This book evolved from years of interviewing refugees from Syria and Iraq, learning of their home villages, the catastrophe of war that drove them away, their sorrows and losses, how they keep their past life alive. An embroidered dress showing the daily life and places of the hometown lost. Music. Food. Story. Knowledge.
Story is what keeps us whole.
from What We Remember Will Be Saved by Stephanie Saldana
You learn about their past, their struggles to survive, their new lives, so hard won.
You must not think that I saved my family. I didn’t save them. It was the women and children who kept me alive. If it wasn’t for them, I would have let myself die on that mountain. But I stayed alive because they needed us to save them.
quoted in What We Remember Will Be Saved by Stephanie Saldana
And you will think of your own story, how lucky you are in your easy life, or how your ancestors faced such things, or consider if this will someday be your future.
The words of these people will echo in your heart.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book through LibraryThing.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
My first 5 star adult book of the year. This is such a moving and informative book; a series of well told memories and documented recent history of the Middle East. You will learn of places, people, and languages not often heard in mainstream US media. You will have a deeper understanding of conflicts within the Middle East and how different people, communities, cultures, and languages were and continue to be affected. You will hear stories of love, hope, longing, and dreams deferred. You will learn of centuries old customs and languages on the brink of extinction. You will have empathy for people displaced, when all that they were able to save was nothing tangible. A MUST READ for historians and citizens of this world.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
So well done: vivid & compelling. Saldana sifts an era of disaster to highlight individuals. Beyond humanizing tragedy, it reminds us that each of us has agency, value and so much more capacity than we think. A thoughtful, difficult, elegant read that synthesizes moments, memory & culture.
It would make a good nonfiction pairing to these two pieces of fiction: Omar El Akkad's What Strange Paradise and Vincent Delecroix's Small Boat.
It would make a good nonfiction pairing to these two pieces of fiction: Omar El Akkad's What Strange Paradise and Vincent Delecroix's Small Boat.
Content Warnings
The experiences of the people in this book are steeped in trauma, the trauma of warfare, escape, and mistreatment at the hands of smugglers. While it isn't largely detailed on the page, it is the profound experience of this book.
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced