A review by baoluong
Refuge by Dina Nayeri

3.0

What does it mean to be a borderless citizen? What is the privilege of safe passage from country to country knowing you have a place to go home to and be accepted? Niloo's story is familiar to many immigrant children. Ready to exemplify and validate her parent's struggle, she decides to depart from her parents identity in order to do so. At times, it is a sore reminder of her difference. Others, it is a comfort in knowing she has something so precious and hers.

Now firmly planted in Amsterdam, Niloo recalls the years and sparse visits leading up to her father's passing. The disappointment and miscommunication. The embarrassment of failing to meet each other's expectations. Yet, there's something painfully true about her memories. Her father did care about her in his own way. And although she may be far from the young, lost girl she was, she's still fearful of calling any place home. There's something to be said when she opens her closet pantry in search of olives with the taste of her childhood. That maybe these small differences are indicative of who she is and not who she shouldn't be.

I recommend this book for realistic fiction telling stories that are being told enough.

Honestly one of my favorite covers with the beautiful painting and the way the sans serif/serif on the I's interact with the fruit. The use of white space is tastefully done and there's such a calmness that comes from the placement.