A review by _askthebookbug
Let's Go Swimming on Doomsday by Natalie C. Anderson

5.0

{ Book Recommendation}
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Let's go swimming on doomsday.
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The Black and white Kindle cover does not do justice to how pretty the actual book cover is. I have been reading such amazing books lately and this one falls under the bucket of 'Must read' category. Let's go swimming on doomsday is a story that sheds light on how horrible the Somalian refugees' situation has been over the years. But more importantly this book is about Abdi who is the protagonist and goes ahead to break our hearts into a million little pieces.
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When Abdi loses his father to the terrorist group, he faces one tragedy after the other. He has to do unthinkable things to save his family who have been kidnapped. In his pursuit of freeing his family, he becomes part of Al-Shabaab, a ruthless group of young boys who resort to violence to get rid of the Americans. Dahir, his brother is already part of that group who was taken forcefully few years ago and Abdi tries seeking his help to rescue his family. The boys at Al-Shabaab trust Abdi completely and now he has a job of sending messages to the Americans to help them capture the leaders of the group.
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The book is split into NOW and THEN sections, which was initially a little hard to get used to. But few chapters in, I knew I was hooked. Abdi, still a teenager has a tremendously big heart as he takes the burden of releasing his family, freeing his brother and also keep everyone safe around him. The characters in the book are so smartly developed including the Social worker, Sam who sticks around to help Abdi. This is the kind of book that you will feel compelled to finish in just few sittings.
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A lot has been said and read about Somalian refugee scenario but this book helped me in truly understanding how horrendous it is in reality. You read to learn and this book was very educational by also being a splendid read. The world needs more people like Abdi.
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Five stars all the way.