A review by shelby1994
After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America by Jessica Goudeau

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0



"Better to be replanted in strange soil than to die uprooted in the desert"

I first glimpsed this book at Politics and Prose, but reluctantly returned it to its shelf because I didn't have a way to carry it through the event we were going to afterwards. I spent the next several months trying to find a copy at a local bookstore, only to stumble upon it at a used book warehouse in Nashville.  I have to believe there was some serendipity at play, because this has become one of my most treasured finds.  
Goudeau weaves together three narrative strands: Mu Naw (a Christian refugee from Myanmar), Hasna (a Muslim refugee from Syria), and the history of the Refugee Resettlement Program.  
Once resettled in Austin, both women take over as primary breadwinners and bridge the gaps between their new and old worlds. Goudeau stubbornly draws out the hairline fractures that appear in their marriages as the economic responsibilities tilt, and how each set of spouses deal with the added pressure of unsteady marriages on top of the complex trauma of surviving war.
 These stories brush away the idea that refugees owe anyone a well of bottomless gratitude. Hasna and Mu Naw both are grateful to be safe and appreciative to the resettlement program but landing in a safe country doesn't mean that their problems are over.  They still have to deal with poverty, legal battles, and the guilt that their friends and family who were not as lucky as them are dying day by day in their homelands.  Hasna in particular has to navigate the double edged sword of being a refugee in the 21st century; she is able to keep in touch with her children in Syria in real-time over WhatsApp, but also sees the deaths of her family members posted  in real-time on social media. 
It was a privilege to read these women's stories, and I hope this book gets a lot more attention in the future. 
Read If:
1. You want to feel good about the work churches in American can do when they choose to 
2. To learn more about the history of U.S. refugee policy 
3. You don't know what to say to people are against resettlement b/c of "national security"
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