A review by texreader
On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

An Afghan family escape Kabul, through Pakistan, then on an overloaded boat to Nauru, the holding island for refugees to Australia. Told from a preteen girl, she experiences such hardship often unknowing how much worse it could be. So many thing were special about this book: 1) the plight of refugees everywhere, 2) told from the perspective of a child, 3) revealing Australia faces a refugee crisis like the rest of the world and handling it poorly like the rest of the world. This is an extremely difficult book to read—the family is pummeled with everything that can go wrong. When you just want them to survive. And I learned how Nauru was once one of the richest countries per capita in the world until it was stripped of its natural resources, only to become a “holding pen” for the “undesirable” immigrants. Fortunately it’s a short read. But an important one.