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A review by creolelitbelle
Three Summers: A Memoir of Sisterhood, Summer Crushes, and Growing Up on the Eve of the Bosnian Genocide by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, Laura L. Sullivan
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.0
Maybe because I read her memoir of her teenage years during the Bosnian War, The Cat I Never Named, first, but I found the after pieces more impactful than the rest of the narrative. Hearing how semi-carefree Amra's life was in the few years immediately before the war makes me believe looking back on the early signs of discontent & unrest in her country and among her people must be heartbreaking. Missing what happens right in front of you when it transpires slowly is easier than sudden onslaughts of events.
I appreciate how this memoir of her three summers spent with cousins shows how normal life was. Young Amra was just like any other tween or teen, seeking freedom from parents and solace with friends her own age. The world knows about the Holocaust, but the rape of Nanking, the genocide of Bosniaks, and so many more atrocities against humanity are skipped over. The fall of the Berlin Wall wasn't all sunshine rainbows, as Americans are raised to believe. In the following years, innocence was robbed from a generation that was taught hatred, Amra's generation, and she explains here how that didn't happen overnight. She saw glimpses into the hatred but never expected the end of life as she knew it and sisterhood as she came to love until it was too late. Readers could learn from this book and her earlier work. No one should be hated based on their ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, etc. Blanket statements do not work, and hate like this tore families and friends apart across Eastern Europe. Amazing what she has accomplished since the war, especially using her voice to share her experiences, even when remembering is painful.
I appreciate how this memoir of her three summers spent with cousins shows how normal life was. Young Amra was just like any other tween or teen, seeking freedom from parents and solace with friends her own age. The world knows about the Holocaust, but the rape of Nanking, the genocide of Bosniaks, and so many more atrocities against humanity are skipped over. The fall of the Berlin Wall wasn't all sunshine rainbows, as Americans are raised to believe. In the following years, innocence was robbed from a generation that was taught hatred, Amra's generation, and she explains here how that didn't happen overnight. She saw glimpses into the hatred but never expected the end of life as she knew it and sisterhood as she came to love until it was too late. Readers could learn from this book and her earlier work. No one should be hated based on their ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, etc. Blanket statements do not work, and hate like this tore families and friends apart across Eastern Europe. Amazing what she has accomplished since the war, especially using her voice to share her experiences, even when remembering is painful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Islamophobia
Moderate: Genocide