Welcome to Litsy!

Given that it‘s (primarily) from a 9-year old‘s POV, it took a bit to figure out what was going on through much of the story. I am still not sure I understand the ending. But it was a “good” (powerful) story, even so.

A story of being an accidental refugee on an unnamed island. It was a fresh perspective for me.

Amir followed his uncle onto a boat. At 9 yrs old, he believed that they were going sight seeing. His uncle didn‘t know he was being followed as he boarded, trying to escape poverty and get to “the western world.”

Vanna helps a shipwrecked refugee child escape from authorities when she sees him running out of the woods by her home.

👍👍

3.5⭐️ I really liked the premise of the book, but I really got a bit confused as to what the actual “after” storyline was. It was a so-so book that I think needs another few reads to actually make sense of the story. #2023 #fiction #bookreview #bookstagram #refugeecrisis #middleeast #giller #contemporary

Another good one from Canada Reads. It‘s an excellent book. I was hoping but not expecting a happier ending. There were so many gems in this book. It made me reflect personally but also globally. It‘s one of those books that will stay with me.

#Two4Tuesday

1. Most recently, the tagged book (refugees), Elie Mystal‘s Allow Me to Retort (the US constitution), and The Undocumented Americans (immigrants) all provided, through both fiction and nonfiction, invaluable stories & insight into very important aspects of our world. They give you lots to think about.

2. No, but I do have a friend who got married on Saint Patrick‘s Day…the stories she tells!

@TheSpineView

This #CanadaReads contender is an intense and gripping story about a young refugee boy who survives a shipwreck and a girl who befriends him. El Akkad offers harsh but not unfair commentary about the West's attitude toward refugees.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

As more refugees will be heading away from conflict,this book is slotted to be a contender for CanadaReads. The shifting timeline bogged the story down and removed some of the intensity. No sweet fantasies are allowed here. Reality is grim and ever present.

Still thinking about this one…about choices and consequences…about journeys riddle with fear and danger but endured with hope and impossible dreams…a compelling examination of the human desire for more, for something better, and where that desire might drive you…

This book brings the global refugee crises to heartbreaking & utterly compelling life in telling the story of a 9-year-old boy who leaves Syria with his family in search of a more peaceful, better life. Amir survives an ill-fated boat trip across the Mediterranean Sea &, in alternating chapters, we learn how he wound up on the ship & what happened after he made landfall. Too many thoughts & not enough space. An excellent book. Highly recommended.

Starting this one tonight.

This had a slow start. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it but wow. It had a strong ending. 5 ⭐
#CanadaReads2022

1. Right now it's the five #CanadaReads shortlist selections.
2. No, I haven't.
3. What Strange Paradise

Thank you for tags @TheSpineView and @DarkMina. I tag @NataliePatalie.

#WonderousWednesday @Eggs

Canada Reads book number two for me. The story of a little Syrian boy who washes up on a beach in Europe. I bet you can picture him now. It‘s a good read. And beautifully written. I give it four ⭐️s. I don‘t think it will win. It isn‘t set in Canada. It‘s not irrelevant, but I think it will be hard to defend. It will be a repeat of what happened with American War. It already won The Giller, so it‘s all good. We will see what the rest bring….

#CanadaReads 2022 finalists were announced today! I'm hoping to again read them all before the debates. The theme this year is books to inspire readers to think about community and who we are in the world we live in. The only one I've read so far is What Strange Paradise. Thoughts? Feelings?

"Perhaps it was not the presence of a revolutionary at a revolution that so enraged the secret police who took them, but the presence of an ordinary man."

Amir, 9, follows his uncle/stepfather out of their apartment late at night and boards a boat. Without understanding, he becomes a migrant, stuffed into a rickety boat with others. They capsize and Amir is washed ashore, he flees and encounters a 15 year old girl Vanna. Going back and forth between Before and Now, the chapters are very short, building intensity and sweeping you along with this fantastic, gruelling, hopeful novel. 5/5

Omar El Akkad describes his Giller award-winning novel as a Peter Pan fable, reinterpreted as a tale of a child refugee.

This book!
Absolutely stunning, the author gives us some of the worst of humankind and the beauty of friendship.
As for the ending, your decision.

I‘ve got brief reviews of my 10 favourites of August up on my blog, including the tagged. Five of them are graphic novels this month. https://lindypratch.blogspot.com/2021/08/august-2021-reading-roundup.html?m=1

Every man you ever meet is nothing but the product of what was withheld from him, what he feels owed.

What an extraordinary, devastating book. The story follows a young boy on an immigrant boat alongside an island that could potentially be a safe haven for immigrants but instead is a vacation spot inconvenienced by the bodies that keep washing up onshore. It‘s so, so good. And as for the audio, two words: Dion Graham. 😍

This novel explores the disconnect between what tourists who come to the island want and expect to see, and the searing reality of refugees washing up on shore, dead and alive.

“The child lies on the shore.”

Evokes images of 3 year old Alan Kurdi, the Syrian boy who along with his mother and brother did not survive the journey to Turkey. I can‘t “unsee” those images. Author poses the question whose “problem” is this crisis and others like it?

Up next…..

Bloom & Thai Basil courtesy of market stands. I love this time of year!

The gripping tale of a 9-year-old Syrian refugee, only survivor from a boatload of desperate people. His safety is not assured, even after washing up on a tourist beach on a Greek island. Alternating before and after chapters build empathy and suspense. Excellent #audiobook narrated by Dion Graham. #shadowgiller2021 #CanLit

Vänna could not help but think of ancestry as a kind of shackle one could never fully unclasp. An umbilical cord that, no matter how deeply cut, could never be severed.

“You‘ve got a storybook view of the world.”

Maher shrugged. “Books are good for the soul,” he said. “Books will wean you off cruelty.”

“And what will you be left with then?” Mohamed asked.

A story that seems so simple brings a deep level of understanding to immigration and children.

Amir is a Syrian refugee child tricked into boarding a boat bound for Greece. His ship wrecks on a small tourist island where one of the local children, Vänna, finds him alive. Alternating chapters tell the story of Amir on the boat before the wreck and after when he is trying to outwit soldiers with Vänna.

Dion Graham‘s narration is ??? #audiobook

It‘s midnight on the east coast, so that means I‘m sharing my #NewReleaseTuesday #audiobooks!

I loved American War, so I decided to sign up for El Akkad‘s narrated by Dion Graham! 😍

When I saw The Cult of We was narrated by my fav Therese Plummer, I had to order it.

Julia Whelan narrates Perversion of Justice about Jeffery Epstein, and I only added it after the effusive blurb from Ronan Farrow.

I forgot I was getting Until Proven Safe! 😂

Gorgeous and heartbreaking. Completely different from his last book, while still being character driven and a study in complex human relationships.
This book will publish on 20 July in the states.

Say hi to Mayhem who does show up here often! What a good girl she was here!

Today‘s #bookhaul.