What Strange Paradise: A Novel [J0390]

2022 PB in nice clean condition. From the widely acclaimed author of American War: a new novel--beautifully written, unrelentingly dramatic, and profoundly moving--that brings the global refugee crisis down to the level of a child's eyes. More bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. Another over-filled, ill-equipped, dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers: Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives in their homelands. And only one has made the passage: nine-year-old Amir, a Syrian boy who has the good fortune to fall into the hands not of the officials but of Vanna: a teenage girl, native to the island, who lives inside her own sense of homelessness in a place and among people she has come to disdain. And though she and the boy are complete strangers, though they don't speak a common language, she determines to do whatever it takes to save him. In alternating chapters, we learn the story of the boy's life and how he came to be on the boat; and we follow the girl and boy as they make their way toward a vision of safety. But as the novel unfurls, we begin to understand that this is not merely the story of two children finding their way through a hostile world, it is the story of our collective moment in this time: of empathy and indifference, of hope and despair--and of the way each of those things can blind us to reality, or guide us to a better one.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Omar El-Akkad is unparalleled at laying bare the ugly truths of our world, and this book is no different. After lulling the reader into a sense of complacency and cautious hope, he pulls the rug out from under us by delivering the ultimate gut punch on the final page. Incisive, brutal, and devastatingly effective."; "Beautifully written and captivating from start to finish. It opened my eyes to the experience of those fleeing their homeland. The main characters come to life and may break the hearts of the readers through their struggles."; "This was a fast paced read with each chapter alternating between the now and before. The Now being Vanna trying to rescue Amir and the Before being what lead to Amir leaving his place and the journey to the island."