Former journalist turned novelist Atia Abawi, in her latest YA creation, A Land of Permanent Goodbyes, gives readers a small glimpse into the daunting journey Syrian refugees face when seeking asylum.
The hard-hitting facts and infallible emotion that plays out in this book make it too close for comfort, and for some readers (such as myself,) a painful story to get through; ultimately living up to its genre’s namesake, “realistic fiction.”
Perhaps taking a play from Markus Zusak’s, The Book Thief, Ms. Abawi’s novel greets reader’s with a unique third person point of view, in that it is not a person, per-say who is telling the story. This presentation proceeds to follow our main characters, Tareq and Alexia; Tereq, a teenage Syrian male forced to confront the terror of his war-torn country, and Alexia an American female volunteer determined to do what little she can to lend a hand to a cause that needs all the help it can get.
Phenomenally written with harrowing circumstances that range from tender to heart-pounding and with characters that captivate, I gained more knowledge and vastly more empathy from this novel than I ever did watching news outlets that used to cover this subject. This novel breaks down the barriers of race, religion, and nationality and focuses on the individual, humanizing the issue rather than scaring people into one final opinion.
With those who are worried about the violence, be assured that it is a matter that is more reported and mentioned rather displayed or overly graphic.
A book that is full of impact, and one that I think would behoove schools to have as required reading; please keep an open mind and heart when it comes to this novel.
This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Philomel
Review of an Advance Reader Copy
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 9 Religious exclamations; 4 mild obscenities; 1 religious profanity; 6 derogatory names; 8 scatological words; 1 offensive hand gesture.
Violence/Gore: Many brief and extended (30+) reports of violent acts associated with war and terrorism including bombings, beheadings, rape, kidnapping, sex trafficking, shootings, injuries, beatings, destruction of properties with casualties, extortion, robbery; several (10+) threats of violence, verbal, and physical; few (less than 5) jokes of violence; character witnesses the drowning of 2 individuals; extended scene (about 1/4 page) character describes family members murder; extended scene (about 3 pages) sex trafficker kidnaps child(ren) physical fight with non-lethal gunshot wound.
Sex/Nudity: Mention of a kiss; few (less than 10) incidents of flirtation, feelings of attraction between male and female; few (less than 10) mentions of rape, sex trafficking/sex slaves, forced prostitution.
Mature Subject Matter:
The effects of war and terrorism, violent and non-violent deaths.
Alcohol / Drug Use:
Mentions of beer/alcohol; adults smoke cigarettes; drug reference.
