What Strange Paradise

Omar El Akkad

2021 • 256 pages

Ratings13

Average rating4

WINNER OF THE 2021 SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE NATIONAL BESTSELLER 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.

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Dave

The four stars is rounded up.

As much as I enjoyed this book, I found the last act to be sorta weak in comparison to the rest. There were a lot of ideas and themes focused on throughout the book, only when they all came together it really wasn't clicking, or felt lacking in finesse. For example, the attempt to flesh out the antagonist in the final act felt too little, too late. He was already a caricature, and perhaps if left like that, things would've been more impactful?

I'm not really sure. There's an argument to be made for the characters on the island feeling flat to serve the broader narrative, but I'm not sure I'm of that mind.

Still enjoyable and well worth the read.

December 1, 2022

David Yoon

“The two kinds of people in this world aren't good and bad — they're engines and fuel.”

9 year old Amir Utu washes up on shore amidst a mass of shipwrecked bodies, distended with seawater. Sprawled facedown, arms outstretched he is surrounded by the wreckage of the boat he once sat on. Police pull caution tape along the walkway that leads to the beach that lies in the shadow of a luxury hotel. The guest rumble about their ruined day, now confined to the hotel grounds. There are angry requests for refunds.

The boy opens his eyes and sees two men approach in baggy white containment suits. He runs.

Beautifully written with a spare storyline bisected into Before and After. After, we see Amir lost on this new island, helped by 15 year old Vanna. Before, we find out how Amir finds himself aboard the Calypso, crowded among the other refugees. They remain hopeful, armed with newly minted Western names, wielding crucifixes and memorizing mantras in English: “Hello. I am pregnant. I will have a baby on April twenty-eight. I need hospital and doctor to have safe baby. Please help.”

It's a simple story, that is devastating in its little details.

November 22, 2021