An important, deeply felt look at lives in constant peril.
A powerful collection of stories from refugees stuck in asylum limbo in Greece.
The early 21st century has seen a rise in authoritarianism and anti-immigration sentiment, both of which have emerged alongside—or perhaps in response to—explosive levels of poverty, armed conflict, and climate change. In this book, journalism professor Benedict and Syrian writer Awwadawnan humanize the plight of the 84 million people “forcibly displaced” as a result of these issues by presenting the narratives of asylum seekers from Syria, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Cameroon. After difficult, often terrifying journeys, these men and women landed in Greece, the "major gateway to Europe” for people fleeing social, political, and/or economic oppression. Yet because of a 2016 agreement between the European Union and an immigrant-inundated Turkey, Greek refugee camps have become like prisons. Asmahan, a woman fleeing the Syrian civil war, observes that individuals, and sometimes entire families, are forced to live in shipping containers for months on end while awaiting word on their asylum status. Even when she arrived at a slightly more accommodating camp, Asmahan notes that “we were still prisoners, and we were still forced to feel that we were nothing but creatures made to eat, sleep and submit.” Woman and girls are especially vulnerable to the violence that plagues these camps; assaults and rapes are rarely reported due to fear of retaliation. Even when refugees are granted permits to travel around Greece, their lives are still filled with tremendous struggle. Hasan, another Syrian, recounts his own difficulties with poor housing, poverty, ill health, and hostility from Greeks, even those who ran the local hospital in the town where he lived. Gut-wrenching and necessary, this book sharply depicts an escalating humanitarian crisis that shows few signs of slowing down. In the epilogue, the authors provide updates on their subjects.
An important, deeply felt look at lives in constant peril.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-80444-001-8
Page Count: 322
Publisher: Footnote Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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