2019 A to Z Challenge - "M"
2019 June Motif - Diversify Your Reading
Color Coded Challenge - Blue
Such a captivating and timely book about Syrian refugees. I say timely, yet the Syrian Civil War has been waging for 8 years now. As modern-day Americans I don't think we truly appreciate the safety of not having had a war waged in our country, on our home soil. And as such we've never experienced the fear and heartbreak of being a refugee. There is an incredible misunderstanding of these people (refugees), whom love their countries, their traditions, their comforts of home but are forced to flee; a choice between life and death.
This book has been compared to the Kite Runner and I agree - yet this being a female version. The descriptions of the Middle East in both the present day (2011) and the 12th C are beautiful and daunting. I enjoyed both stories (the struggles of the refugee family and the mythical journey of the mapmaker's apprentice) equally and how they crossed paths along the map.
Summary from Goodreads: The story of two girls living eight hundred years apart—a modern-day Syrian refugee seeking safety and a medieval adventurer apprenticed to a legendary mapmaker.
When a shell destroys Nour’s house and almost takes her life, she and her family are forced to choose: stay and risk more violence or flee as refugees across seven countries of the Middle East and North Africa in search of safety. More than eight hundred years earlier, Rawiya, sixteen disguises herself as a boy named Rami, she becomes an apprentice to al-Idrisi, who has been commissioned to create a map of the world. Rawiya embarks on an epic journey across the Middle East and the north of Africa where she encounters ferocious mythical beasts, epic battles, and real historical figures.
No comments:
Post a Comment