The book was archived before our group could download it. We are sure that we would have enjoyed the book judging from the reviews it has received.

I'm always a little apprehensive when a book has a child narrator but this worked so well. It read like a fable or fairy tale but with such deep and powerful content. A moving and haunting story of a very real and current crisis. My wish is that those in government read this and adapt their refugee policies with more heart and compassion.

A devastating story of the migrant crisis.

Amir, a 9-year-old Syrian boy, is the only survivor of the emigrant boat accident off the coast of Greece. He gets
washed up on an island, where we follow his escape and his friendship with a 15-year-old girl, Vanna, hiding him from the authorities. We also see the journey Amir and other desperate Syrian migrants undertake in search of a better life.

It was a very moving and emotional story, highlighting how people are treated differently depending on their status and nationality - Western tourists arriving to the island paradise and asylum-seekers who are resented by the locals. We also see racism existing among the migrants, especially that of the Colonel determined to catch Amir - it demonstrates the multilayered character of the problem Amir is facing, the prejudice and hatred he encounters repeatedly.
Yet, this is still a story of hope - hope for the refugees and for the local girl trying to help Amir. What's more, the writing was beautiful, with stunning landscapes and impactful story, raising questions about the migrant crisis and moral issues associated with it.

It took me up until half way until I really got into this book, and then I couldn't put it down. It was like one book and then in a split second, we get that ending, and it's a completely different book altogether. I'm still shocked. I couldn't get over it. But that is all credit and power to the author. To shock us, make us sad, angry. So thought provoking. So clever.

Somebody, PLEASE send a copy of this book to Priti Patel. See if it can melt her cold, hard heart even just a little. See if it can tap into whatever tiny scrap of human empathy she might have.

I read this with her absurd and offensive proposal to send people who come to the UK without 'permission' to Rwanda ringing in my mind.

It's a short but highly impactful book. It tells the story of a young boy and one of his uncles finding themselves on a rickety old boat, sent by people smugglers from Egypt to a Greek island. The boy is the only survivor and meets a young local girl who tries to keep him away from the authorities. We travel - on the page/screen - with the desperate people as conditions on the boat get worse and worse. We learn of the girl's compassion to help him against all odds. And surely, nobody can read this and still want to "Send them back" or believe "They only come for the benefits".

Shame on those who would do these poor souls such harm - on the people smugglers, the inhospitable countries they arrive at but most of all on the regimes that make it impossible to stay at their homes.

What Strange Paradise is one of those books that left me thinking long after the final page had turned, with its deceivingly simple plot hiding multiple layers of complexity and possible interpretations.

This book is rooted in a modern drama, the so-called "refugee crisis", and the daily tragedy of people forced to make a perilous journey in appalling conditions, risking (and often losing) their lives in the process. When the story starts, one such tragedy has just occurred: a boat sank near a small island, all its passengers washing to shore dead. All except one boy, Amir, the only survivor who manages to elude the officials and meet Vänna, a local teenage girl determined to save him.

The story is told in alternating chapters, moving between "Before" and "After" the shipwreck. In the time before, we follow Amir on the path that will take him to finding himself on that boat in the first place, while the "After" focuses on the two children's attempts to reach safety and evade the capture attempts made by the local military officials.

I liked the structure of the novel and how information was slowly unveiled in the alternation between before and after. Many things could be written or said about this topic, and I liked how the author chose to focus on a few aspects of the journey and the different people who might find themselves caught up in a situation such as this.

The complexity of the issue emerges very clearly, and I was particularly struck by the reflections weaved throughout. A subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) critique of modern society emerges at several points throughout the novel, its hypocrisy and performative solidarity being openly discussed by characters at several points and evidenced by the actions of others, like the tourists whose reaction to the tragedy unfolding before their eyes is annoyance at having lost a day on the beach.

Where I was slightly underwhelmed was in the characters. Perhaps it was exactly the intention here and I completely misunderstood it, but some of the characters felt rather flat and lacking in depth. In the grand scheme of things, it's a minor thing but it stopped me from fully being able to empathise and care about some of the characters, reducing the emotional impact that certain scenes could have had.

Overall, What Strange Paradise is a deeply moving, gorgeously lyrical novel existing in the bittersweet space between fantasy and reality, between hope and desperation. Chock-full of material for a deeper reflection on a wide range of topics, it's one of those books I wish more people close to me had read just so I could discuss it with them, from the beginning right up to that perfect ending. Definitely well suited for a book club discussion!

A poignant story about refugees, though with familiar beats. I tend to not enjoy books with child narration and this was, unfortunately, no exception. The story is gripping and emotional though.

In this short novel El Akkad has managed to encapsulate the hope, horror and humanity of the global refugee crisis. Although a tale often told in media outlets, the depiction of Amir's harrowing sea journey towards Europe is deeply affecting. The duality of time narratives (before and after arrival) succinctly explore the risks involved through the eyes of a small boy who's journey was never actively sort. By choosing such a young central character, El Akkad shows confusion, fear, hope and a sense of pure joy as Amir completes his journey in the company of Vanna, A timely reminder that geographical bonds are not binding and that language isn't a true barrier to being a citizen of the world.

My thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book to review. I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did but it's such an instant classic to me. I loved this very much. Fascinatingly beautiful writing and storytelling.

i resisted this book - stories in the news are so heart-rending I wondered if I wanted to subject myself to more - but I am glad I finally opened it - the writing is allusive and utterly readable and in fact drew me right in. we learn much about the entire experience and its ambivalencies as well as downside ... as it adds to my perceptions of what is happening in real time - I can understand better what the transitions are for people moving countries under duress. timely and appealing .

This is a short book, but it has so much contained within its pages. Alternating chapters, Before and After, document one young boy's journey from Syria to a Greek island.

The only survivor, he runs from soldiers and is hidden by a teenage girl, Vanna. Despite not speaking the same language they are able to instinctively communicate. She is trying to get him to the ferryman, off the island, and to people who will take care of him. But they are being chased by the soldiers.

In the Before chapters, we follow the journey on a small boat, overloaded with desperate people, whose own survival makes them savage. Surviving on meagre rations, they are drifting when the engine fails and a storm comes. As the refugees see lights, they jump, despite it being almost certain they won't survive.

The ending of this book will make the reader question everything they have read but I loved the ambiguity of it.

Heart breakingly good, politically relevant and written beautifully this is a book to savour and digest carefully.

With bodies piling up on the beaches from refugees trying to escape their homelands on ill equipped overfilled boats with no safety equipment and the poorer ones locked below deck is there any hope of rescue. 9 year old Amir who has followed his uncle on to the boat is swept up after the boat is wrecked . A local teenage girl Vanna finds him hiding and sets about helping him escape . She knows the police are searching for him but takes him to meet a woman who runs a refuge , and as the police arrive to check if he is there , the 2 are sent to a potential safehouse where they will meet someone who can help Amir . As they arrive the police are close behind them , but is the Chief of police without a heart and will he escape.

This book begins on a Greek island, more bodies have washed up on the beach. This is a regular occurrence - as thousands of refugees pay vast sums of money, to gain passage on packed, ill equipped boats desperate to leave their lives at home. There is one survivor from this sunken boat, a Syrian nine year old boy , Amir. He opens his eyes on the beach and runs.

What Strange Paradise examines the global migrant crisis through the eyes of Amir. It’s told in alternative chapters his life before the boat sinks and his life now on the Greek island, where he meets Vanna, a 15 year old girl who rescues him. They don’t speak the same language but she is determined to protect him.


There is so much in this short book- hope, hostility, friendship, loss , adventure, desperation and compassion. By telling this story from Amir’s perspective , the book strips away the political, there is a lightness woven through parts of the story despite the subject matter. The writing is incredible, the story is engaging and it’s probably the most thought provoking book I’ve read this year. I’m reluctant to say more but a strong recommendation from me, for this one.

I couldn’t put it down, I reread sections of this book after I finished it and I haven’t stopped thinking about it.

A beautiful powerful read.

5 ⭐️

This is one of those books that you want to buy for someone else to read, so that you can talk about it properly. We have all seen the distressing images of dead children washing up on the shores of countries such as the one in this book. The story here follows that of Amir, who, like so many children washes up on a beach but sadly unlike so many others, wakes up.

It is difficult to say too much without spoiling the story for others and it really is a book where, to know the ending would, I think, affect the...enjoyment is the wrong word, appreciation? of the book. In this respect, it reminded me of the incredible Monsieur Linh and His Child by Philippe Claudel.

The whole story has an almost detached, dreamlike feel, largely I think, because of the very small amount of dialogue between the two main characters. They each speak to those around them but the language barrier means that they don't often communicate with each other using speech.

Following the advice from one of the earlier reviews on here, I have read this interview (https://www.powells.com/post/interviews/powells-interview-omar-el-akkad-author-of-what-strange-paradise) with the author and feel that this has given me greater understanding of the story and how/why it was written. I highly recommend doing this, but only after finishing the book, which everyone should do, as it is a truly incredible.

Likes
Throughout this book we are given alternating chapters focusing on Amir's journey, pre and post passage. The chapters that focus on Amir's life before his journey to Greece allow readers to see the danger of Syria and the severity of the immigrant crisis in Egypt. From here, I discovered my favourite parts of the novel, Amir's crossing to Greece. We follow Amir onto the small ramshackle of a boat, which barely stays afloat throughout the duration at sea. Although Amir accidentally finds himself upon the boat, I was stunned by the sheer resilience and bravery he demonstrated, being a boy of nine years old and completely alone. Omar El Akkad penned a description that provides readers with a brutal account of what immigrants must face, yet it is so pertinent to society at present. On the news we see stories of both families and individuals who risk their lives by swimming or sail across oceans and seas, fleeing terror and violence with the minuscule hope of a better a life. I felt this was extremely brave and it certainly provided me with an awareness I never knew I needed.


Dislikes
As the novel is set within three or four days maximum, certain aspects of the story felt drawn out. Perhaps if these sections were condensed, we could have explored Amir's background to gain further insight into his situation and why he was fleeing Syria. Moreover, we could have also explored Amir's life upon leaving Greece. We know he was travelling to the mainland but where exactly did he land? With whom did he seek support and guidance? Did he ever finally make it home or did he realise he did not want to return? Perhaps these questions were left unanswered, but I felt there could have certainly been room to answer them.


Final thoughts
For a book with very little dialogue, I felt it spoke volumes. Although the alternating chapters were enjoyable, the description of Amir's journey across the Mediterranean Sea truly sold this novel to me. Powerful descriptions were all that were needed to divulge the truly horrendous journey of an illegal immigrant.

What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad was a different reading experience for me as I rarely read books with children as main characters. It will stay with me for a long time.

Many of you probably remember the shocking photo of Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy who drowned in 2015 after trying to reach the Greek island of Kos.

This book imagines what would happen if the boy woke up and started to run. For the sake of the story, our protagonist Amir is nine years old (instead of 3), and gets help along the way from Vänna, a local 15-year old girl.

What I loved:
- The pace of the book, which alternates between "Before" (the wreckage on the beach) and "After" chapters, which is essentially a chase.

- El Akkad's writing style. This is a perfect example of literary fiction, with passages which read like poetry, and others which made me laugh. Examples at the end of this review.

- The dialogues between some of the refugees, which are stuck together on a rickety fishing boat for the illegal passage to Kos. There are reflections about politics, literature, religion, the West, often infused with a sarcastic sense of humour but also hope and morality.

- The subtle denunciation of toxic masculinity. When I say subtle - it would be easy to miss how certain male characters have fallen pray to violence, alcoholism, cynicism and exploitation because of pride and a patriarchal society's expectations of what a man must be like. There are some incredible lines of dialogue between a general (our "villain") and his soldiers, for example.

What would have made it an absolute masterpiece:

- A longer book with backstories for some characters. I would have loved to read more about Vänna's parents, madame El Ward, Umm Ibrahim, the African refugees stuck in the lower part of the boat, or even the smugglers...

- I only picked up on some messages/details of the book by reading an excellent interview of the author (available here:
https://www.powells.com/post/interviews/powells-interview-omar-el-akkad-author-of-what-strange-paradise )
I highly recommend reading the whole thing, but after reading the book, even though there are no major spoilers in it. Perhaps some references or ideas were too subtle for the general public (me included). For instance: the flora and fauna of the island is imaginary. I never would have picked up on it if not for the interview!

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫 (rounded up to 5) All in all, one of my favourite 2021 reads so far, and a highly recommended one if you want to educate yourself on the refugee crisis whilst reading a suspenseful novel.

Thank you Net Galley and @panmacmillan for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I heard that El Akkad's debut novel (American War) is excellent too, so I will definitely pick it up!

Quotes:
"Years earlier, before he was disappeared, Loud Uncle said only a coward survives the absurd."

"There's no such thing as conflict. There's only scarcity, there's only need."

"The boat sailed on. At times the clouds overhead uncouple and a wash of moonlight gave the whole vessel shape. Hours passed. Amir waited for dawn, for light."

"But the two kinds of people in this world aren't good and bad - they're engines and fuel. Go ahead, change your country, change your name, change your accent, pull the skin right off your bones, but in their eyes they will always be engines and you will always, always be fuel."

"... they will write to politicians on your behalf, they will cry on your behalf, but you are to them in the end nothing but a hook on which to hang the best possible image of themselves. Today you are the only boy in the world and tomorrow it will be as though you never existed."

"The child lies on the shore. All around him the beach is littered with the wreckage of the boat and the wreckage of it's passengers."

So begins What Strange Paradise a relentlessly thought-provoking new book by Omar El Akkad.

Amir is the sole survivor of a ship filled wtth refugess which was wrecked on the shore of an unnamed Island. Amir has already faced so much in his young life and now he finds himself alone in a hostile new place where he doesn't know the language.

Vanna is a fifteen year old girl who has lived on the island her whole life and feels like an outsider even within her own family. When she encounters Amir she feels the need to help him despite the fact they have no common language.

Many of the adults on the island view the wreckages as an inconvenience at best and have stopped seeing the bodies as people.

"In the last year it has happened with such frequency that many of the nations on whose tourism the islands economy depends have issued travel advisories. The hotels, and resorts, in turn have offerred discounts. Between them, the coast guard and the morgue keep a partial count of the dead, and as of this morning it stands at 1,026 but this number is as much an abstraction as the dead themselves are to the people who live here, to whom all the shipwrecks of the previous year are a single shipwreck, all the bodies a single body."

There were several passages in this eye-opening book that will stay with me for a long time after finishing the book:

"And when you finally get over there to the promised land, and you see how those dignified, civilised Westerners treat you - when you find out what they expect of you is to live your whole life like a dog under their dinner table - I'll wait for you to come find me to apologise .

You think the black market is bad Brother, wait till you see the white market."

With the recent events in Afghanistan this final quote has been on my mind a lot in the last few days and should serve as a reminder that empathy for refuges shouldn't just be a temporary thing.

"You are the temporary object of their fraudulent outrage, their fraudulent grief, they will march on the streets on your behalf, they will write to politicians on your behalf, they will cry on your behalf, but you are to them in the end nothing but a hook on which to hang the best possible image of themselves. Today you are the only boy in the world and tomorrow it will as though you never existed."

A must read book.

I honestly have no words after finishing this book.

It's heartbreaking. If you were reading the news around 2015, you might've seen the photograph of the 'boy on the beach', Alan Kurdi. A three-year-old refugee who drowned, leading to his photo being plastered everywhere.

This book highlights one such experience, of Amir Utu, who finds himself on an island all alone. With the help of Vänna, a girl who decides to keep him safe, he tries to survive in the only way he knows how- by running.Told through two timelines of 'Before' and 'After', we learn how Amir found himself on the island, and what happens next.

I want to say this book is written beautifully, but no matter how you word it, you can't escape the tough topic of the refugee crisis that is an integral part of the story. I couldn't tear my eyes away, knowing something bad was coming, something bad was definitely going to happen, and it would break me. I feel empty.

I couldn't recommend this book highly enough. READ IT!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an e-arc.

More bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. Another overfilled, 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 back in their homelands. But miraculously, someone has survived the passage: nine-year-old Amir, a Syrian boy who is soon rescued by Vanna. Vanna is a teenage girl, who, despite being native to the island, experiences her own sense of homelessness in a place and among people she has come to disdain. And though Vanna and Amir are complete strangers, though they don't speak a common language, Vanna is determined to do whatever it takes to save the boy.

There are some books that to me are essential. Like they have such a strong message and are so important. What Strange Paradise is without a shadow of a doubt heartbreaking in a way that it could not affect you. I was also inspired and amazed by the bravery of not just Amir but all of the refugees in the story. I was thankful for the compassion shown by people and I'm incredibly grateful I got to read this book

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

What Strange Paradise is award-winning and critically acclaimed Canadian investigative journalist El Akkad’s compelling yet heartbreakingly tender novel that tells the story of the international refugee crisis through the experiences of Amir, a Syrian boy who washes up on the shore of a small island. Amir Utu is a 9-year-old boy who flees the hellish violence of civil war in his Syrian motherland in search of safety, ending up initially on Egyptian soil. Alongside his mother, baby stepbrother and stepfather, Younis, the family have swapped all of their worldly possessions to pay the fee demanded by the smugglers for their passage to Egypt. Once there, Amir then manages to seemingly serendipitously and accidentally clamber aboard a repurposed fishing boat heading North from the port of Alexandria towards Europe and The West, after following Younis, and once they reach shore they hope they will be able to successfully claim asylum. However, the decision to board The Calypso, the ramshackle boat bound for the Greek island of Kos may be one they both (live to) regret. As the seafaring adventure turns into a nightmare of massive proportions the vessel overloaded with desperate migrants begins to capsize in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea precipitated by a deadly storm.

The sea rages and the winds roar and those aboard becoming increasingly exhausted and hungry. People perish and their bodies become lost at sea; part of the omnipresent wave of corpses found washing up on European shorelines over the past decade in particular. Amir is the only survivor in the throng of undocumented migrants initially buoyed by the idea of safety and a better life who put all of their faith in an overladen vessel. When he awakens among the sand dunes scared and alone he is accosted by a swarm of agitated men yelling at him in a foreign language and happens upon a 15-year-old local girl named Vänna Hermes who informs him that soldiers frequently comb the beach looking for unwanted new arrivals. She becomes a much-needed ally in his fight for survival and she not only conceals him from the eagle eyes of the patrolling colonel but feeds and clothes him too. Her mission is to help him avoid detention and keep him safe until another altruist can ferry him to the mainland in two days time. This is a captivating and searingly profound novel that illustrates just how exquisite simple stories told beautifully and packed with heart and soul can be. It is told in chapters that alternate between before - during the treacherous and lengthy voyage - and after - when he meets Vänna.

A riveting, compassionate and visceral tale reflective of the real-life horrors migrants often witness, it was heartwarming to see Amir and Vänna overcoming their language, cultural and religious differences and learning to speak through kind gestures, but on the other hand, we have the cruel and empathy-bankrupt soldiers who want those seeking safer quarters off their soil. Vänna is a friend to Amir in a hostile world. Using lyrical prose, El Akkad captures the plight of those who leave everything behind and sell all their possessions just for a chance to be safe and to have the opportunity to thrive. Within the incisive narrative, there are didactic passages on the causes of oppression, migration and displacement as well as the current refugee crisis, and if you don't feel your soul stirring at the timely subject matter you simply mustn't be human. There is a compelling contrast between humourous and solemn moments, humanity and brutality and you quickly become thoroughly invested in Amir and his story. But rather than focusing on the causes of migration, El Akkad has woven a character-driven action-adventure novel written from Amir’s perspective and gives a feeling and sense of the crisis on a personal rather than a political level and rehumanises discourse on the topic of immigration. This is fiction that doesn’t forget. Highly recommended.