Reviews:
(2 months ago) |
28 Aug, 2024
The writing in this book is beautiful and evocative and it is clear that the author has tapped into his own experience as a refugee to accurately portray what life in a refugee camp is like. The lack of privacy, the communal toilets in an open field, the nosy neighbours, the suffocating feeling of living your life in full view of everyone else, are so eloquently described that there is no escape for the reader from this harsh reality. But this book is not bogged down by this. Instead it focuses on the fierce and unrelentingly live between Saba and Hagos, their coming of age in an alien and hostile environment and their determination not to let the traditions and ingrained misogyny of their homeland hold them back from being who they want to be.
Silence is My Mother Tongue gives a voice to the tens of thousands of people displaced by war, famine and disease. It sheds a light on their plight, their helplessness and the drastic actions they may resort to to keep their dreams alive. They say that to understand what a person is going through we need to walk a mile in their shoes. It's not always possible to do that. That's what books like this one are for.
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