The nine stories in the book reflect an aspect of Syrian life and culture and / or what it is like to be different in another country. The stories are told by different people and a variety of writing styles are used to suit the content of the story.
As an example Alligator, the longest of the stories, is a tale of racial intolerance in an American town, formerly known as Alligator, in Florida. Several stories are interwoven with the main one being the lynching of Syrian settlers in 1929. The story is revealed using a number of devices including newspaper articles and interviews from different time periods.
Once We Were Syrians involves the writing of an essay for school about the Syrian Refugee Crisis including comment on recent history of Syrian, especially the effect on refugees forced to relocate to another country. The speaker in this story is an older lady who is being interviewed by her great niece, though the girl's questions are not provided. The completed essay ends the story.
Ghusl describes the preparation of a body for burial in Syria, normally a ritual undertaken by men but in this case by a woman tenderly caring for her brother's body.
Other stories include:
- Disappearance - when a child disappears from the streets of New York, a mother fears for the safety of her own sons, restricting them to their appartment block. Then one disappears.
- Only Those who Struggle Succeed is centred around an event at an office Christmas party and the affects of that event on the life of a female employee as she tries to rise up the corporate ladder .
- Summer of the Shark concerns a group working in a call centre in America when disaster strikes in New York on September 11, 2001.
- A Girl in Three Acts tells the story of a young girl trying to adapt to a new life after the death of her parents
No comments:
Post a Comment