Yara Zgheib

This story of Sama and Hadi is told through alternating timelines from their lives in Syria and their attempts to live a free and safe life in the United States. In 2011, pro-democracy protests erupt in Syria, demanding the end of the authoritarian practices of the Assad regime, in place since 1971. As opposition militia form in 2012, the conflicts soon escalate into a civil war in Syria. The number of refugees over the next 5 years reaches 4.27 million in 2015, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. In 2017, not long after his inauguration, former President Trump enacted an Executive Order 13769 which was instituted to protect the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the US. This order banned entry for people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. This made it difficult for people get travel visas and re-entry back to US. The executive order would only change in 2021 after President Biden took office.

Sama moves to Boston ahead of Hadi where she is working on her dissertation on birds at Harvard University. When Hadi's father dies, he travels back to Syria for the funeral. At this time, Sama is pregnant and they are expecting their first child, a boy. What was supposed to be a relatively quick trip turns into an unexpected situation having Hadi deported back to Syria when he tries to return home to Sama and his son. Anxiety rises and the importance of family are paramount as the family fight to be reunited.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from NetGalley, Edelweiss and Atria Books. My review is voluntary and my unbiased opinion.… (más)

I wouldn't have come across this book if it hadn't been the December 2023 read for our local book group. I'm very glad I read it. This is a thought-provoking, poignant account of a Syrian couple who are living in the United States. They arrived for different reasons, and as the book opens, are separated by an unexpected change in the law, and some bad luck of timing.

The book is written with flashbacks as well as moving forward in the 'present' timeline of 2017, where the wife goes into early labour as her husband is detained at the airport and refused entry to the US. It's very well-written, and my only disappointment was that the ending leaves the future wide open rather than providing closure.

Definitely recommended.

Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2023/12/no-land-to-light-on-by-yara-zgheib....… (más)

I predict already that this will be my favorite book of 2019 and the favorite book of many. This story would easily work in other formats, such as movie and even college discussions. The Girls at 17 Swann Street is a story about a character named Ann Roux, originally from France, in the US with the love of her life Matthias, and how all the combined traumas and tragedies of her life led her to the residential home for anorexics and bulimics on 17 Swann Street. The street name denotes beauty, but this story clearly portrays how ugly the road is for those who suffer from either condition.

The story itself is written very elegantly. The words flow and captivate. The spacing of the dialogue makes it easy to understand exactly what is happening. The ending so very neatly tied up the beginning of the story and was so eloquent that I had tears in my eyes at the end. There are a lot of tearful moments in this story. The story really does give a 3D view of the good, the bad and the ugly. In fact, I was shocked at one statistic about the failure rate of recovering from an eating disorder if dismissed from the program in THREE MONTHS! The details were so amazing that it is hard to believe that this was not based on someone's actual account with anorexia.

Other things I like about the book: At the end, it discusses that if you see any part of yourself in any of the characters in this story to seek help. This is a very timely message as last month was National Suicide Month. And if you did not know that eating disorders are a mental disorder versus being OCD or defiant or having lack of willpower, you SO understand it is as this story lets you "hear" the continual mind-dialogue these poor girls hear on a constant basis daily. No rest for the mind, that is for sure!

I liked seeing the actual medical log pages of progress with Anna regaining the ability to eat normally on her own. Even with massive amounts of calories, weight gain was very slow due to the damage to long-term diet to her internal organs. I also appreciated the realism that no matter how nice people were or how much help was available, some ultimately were overcome with their own demons and they died. The Girls on 17 Swann Street were not there because life was pretty for them. They were there because life had taken very bad turns and twists and made them realize how UGLY life was! Therefore, I see the symbolism in the title, with the word "swan" bringing the idea of an ugly duckling has some living to do before he becomes a swan.

Most books I only want to read once. This one was so full of meaning and heart that I would pick it up again to read again. I am sure that every time I read it, I would "catch" something else that I did not catch the first time. Be prepared not to want to put this book down.… (más)

Representation: Asian main characters
Trigger warnings: War themes, refugee experiences, pregnancy, childbirth, hospitalisation, grief and loss depiction, death of a father, displacement, deportation

6.5/10, I picked this up from one of the two libraries I go to, the former one didn't have it I went to the latter one and this was a new arrival when I read this so I didn't know what to expect considering this is an adult novel and I haven't read from this author before and even though I found this well written I won't be picking this one up again due to the subject matters so where do I even begin? It starts with the main characters Hadi and Sama and it seems that since the beginning they already have an attraction to each other but it didn't take that long which I found unrealistic. The fact that the book jumps around from time to time and from place to place was hard to read however I could pick out a central storyline whereas the other pages were flashbacks or something along those lines. Did I mention that the main characters weren't the most developed ever? Only a few pages into the book starts to get devastating as Hadi's father dies so he has to return to Syria when Donald Trump passes a new law banning certain groups from entering The United States of America I don't understand why though and I'm not sure why the book is set in 2017 it's probably for cohesion reasons I guess. The book splits with one half revolving around Sama living alone and now with a premature son Nassem Deeb or Naseem for short and a character takes him away to hospitalise him. The other half was about Hadi who after being at his father's funeral decides to leave Syria only to discover the new law much to his shock. The ending was especially heartbreaking with everything left in the air, Naseem's fate unknown and me wondering whether they could ever unite again. This ends it on a low note. What a shame.… (más)