This is a beautiful and raw book of poetry. Ali Nuri expresses such powerful emotion through his poetry and allows the reader to feel his words very deeply. I admit that I don't know much about the events that Nuri talks about, but it was enlightening to read about them through his poetic lense. ( )

This collection of poems is a very moving account of how someone deals with a dual identity of being a refugee. He deals with the trauma of his experience as well as the day to day life he leads. ( )

How does an Arab immigrant to the US, living in Las Vegas...possibly the most American place on Earth's surface, parched and dry and hot and gaudy...process his fragmented identity? Who is he, why is he that person, and most of all...why should you care?

Because identity as an American is front and center in the life of the country in the 21st century. Because the answers to those questions matter more than ever. Historically immigration has stirred violent passions in the hoi polloi as the lower classes seek to be better than someone, anyone at all, and the upper classes seek to ensure their fiscal and social stranglehold on the national discourse that it may never be allowed to stray into a real, egalitarian call for justice.

This is what you see before you right now, theydies and gentlethem. The latest salvo in a long-running war against ordinary people by those who profit from their labor. And Ali Nuri, disadvantaged in this country by several layers of identity, has prospered, is contributing to the society that would turn on him in a heartbeat because he's darker skinned than the ideal held up to all who enter this closed and inbred culture.

The rest is TL;DR for the site. It's on my blog now.

#ReadingIsResistance to Othering the immigrant out of the national conversation. Understanding what someone feels is the best way I know of to overcome easy, lazy Othering. ( )