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What Strange Paradise
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
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What Strange Paradise
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Publisher's summary
From the widely acclaimed author of American War, Omar El Ekkad, a beautifully written, unrelentingly dramatic and profoundly moving novel that brings the global refugee crisis down to the level of a child’s eyes.
More bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. Another over-filled, 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 in their homelands. And only one had made the passage: nine-year-old Amir, a Syrian boy who has the good fortune to fall into the hands not of the officials, but of Vänna, a teenage girl, native to the island, who lives inside her own sense of homelessness in a place and among people she has come to disdain. And though Vänna and Amir are complete strangers and don’t speak a common language, Vänna determines to do whatever it takes to save him.
In alternating chapters, we learn the story of Amir’s life and of how he came to be on the boat, and we follow the duo as they make their way towards a vision of safety. But as the novel unfurls, we begin to understand that this is not merely the story of two children finding their way through a hostile world. Omar El Akkad's What Strange Paradise is the story of our collective moment in this time - of empathy and indifference, of hope and despair - and of the way each of those things can blind us to reality, or guide us to a better one.
Critic reviews
"Deserves to be an instant classic. I haven’t loved a book this much in a long time.... What Strange Paradise...reads as a parable for our times.... Such beautiful writing.... This is an extraordinary book." (New York Times)
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What listeners say about What Strange Paradise
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 03-20-23
Captivating
Once you start, it’s hard to stop. This story, this journey, this kid, this life, it is one that really hit home. At a time where many are forced to leave the safety of their home and become dependent on the kindness of others, it is hoped that stories such as these serve as a useful reminder of the need for humanity to win. This was an incredible story of compassion, of service, and of humanity.
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