In the Sea There are Crocodiles

Based on the True Story of Enaiatollah Akbari

By: Fabio Geda

Narrated by: Mir Waiss Najibi

When ten-year-old Enaiatollah Akbari’s small village in Afghanistan falls prey to Taliban rule in early 2000, his mother shepherds the boy across the border into Pakistan but has to leave him there all alone to fend for himself. Thus begins Enaiat’s remarkable and often punish­ing five-year ordeal, which takes him through Iran, Turkey, and Greece before he seeks political asylum in Italy at the age of fifteen.

Along the way, Enaiat endures the crippling physical and emotional agony of dangerous border crossings, trekking across bitterly cold mountain pathways for days on end or being stuffed into the false bottom of a truck. But not every­one is as resourceful, resilient, or lucky as Enaiat, and there are many heart-wrenching casualties along the way.

Based on Enaiat’s close collaboration with Italian novelist Fabio Geda and expertly rendered in English by an award- winning translator, this novel reconstructs the young boy’s memories, perfectly preserving the childlike perspective and rhythms of an intimate oral history.

Told with humor and humanity, In the Sea There Are Crocodiles brilliantly captures Enaiat’s moving and engaging voice and lends urgency to an epic story of hope and survival.

Engrossing

Beautiful story. Sad but also uplifting. Enaiatollah Akbari describes his most difficult journey with optimism.

Incredible

It took a minute to get into the story but once I did I couldn't stop listening. At first the reader felt almost too adolescent in his approach but it grew on me. The interjections by Fabio were distracting and a bit pedantic. The story however is astounding; truly. A reminder of how incredibly privileged we are as Americans and how little we really know of hardship and survival. I would love to hear an update on Enaiatollah.

Really terrible narrator voice

Extremely hard to listen to because of very poor narrator quality. Story was inspiring and worth the read. Just would not recommend due to this specific narrator!

Couldn't get past the narration

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The narrator sounded inexperienced at best. He made the person/character he was narrating for sound childlike and the author/narrator interruptions sounded stilted and condescending.

What was most disappointing about Fabio Geda’s story?

The story was not bad in and of itself, though a bit slow, and might have been fine to read on paper.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Made me dislike the listening experience.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

A heartfelt story of a young boy's abandonment, struggles and survival. If actually written by the person who had the experience (it was based on a true story), rather than written down by the author trying to use real the person's "voice", it would have been better.