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On the day of his son’s fourteenth birthday, Hashem al-Souki lay somewhere in the Mediterranean, crammed in a wooden dinghy. His family was relatively safe―at least for the time being―in Egypt, where they had only just settled after fleeing their war-torn Damascus home three years prior. Traversing these unforgiving waters and the treacherous terrain that would follow was worth the slim chance of securing a safe home for his children in Sweden. If he failed, at least he would fail alone.?
Hashem’s story is tragically common, as desperate victims continue to embark on deadly journeys in search of freedom. Tracking the harrowing experiences of these brave refugees, The New Odyssey finally illuminates the shadowy networks that have facilitated the largest forced exodus since the end of World War II.
The Guardian’s first-ever migration correspondent, Patrick Kingsley has traveled through seventeen countries to put an indelible face on this overwhelming disaster. Embedding himself alongside the refugees, Kingsley reenacts their flight with hundreds of people across the choppy Mediterranean in the hopes of better understanding who helps or hinders their path to salvation. From the starving migrants who push through sandstorms with children strapped to their backs to the exploitive criminals who prey on them, from the smugglers who dangerously stretch the limits of their cargo space to the volunteers who uproot their own lives to hand out water bottles―what emerges is a kaleidoscope of humanity in the wake of tragedy. By simultaneously tracing the narrative of Hashem, who endured the trek not once but twice, Kingsley memorably creates a compassionate, visceral portrait of the mass migration in both its epic scope and its heartbreaking specificity.
Exposing the realities of this modern-day odyssey as well as the moral shortcomings evident in our own indifference, the result is a crucial call to arms and an unprecedented exploration of a world we too often choose not to know.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
January 10, 2017 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781524734268
- File size: 244886 KB
- Duration: 08:30:10
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Thomas Judd misses an opportunity in his narration of Kingsley's important new book about the refugee crisis facing Europe and the world. Much of the audiobook is story and character driven, but Judd doesn't do much to dramatize the action or separate the main characters from the background. The story of Hashem al-Souki, a Syrian refugee looking to make his way to Europe via hazardous routes, is the thread that holds the audiobook together. But Judd's performance just doesn't capture the difficulty and the hardship involved. His descriptions of the desperate journey are delivered in the same voice and the same rhythms as his discussions of immigration policy. Judd's performance might capture listeners' minds, but it won't tug at their heartstrings. G.S.D. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine -
September 19, 2016
Guardian migration correspondent Kingsley (How to Be Danish) has written a moving and timely book that presents the crisis of the subtitle in both microcosm and macrocosm. He opens with an episode from Syrian refugee Hashem al-Souki’s harrowing trek from his embattled home country in search of a safe haven for his family in Europe. Kingsley then pulls back to put al-Souki’s situation in context, convincingly arguing that while there is a refugee crisis, “it’s one caused largely by our response to the refugees, rather than by the refugees themselves.” He points out that the number of refugees leaving Turkish shores in 2015 for the stability of Northern Europe represents just 0.2% of the E.U.’s total population, an influx that “the world’s richest continent can feasibly absorb.” Kingsley also notes that the failure to create an “organized system of mass resettlement” contributed to the situation. Alternating sections tracing al-Souki’s odyssey help keep the reader grounded in the horrify-
ing realities of the tragedy, while carefully chosen details, such as smugglers setting up Facebook pages to attract business, demonstrate how even responses to crisis can become prosaic. Illus.
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