Reviews

Home Is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo

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pgreen0309's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

nextbestcoast's review

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5.0

This book in unbelievably gorgeous. The world that Safia built, the tenderness she shows to her characters, the gentle and painful interrogation of family and belonging- all of it will be on my mind for a long time. Highly, highly recommend.

candidlycaitlyn_mph's review

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

massi's review

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challenging mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

srfrq's review

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4.0

wow! wowowowoow!!

it kind of reminded me of ocean vuong at first but then took on a completely fantastical turn! so so beautiful, the metaphors, the imagery, the way she tied in events that took place earlier to later i was flipping back and forth.

nima's sinking in bodies of water to try and escape her life, her name, and then her completely dissolving into another reality?? and it's written as literal poetry? subhanAllaaaah!! it was so magical!

some fave quotes:

"it seems to me that this knowledge--that you could just as easily been any one of a hundred other people--is at the heart of empathy"

"how we mispronounce the language, how it wilts on our american tongues"

"maybe i am fading from this world to grow solid on the other side"

"and each time i think with something almost like relief that i will finally disappear my body returns and i think i've made the whole thing up"

"my loneliness grows teeth i feel them chewing at my stomach"

"i'm sorry you got this storm cloud for a daughter instead of the flowers you deserved"

"and reach finally to out to hold her hand right then the bus hits a bump in the pockmarked road my mother's hand pulls impossibly far away from mine to grab the rail above and i shove my fist deep into my pocket shame hot against my throat"

"and everything feels slowed down the moment broken into a string of smaller moments"

"since you love yesterday so much why not just stay here...and let me do the work of actually living of actually filling that life you've barely touched"

"i think i spent a long time hating myself thinking of myself as not enough thinking i was loving everyone i loved by wishing a better version of myself into their lives one more deserving more graceful i think i could have been a better friend to you instead of locking myself away inside my head and invented memories locking myself away inside the old photographs the old songs and letting my whole life happen without me"

i'd like to think the chapter called jazz towards the end was an homage to toni morrison and tied everything together so nicely, it made everything make sense! and it's so cool that i just finished reading jazz, and now i'll have this piece with me before i delve into paradise! :)