kevinhendricks's review
3.0
I'm not a big fan of short stories, though this collection has a great premise—stories from countries banned under Donald Trump's first Muslim ban. It's a good introduction to some stories from cultures we don't normally pay much attention to.
indielittttt's review
4.0
Banthology: Stories from Banned Nations edited by Sarah Cleave
This was a great short read! The collection is comprised of 7 short stories by authors from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen - the 7 original countries in Trump’s 2017 travel ban. The stories examine borders and bans and how difficult it is to contain the human imagination. I loved this quote from the introduction so I’m going to share it with you: “Reading can be an escape, something transportive that takes you to different countries, cultures, and states of mind. It can take you to all the places that Donald Trump doesn’t want you to go.”
4/5⭐️
This was a great short read! The collection is comprised of 7 short stories by authors from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen - the 7 original countries in Trump’s 2017 travel ban. The stories examine borders and bans and how difficult it is to contain the human imagination. I loved this quote from the introduction so I’m going to share it with you: “Reading can be an escape, something transportive that takes you to different countries, cultures, and states of mind. It can take you to all the places that Donald Trump doesn’t want you to go.”
4/5⭐️
elizabethlk's review
4.0
Banthology was a collection I was excited to read, the kind of collection that needs to be out in the world, and it definitely lived up to my hopes.
Since it is a short story anthology, there were some stories that I loved, some that I liked a lot, and some I was lukewarm on. Return Ticket by Najwa Binshatwan (trans. by Sawad Hussain), Jujube by Ubah Cristina Ali Farah (trans. by Hope Campbell Gustafson), and Storyteller by Anoud were my absolute favourites, the exact kind of short stories that make me want to read short stories. Birds of Paradise by Rania Mamoun (trans. by Ruth Ahmedzai) and The Slow Man by Wajdi al-Ahdal (trans. by William M. Hutchins were both fascinating stories that I enjoyed as well (even if the love wasn't to the same degree. I wasn't as keen on The Beginner's Guide to Smuggling by Zaher Omareen (trans. by Perween Richards and Basma Ghalayini) and Phantom Limb by Fereshteh Molavi, but I think they were just largely not to my taste.
Overall, I would definitely recommend the anthology!
Since it is a short story anthology, there were some stories that I loved, some that I liked a lot, and some I was lukewarm on. Return Ticket by Najwa Binshatwan (trans. by Sawad Hussain), Jujube by Ubah Cristina Ali Farah (trans. by Hope Campbell Gustafson), and Storyteller by Anoud were my absolute favourites, the exact kind of short stories that make me want to read short stories. Birds of Paradise by Rania Mamoun (trans. by Ruth Ahmedzai) and The Slow Man by Wajdi al-Ahdal (trans. by William M. Hutchins were both fascinating stories that I enjoyed as well (even if the love wasn't to the same degree. I wasn't as keen on The Beginner's Guide to Smuggling by Zaher Omareen (trans. by Perween Richards and Basma Ghalayini) and Phantom Limb by Fereshteh Molavi, but I think they were just largely not to my taste.
Overall, I would definitely recommend the anthology!
ldandridge's review
5.0
7 short stories, one from each of the nations involved in Trump’s travel ban targeted at Muslim-majority countries. I really enjoyed all of the stories and the anthology tied together beautifully.
More...