Title: In The Sea There Are Crocodiles
Author: Fabio Geda
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! When Enaitollah Akbari was about ten years old, his mother takes him from Afghanistan over the border to Pakistan away from the Taliban. It is there where he wakes one morning to find his mother gone and he is alone. He has to make his own way and figure out what to do with his life. It is the story of his journey through many countries, finding jobs, being deported and making friends, seeking the help of strangers and showing us what it is like to be an illegal in a foreign country.
It pulls at your heartstrings as this young boy overcomes, hunger, fatigue, border patrols, freezing, drowning and even death to eventually become a political refugee in Italy. It is a short read, but well worth it. It is interesting to see what life was like for a 10 year old boy as he struggles to find a safe, happy life somewhere out there. It is a unique book that shows the resilience of the human spirit. He sees many others fall along the way, but he somehow makes it despite overwhelming odds. It is a good read and you should definitely pick it up.
Thank you to our guest reviewer - Heather - Thanks for the great review Heather.
Publisher: Published August 9th 2011 by Doubleday Books (first published 2010)
ISBN: 9780385534734
Copyright: 2010
Pages: 215
Quick Review: 4 out of 5 stars
Why I Read It: It looked interesting.
Where I Obtained the Book: My sister-in-law sent it to me.
Synopsis: 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.
Author Biography: Born in Turin in 1972, Fabio Geda is an Italian novelist who works with children in difficulties. He writes for several Italian magazines and newspapers, and teaches creative writing in the most famous Italian school of storytelling (Scuola Holden, in Turin). IN THE SEA THERE ARE CROCODILES is his first book to be translated into English.
Other Reviews:
sounds like a fascinating and charming story! (I also have to say I absolutely love the cover)
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