Synopsis
More bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. Another overfilled, ill-equipped, dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers: Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives back in their homelands. But miraculously, someone has survived the passage: nine-year-old Amir, a Syrian boy who is soon rescued by Vänna. Vänna is a teenage girl, who, despite being native to the island, experiences her own sense of homelessness in a place and among people she has come to disdain. And though Vänna and Amir are complete strangers, though they don’t speak a common language, Vänna is determined to do whatever it takes to save the boy.
In alternating chapters, we learn about Amir’s life and how he came to be on the boat, and we follow him and the girl as they make their way toward safety. What Strange Paradise is the story of two children finding their way through a hostile world. But it is also a story of empathy and indifference, of hope and despair—and about the way each of those things can blind us to reality.
In alternating chapters, we learn about Amir’s life and how he came to be on the boat, and we follow him and the girl as they make their way toward safety. What Strange Paradise is the story of two children finding their way through a hostile world. But it is also a story of empathy and indifference, of hope and despair—and about the way each of those things can blind us to reality.
Titre original : What strange paradise (2021)
Moyenne
15.7
3 votes
BON
1 édition pour ce livre
2021 Editions Knopf
256 pages
20 juillet 2021
ISBN : 9780525657903
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Malgré les personnages de "méchants" un peu trop caricaturaux, l'écriture d'El Alkkad est très efficace et l'auteur réussit à dresser un portrait qui semble réaliste du voyage en mer et d'une petite île débordée par les arrivages de personnes migrantes. Il y a plusieurs moments touchants et l'alternance entre l'avant et l'après est bien utilisé pour faire avancer l'intrigue.