What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad

​     What strange paradise awaits the weary travelers fleeing their native lands. In this instance, it’s the Greek island of Kos.  Amir, a nine year old, wake up on Kos’ shore to find himself the only survivor of a raft loaded, overloaded really, with aspiring immigrants.  Not wanted in this new land and unable to explain himself in a new language,  his prospects are bleak. And he has a n army colonel after him, a man with his own grudges to bear, a man who wants to check all the boxes on his lists, a man who believes in procedure and process above all.
     But first Amir is found by a local fifteen year old girl who decided to help him at all costs.
And so this is on a small scale a survival story and on a grand scale a contemplation on immigration.  Divided into before and after,  the former timeline  follows the harrowing boat journey to Kos and after is Amir’s story on Kos.  Both narratives work very well from a purely narrative perspective, they are compelling, and exceptionally rendered.  The author , no stranger to dire circumstances and conditions from his years as an international journalist, and no slouch when it comes to fictional writing as evidenced by his very impressive debut American War,  has a knack for scene setting, he creates places and really takes you there, it’s  almost disturbingly immersive  and as transporting as you’d ever hope a book to be. So as a work of fiction this book shines,
    Ideologically is another story. Immigration has been such a front and center topic for so much of the recent years and the fire burns brightly on both sides. This book…it’s easy to understand how it can be interpreted by either side. Pro immigration sentiment would mention  the inhumane conditions refugees flee and then are subjected to upon landing, the desperation, the privation, etc. Anti immigration camp might mention that the refugees in the book are not all that stoked on their potential future destinations. Indeed, they are mostly disparaging and critical of the places they are killing themselves to get to. The lofty , oddly entitled expectations of often uneducated, often nonEnglish (or language of choice) speaking, penniless people bringing nothing but themselves to the table might seem unreasonable to some.
    There’s no right answer with immigration, is there. There are plenty of studies that show immigration might be good for a society as a long game, but short game puts undeniable drain on the system.  Drain on the money that should, presumably, go toward already existing citizens. There are also some fascinating (at least from social psychology perspective) studies about how much the actual first and second generation immigrants do not support immigration.
     At any rate, this book, albeit obviously of a clearly partisan opinion, is an interesting contribution to that no right answer conversation. It provides the emotional side of things with consideration and poignancy.  Good fiction should stir the mind. Recommended.