Fiction or Non-Fiction Experiences Crossing the Mediterranean Sea
September 1, 2021 8:40 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for fiction or creative non-fic recs on crossing the Med Sea to seek a better life.
Apologies if I'm asking this question "wrong", but I do genuinely want to learn about the dangers and obstacles of crossing the Mediterranean Sea to escape persecution / for a better life etc. It doesn't matter if the focus is on the life before/ life during/ life after. One book which I recently loved was Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Obviously the people crossing are not one homogenous group of people and all have different backgrounds/ reasons for crossing, so the more recs you can give me, the better.
Apologies if I'm asking this question "wrong", but I do genuinely want to learn about the dangers and obstacles of crossing the Mediterranean Sea to escape persecution / for a better life etc. It doesn't matter if the focus is on the life before/ life during/ life after. One book which I recently loved was Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Obviously the people crossing are not one homogenous group of people and all have different backgrounds/ reasons for crossing, so the more recs you can give me, the better.
This might not qualify, but could give an interesting historical perspective: Years of Glory by the historian Susan Miller tells the little-known story of the Moroccan Jewish lawyer who rescued refugees from Nazi Europe who had fled across the Mediterranean from Europe to Morocco.
posted by a sourceless light at 9:25 AM on September 1, 2021
posted by a sourceless light at 9:25 AM on September 1, 2021
The latest (last?) Powell's Indiespensable selection was Omar El Akkad's What Strange Paradise.
"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, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives back in their homelands. But miraculously, someone has survived the passage: nine-year-old Amir. He is soon rescued by Vänna, a teenage girl who, despite being native to the island, experiences her own sense of homelessness. Though Vänna and Amir are complete strangers, Vänna is determined to do whatever it takes to save the boy."
(That blurb makes it sound like a White Savior story, but it's really really not.)
posted by basalganglia at 12:29 PM on September 1, 2021
"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, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives back in their homelands. But miraculously, someone has survived the passage: nine-year-old Amir. He is soon rescued by Vänna, a teenage girl who, despite being native to the island, experiences her own sense of homelessness. Though Vänna and Amir are complete strangers, Vänna is determined to do whatever it takes to save the boy."
(That blurb makes it sound like a White Savior story, but it's really really not.)
posted by basalganglia at 12:29 PM on September 1, 2021
Best answer: This is not a book but a website with individual stories, people sharing their experience.
posted by 15L06 at 4:05 PM on September 1, 2021
posted by 15L06 at 4:05 PM on September 1, 2021
Again not sure if this qualifies but how about Welcome to Paradise by Mahi Binebine and maybe even Silence on the Shores by Leila Sebbar
posted by bigyellowtaxi at 4:31 AM on September 2, 2021
posted by bigyellowtaxi at 4:31 AM on September 2, 2021
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posted by quadrilaterals at 9:01 AM on September 1, 2021