The Book of Jonas: Book Review

Time for another book review! I love this blogher program! I get to read new books for free and get a little coffee money for writing up what I thought! Pretty awesome deal considering I am by no means a professional.

The short version of this is: READ IT.

The somewhat longer version is that I really enjoyed reading it. The story follows a young man from a middle-eastern village that has been destroyed by the United States. He takes you back and forth through time from the night it happened, to a painful adolescence in an american high school, to his young adult life. His life falls apart the longer he tries to forget the trauma he's been though and bit by bit he reveals his story to a therapist. He has an intense experience with a US soldier and struggles with how to put this all behind him. He doesn't know much to share with others, especially the soldier's grieving mother. Reading this book is like reading his diary and provides such a powerful perspective of the refugee in America- a perspective I am certainly not privy to. This novel is a pretty quick read, and was hard to put down. It was a real 'meat and potatoes' book, if I can call it that. Rich themes and ethical questions worth thinking about. It's always a good sign when you realize you can't wait to finish it and are equally sad to see it ending.

This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.