Books like This Is Where I Am

This book has touched me profoundly.A novel with 2 voices, an asylum seeker, and a recently bereaved widow, we see both sides of their story and how they interact and understand or, often misunderstand each other. I always have believed that given a choice those who seek asylum would rather be in their own countries with what they know and understand, with the people they love and the culture they have been raised in. Who would walk away from family, friends and all they know unless they were desperate or in immediate danger? The choice they have made is one of survival. This book has confirmed that but also given me an insight to the very real tensions and realities that asylum seekers face. There is much in this book which makes you think and cringe at the way some sections of society and the press deal with the issue of refugees and asylum. (I write this knowing that I have friends and family who would close our county to refugees)The author has obviously researched the subject and has managed to show the reader that despite popular belief the life of an asylum seeker is far from easy. There is this (fairly long) quote by Abdi which just floored me“It Is not your money you give to us. It is the money society, in its kindness and wisdom, has decreed we may have. It is called humanity. Do you know this? When “humanity “is a concept, it is fine, but when it is one human being deciding on another’s right to be human, it is petty and unkind”This is an amazing book and by far the best book I have read in a long time, if you only read one book this year make it this one.