A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi (review)

The bomb that falls on Tareq's Syrian town kills much of his family, so his father decides to take his remaining children, Tareq and his younger sister Susan, and flee to Europe. The journey is far from easy: the checkpoints of Daesh (ISIS) are brutal moments of panic; beheadings are public spectacle in the towns they pass through; and ultimately, the journey to Greece across the Aegean Sea is one of horror after horror as people are swept away from the capsized raft or succumb to the elements. Narrated by Destiny itself in dueling tones of resignation and hopefulness, the story personalizes the devastation and violence of the Syrian war through Tareq's experience, while the landscape of the conflict, the decades/centuries-old factors that fuel it, and political machinations surrounding it are also laid out with clarity and accessibility. Abawi does not soften the images of war: Tareq witnesses girls being taken by the militia with full knowledge they will be sold as sex slaves; he sees decapitated heads on display; and he sees a mother and father swept away at sea and their rescued baby later die. For history and/or political science teachers looking to shake apathetic students awake, this could be paired with Sepetys' book about World War II refugees in 1945, Salt to the Sea (BCCB 2/16), for a multi-era look at the casualties of war. KQG