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June Book Club


The Ungrateful Refugee

The Ungrateful Refugee


by Dina Nayeri
See the source image


***PLEASE NOTE SPECIAL MEETING INFORMATION BELOW.***

What is it like to be a refugee? To be a refugee is to grapple with your place in society, attempting to reconcile the life you have known with a new, unfamiliar home. All this while bearing the burden of gratitude in your host nation: the expectation that you should be forever thankful for the space you have been allowed.

Aged eight, Dina Nayeri fled Iran along with her mother and brother, and lived in the crumbling shell of an Italian hotel-turned–refugee camp. Eventually she was granted asylum in America. She settled in Oklahoma, then made her way to Princeton. In this book, Nayeri weaves together her own vivid story with the stories of other refugees and asylum seekers in recent years. In these pages, a couple falls in love over the phone, and women gather to prepare the noodles that remind them of home. A closeted queer man tries to make his case truthfully as he seeks asylum, and a translator attempts to help new arrivals present their stories to officials.

Nayeri offers a new understanding of refugee life, confronting dangers from the metaphor of the swarm to the notion of “good” immigrants. She calls attention to the harmful way in which Western governments privilege certain dangers over others. Here are the real human stories of what it is like to be forced to flee your home, and to journey across borders in the hope of starting afresh.



 For more information contact:
Maureen Kinney
kinneymaureen6@gmail.com


The June Book Club will meet in person in the roofed picnic shelter of Riverside International Friendship Gardens. If the shelter is not available, we will meet at the Gardens entryway to select a different spot in the park, so bring a chair.  If weather is severe, we will meet via Zoom.


All participants should still Register!  Registrants will receive a backup Zoom link if the outdoor venue needs to be canceled.  They will also receive another timely email confirming whether or not the outdoor location is a "go."



When:
Monday, June 27, 2022, 6:30 PM until 8:00 PM
Where:
Riverside Park Internat'l Gardens, weather permitting. Backup Zoom link will also be sent.
La Crosse, WI  
Additional Info:
Category:
Book Club
Registration is required
Payment In Full In Advance Only
No Fee