Refugees Are Not Unwelcome People

Book Review: Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing / Riverhead Books

Illustration:  Dan Williams

Sea Prayer is a short and powerful book written by Khaled Hosseini, the famous author of The Kite Runner. This book was published in 2018 and was inspired by the true story of Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian refugee boy who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea in September 2015 while trying to reach Europe.

The story is written as a letter from a father to his son Marwan. They are on a cold, moonlit beach waiting for a small boat to take them across the sea. The father remembers their old home in Homs, Syria before the war. He remembers Marwan's mother singing, the farm full of life, and how children turned bomb craters into swimming holes. Then the war came and destroyed everything. Now they are refugees with other people from Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Eritrea and Syria. The father is scared because he knows how deep, vast and indifferent the sea is, but he holds his son's hand and prays that the sea will know that his son is a precious cargo.

What I like: I like the emotional power of this book. Even though it has only 48 pages, it tells a whole life story. The language is very simple and poetic. The watercolor illustrations by Dan Williams show both sadness and hope very beautifully. It teaches us the pain of refugees and the love of a father.

What I don't like: I feel the book is too short. I wanted to know what happened to Marwan and his father after the journey. But maybe that is the point - the journey of thousands of refugees does not have a clear ending.

Why it is my favourite: This is my favourite book because it taught me empathy. It made me understand that refugees are not unwelcome people, they are just people searching for a safe home. Also, all the money from this book goes to help refugees, which makes it even more special.

Apeksha R. Tandel