Children of the River - Linda Crew

Children of the River by Linda Crew was a really enjoyable book. I loved reading about the struggle Sundara and her family had between trying to fit into America and giving up their ideals of Cambodian life. I thought it was interesting that at first Sundara thought the "American way of privacy" was strange because she said in Cambodia the whole family lived together under one roof - but at the same time, Sundara's bedroom was in the garage. Why didn't the family allow her to stay in the living room full time? Why was she sent to sleep in the garage? However, I did like it when Sundara later longed for the privacy of the garage when she had to move into the living room because of the cold winter. Slowly, the family started to learn and accept new ideas, yet they still held onto some of their traditions. At one point in the novel Sundara states "Sometimes it seemed Soka couldn't decide whether being American was the best thing in the world or the worst." (188) I think that Sundara and her family tried to make the best out of their horrible situation.

Another event that really stuck out to me was Moni's story. She tried so hard to please the Khmer way of life, but she would up being hurt in the end. She didn't marry the man she was attracted to because he was not a Khmer. Instead, she chose to make the others happy and married a Khmer because she thought it would be easier, but in the end, she had to divorce him because he needed to bring his number one wife and children over. I think this is one of the moments in the book where Sundara realizes that she has to be able to allow herself to like Jonathan and enjoy Jonathan and not solely worry about pleasing her family.

Finally, I like that the ending of the book was left open and Sundara didn't find out about her family. I was glad to hear that her sister was safe in a refugee camp, but I liked that she didn't know the fate of her parents and brother because that made the horrors of life in Camobodia even more realistic. I also really enjoyed the beginning when they just had to drop what they were doing and flee for their lives. It made the eminent danger that they were in even more realistic.

"Under the Persimmon Tree" by Suzanne Fisher Staples was an eye opening experience for me. This was the first novel that I have ever read about the Afghanistan culture and was interested from the first page when I noticed that this novel started in October of 2001 - merely one month after the bombing of the World Trade Center. I can still remember where I was when I watched the towers fall and I remember all the horrible, sad details in the days and months that followed that. However, I never once stopped to think about what was happening to the lives of the innocent in Afghanastan. I was too caught up in what was happening in my own country to stop and think about others. Well, this book made me think about it, and I am glad that it did.

I fell in love with both Nusrat and Najmah. Nusrat was so strong to follow her beliefs and her love to Afghanistan and live there while her husband went to take care of others. She completely embraced a new culture and lifestyle and found answers where she had none before. I could relate personally to Nusrat's struggle with her own religion because although I was baptised a Catholic, I was not raised in the Catholic church. When I was 27, after the death of both of my grandmothers, I started my own spiritual journey searching for answers. Like Nusrat, I researched different types of religions until I found one which I felt most comfortable with.

Najmah was also a strong character and it was heartbreaking to witness how quickly she lost her innocence. When the Taliban took Baba-jan and Nur, I was so sad for Najmah, but for some reason, it hit me even harder when he grabbed the burki - perhaps because the burki was just like Najmah - small and innocent. Then, when she witnesses her mother and Habib's deaths, my heart went out to this small girl. When the bombing at her home happens, she thinks the Americans are shooting the stars out of the sky (p. 64). This shows just how young and innocent she really is. And (p. 83) she thinks that she too might be dead because she is not aware of any of her senses. Najmah is only a young girl and within a matter of a few days, she becomes numb to death. She passes the dead, the beaten and the wounded without any thought because it death and pain are everywhere in her life after the bombing. I thought the scene in the book where Najmah is at the bazaar and sees the tent selling only one shoe for people who have lost legs in the land mines was horrifying.

I was also surprised to see the details of how some of the people in Afghanistan were living in 2001. The birthing process that Mada-jan goes through seemed almost medieval to me. She gave birth alone in her home with a dirt floor withoout drugs, cut the umbilical cord herself and then had her daughter clean up the blood and afterbirth. I can't imagine any woman in the United States going through that, but it was normal for this family. And, under different circumstances, I am sure that Mada-jan would have had a midwife to help her through the birthing process. However, I like how through Najmah's first hand narration, I got to see how backwards someone in her culture thinks Americans might be. I loved the scene where Najmah doesn't like sitting at the table because she feels like it is too far off of the ground and she realizes that her whole family lived (and slept) in a room the size of one room at Nusrat's home.

As in "Esperanza Rising" the idea of the 'evil' uncle also came up in this book. I guess this is because the laws towards women and land ownership are so different in other countries. In the United States at one point in history, women had no rights of land ownership if their husbands/fathers died. In both of these stories when the dominant male is taken out of his home, the women have to worry about the men's brothers coming to take over the property, and in both books the brothers were aggressive and domineering. If my father passed, today in 2010 in the US, my mother would just continue to live in her home and make mortgage payments. Her brother-in-law would have no claim over her and her possessions and it is scary that it is not that way for women in other countries. Even Nusrat will have no choices left to her in Afghanistan after they realize that Faiz is dead.

I thought the ending of the book was perfectly fitting. It was nice to see some happiness (Najmah's reunion with Nur) and it was relastic to see the unhappy endings (the fate of Baba-jan and Faiz). I would definitely recommend this book to adolescents and adults alike and I think that it is an important novel to include in any school curriculum. I think that a lot of prejudice exists in America against people of Middle Eastern descent - especially after 9/11 - and I think it is important to open the eyes of Americans to the stories of the innocent who were wounded just as badly as we were by the Taliban.