Refugee revolves around Bosnian rape victims, from young girls to older women, and their struggle with memories and blackouts in the new and foreign environment of Sweden. They desist catatonic depression and take stand against the victim mark often imposed by society. The central character, Almasa, learns to slowly embrace humour as a form of defence and eventually let experiences of intimacy downsize those of violence.
Excerpt
Almasa, a woman already not young, a woman daily growing less Bosnian but not becoming more Swedish, a woman with irrepressible memories of violence, a woman looking for intimacy and home, writes, 'It didn't happen in a day. It wasn't a spontaneous reaction of anguished souls that rushed into our homes like starving dogs to devour our provisions. Nothing like that. At least not in my hometown. Bosnia is a small country, but the war had many faces. The stories of its every man, woman and child make a ladder to the moon of suppressed memories.'
Professional Reviews
Szirine
Adnan’s book is a collection of stories and essays inspired from his personal experiences as a Bosnian refugee uprooted from his homeland and forced to settle into a new life in Sweden. He documents with powerful fiction and non-fiction his psychological struggles to come to terms with both the horrors of war and life on the refugee road.
About one year ago, Szirine Magazine received from Adnan an unpolished story titled “The Smell.” Recognizing the tremendous power and beauty of this story, Szirine’s editor-in-chief worked closely with Adnan to polish it. Szirine Magazine then encouraged Adnan to publish “The Smell” as part of a larger collection of his stories and essays. [Refuge]e is the amazing result. This collaboration represents what Szirine Magazine has to offer to non-native English writers: a third space where Szirine Magazine's editors actively collaborate with the author to bring the powerful voice of other cultures into the English speaking world.
Dear Adnan,
I look forward reading this book, I have campaigned on behalf of the Bosnians, and I am so very sorry for the horrors they were subjected to, in the middle of civilized Europe.
I am glad you wrote about their travails.
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