Refugee Bests UnBecoming (But please read both!)

In my years taking part in The Mighty Smackdown I’ve always found this first round to be the most problematic. Part of the challenge is that you often have very disparate reading experiences, but this is also complicated by the fact that the stakes are pretty high here in the first round. Zombie picks notwithstanding, when we jettison a book at this early stage it means that there is much less a chance of that book finding its way into your students’ hands. It’s this latter piece that really gave us pause in coming to our decision and while we fell pretty good about our decision to send Refugee forward, we wanted to recognize that there is something special about Unbecoming and give a real push for you to find some time for it in your reading lives.

Unbecoming is about three generations of women within one complex (aren’t they all?) family: Katie is 17 and, arguably, the spiritual centre of the novel, who lives with her mom, Caroline (and her brother, Chris). Their lives are turned on end by the reappearance of Mary, Caroline’s long estranged mother, into their lives. Mary is also grappling with Alzheimers (and the recent death of her partner, Jack). Katie is struggling with her identity (and who isn’t?), including her sexuality. Caroline is also struggling in many ways with what we could loosely (and probably, overly simplistically) term as abandonment issues. So, there is a lot going on here and I’m afraid that in listing these plot elements one after another like this I’ve probably made them sound trite, but while I’m the first to criticize a book that has so much going on plot-wise that it sacrifices depth of character for exposition or, worse, subtlety and nuance in style in favor of moving the plot forward, this is not that book. There are moments of grace and beauty that emerge frequently and I found myself, perhaps unexpectedly, moved by small moments and turns of phrase throughout the novel. It has elements of a mystery, as the dynamic Katie sets about getting to the heart of her grandmother’s potentially glamorous life and unlocking the source of her mother’s undisguised antipathy towards Mary. In the sections focused on Mary, Downham brings us into Mary’s past and into her illness, and the result is initially unsettling, even jarring at times, but ultimately moving and insightful. It is Katie who is at the heart of this story, however, and it is through her that we not only explore the complexities of her own becoming, but we are also presented with a window into her mother and her grandmother’s complex, and maybe tragic, lives. We were impressed with both the sophistication of the narrative structure and the eloquence with which Downham gives voice to such internal and external complexities. As beautiful as it is at times, we saw it as a read for a pretty sophisticated reader, and while there are kids I can think of that I’d want to get this book to right away, there are also many who may not have the maturity or the reading stamina to work through such a complex, if carefully woven narrative. I will note that in our Callingwood/SBS group of six, it was actually the two former high school teaching men who were the strongest champions of the book, which perhaps suggests that the book may find a wider audience than anticipated. This is a great book.

Ok, and all that was actually about the loser of the round!. One thing that we were all in agreement about, was that Refugee was a book that we could put in the hands of everyone from our upper elementary students to, say six university educated professionals, and expect that person to learn something substantial and connect with the reading experience in meaningful ways. Refugee is a book that is, in some ways, as straightforward as it is timely and important. It holds three narratives all featuring stories of refugees, beginning in, respectively, the late 1930s Germany, 1990s Cuba and present day Syria. Grantz has us moving rapidly back and forth between each narrative in short, and often dramatic, chapters and I suspect the effect of this will be hit or miss for readers. Within our group we had readers who ultimately flipped ahead and back to read the chapters of each narrative as a cohesive story, while others noted how interspersing the chapters allowed us to see the strong parallels in each narrative. While the writing and the narrative do not have the nuance and depth of Unbecoming it struck us all as a carefully crafted novel and a big part of that craft was ensuring that it could be accessible to students who are still developing readers. We could all see a place for this book in our classrooms, but we wouldn’t hesitate to get it in the hands of our kids - and within our group we already have our own children and a number of students reading it - for an independent read. The insights the author offers into these three distinct periods in time will likely be eye-opening for some of our younger students, but even for those of us with broader historical backgrounds juxtaposing the refugee experience over some eighty years cannot help but force us to reflect on the political forces twittering away the futures of vulnerable people throughout the world. This is an enjoyable reading experience, with action and drama that will appeal to even reluctant readers and it is a valuable text that teaches without being didactic. There is a lot going on in the book, and while it might lack some of the rhetorical flourishes that we’ll see in what looks like another very strong Smackdown field, it was ultimately Refugee’s accessibility and and deep-seated plea for empathy that pushes it onto the next round for us.