The Sound of Language by Amulya Malladi

The Sound of Language Reviews

• 
  Victoria

  Having spent the better part of my last ten years teaching students who've emigrated from a myriad of countries and having spent the better part of my life as both insider and outsider to one immigrant and host community or another, I deeply appreciated Malladi's ability to articulate, through her characters, the beliefs of both immigrants and host citizens, about each other.
  
  She expresses them both subtly and articulately, without any "lectures," not failing to elucidate the experiences and feelings that go into such opinions, and deftly showing how many are fallacies, yet nevertheless based in real experiences. She treats both communities as equally newcomers to a new relationship, and in this, maintains a balance of fairness. At the same time, Malladi clearly demonstrates where the balance of power resides in the relationship.
  
  I would strongly recommend this book for a middle or high school library. To newcomers, it demonstrates that their experience is that of many people, all over the world, not caused by their apparent uniqueness in a new culture, but by the nature of immigration and what it does to everyone. It offers an arms-length opportunity to consider subtleties they may have missed in their new culture, as well as many points of family and community comparison, for reflection.
  
  It is an especially informative book for students and families whose immigration experience may lay in the distant past and who may have lost touch with the experience of being foreign--the loss and the bewilderment of trying to figure out language and culture, while not losing one's self. Host culture students also face pressure to separate or disassociate themselves from newcomers and I especially like that this book offers a spectrum of responses--offering steps and examples of incremental change, rather than requiring a leap.
  
  The book invites newcomers, from both directions, to meet, and to benefit, from the relationship.
  
  (The author is a former resident of Silicon Valley who emigrated from India, and subsequently immigrated to Denmark. There are questions for discussion in the back of the book.)
• 
  Ahtims

  another gem of a book from Amulya Malladi. I had loved all her previous books. This one too did not disappoint me, though the beginning was a bit dull and dragging. Later on, the story picked up. I came to know of a whole new culture - the Danish one, and a not so foreign culture - the Afghan. This book deals with the hardships of Afghan refugees who seek asylum in Denmark. How many Danes see them with suspicious eyes, how the Afghans are defensive and insecure and how they tackle the situations. I was introduced to bee keeping which is a totally new subject for me, though there are many books based on bee keeping. I am not that fond of honey, but reading this book made me go to the kitchen and indulge in licking honey off my fingers, and it even tasted superb!. I wish Malladi writes more and more books. I would definitely devour her books.By the way, the author knows so much about Danes, because her husband is one, and she is settled there.
• 
  Vanessa

  Too much showing, not enough telling, but I found it immensely readable. I apparently am a sucker for beekeeping and learning new languages and stories about not belonging. But the super heavy authorial hand, oh, the super heavy authorial hand.
• 
  Deana

  I put off reading this book for what seemed like ever. I bought it when I was on a trip in Thailand back in 2011, when I was wandering through shops the first day and thought I'd need an English language book to keep me company if I got bored in my hotel room one evening. I wasn't super excited about it, but it was short, in English, and has bits and pieces about foreign languages in it aside from the main plot. But then it turned out that I had a blast in Thailand, and any time spent back in my hotel room was spent asleep. And then it has sat on my shelf for the last few years, though I keep noticing it and thinking I should pick it up.
  
  I finally dusted it off this month (for a challenge, of course) and I'm so glad I did! It turned out to be a wonderful story, not just for the language aspects, but also for the culture and plot of the story. The main character has relocated to Denmark from Afghanistan to escape war, and is trying to make her way in Danish society despite the prejudices of the citizens. As part of her assimilation process, she is assigned an apprenticeship with a recently widowed beekeeper. At the beginning, the story felt a little corny and forced, but by the end I was in love with all of the characters.
  
  It was really interesting to me to learn about Denmark, the pride they take in their language, and the requirements they place on those who immigrate to their country. I also saw a lot of parallels to some of the beliefs and actions taking place in my own country at both the large and small scale. Lots of different views are portrayed in this novel, some of which could be considered a little controversial or odd by the standards of our culture. Lots to think about.
  
  The authors notes and interview at the end of the book were also very interesting, talking about her own experience moving to Denmark.
• 
  Chahrazad

  Another diasporic novel. I am very fascinated by literature of migration; it somehow brings most of life's experience, emotions, and troubles in a concentrated form. And when it tells women's journeys, it gets even more complex.
  
  This is the first of Malladi's books I read, and it was quite a pleasant read. Malladi's style is smooth and her sentences flow. She captured in this one some (not to say all) of the main issues that migrants, especially Muslim migrants, face in White Europe.
  The issue of homecoming is present throughout the story and experienced by different characters, men and women equally. Racial and ethnic differences are brought to light as well as cultural differences.
• 
  Stef Rozitis

  Complex. Very carefully researched. This tells the story of an Afghan refugee woman in Denmark and her friendships with Afghans as well as emerging friendships with Danes. Who is she really? She can't live as she did back in Afghanistan but she also can't live as a Danish woman.
  
  She goes to work for a salty old widower. Gunnar has lost his wife and all he wants to do is drink all day and watch TV, he is neglecting the hives of bees he and his wie were nurturing together. The wife, Anna speaks through her beekeeping journal, voice from the past framing each chapter and inviting Raihana into the world of beekeeping and into the ability to build a new life in Denmark.
  
  Things are not perfect. Raihana is expected to marry again, women (both Danish and Afghan) in this book seem to put menfolk and children before themselves, although they rule the roost in the domestic sphere. I found that aspect of the book problematic along with some things about Gunnar's very entitled masculinity with more than a soupcon of learned helplessness.
  
  There are violent neo-nazi teenagers nearly ruining everything for Raihana and her family, but their new Danish friends and neighbours all come in like the tide to sort things out and show that not everyone is a xenophobe (at least not forever). Malladi has written the complexity well, she has not made any of the characters too good to be true, all have flaws and conflicts. We don't know if Raihana will be happy in her marriage at the end and we don't know what happens to the neo-nazi boys but we've had a chance to care about the lives of the characters and to think about complexities of language, belonging, identity and happiness.
  
  I was glad to read this book and appreciated that the chapters were quite short and flowed so well.
• 
  Deepa

  The violence and war in Afghanistan claim the lives of Raihana’s husband, family, and unborn child. She seeks asylum in Denmark, and her distant relatives, who are also refugees, let her live with them. To integrate into the Danish society, she has to learn Danish and do an internship. For her internship, she is placed with a Danish beekeeper. Consumed by the loss of his wife Anna, the Beekeeper, Gunnar has withdrawn from society, despite his friends’ and family’s attempts to draw him back to life. Gunnar is initially reluctant to take on an Afghan refugee. Finally, after much coaxing, by Raihana’s language teacher, Christina, Gunnar agrees to take on Raihana for just a week to see whether the arrangement works. However, despite language barriers, a friendship blooms between the two, and Gunnar recovers his lost interest in bees and life. He is able to see Raihana and her relatives for who they are, and they are able to see him for who he is.
  Amulya Malladi has crafted a beautiful story that reflects the hardships people forced to flee their lands face in their countries of refuge. The story highlights anti-immigrant sentiments, the stereotypes and distrust that the host society and refugees have of each other, and how engaging with the ‘other’ can strike beautiful friendships. Aside from these highlights, the story also provides the reader with insights into beekeeping.
• 
  Smitha

  Raihana, a refugee from war-torn Afghanistan has been offered refuge in Denmark, thanks to a distant cousin of hers. She doesn’t know what happened to her husband, doesn’t know how to find out either. All that she can do is try putting away her past, and forge a new life for herself in a strange land, where she did not even know the language. As an immigrant in Denmark, she needs to learn Danish, and starts off in a language school. Part of the process of learning Danish is working in some sort of business so that the immigrants learn how to speak Danish and blend themselves with the local culture better. Most of her compatriots end up working stocking shelves in supermarkets, but Raihana apprentices herself to a widowed beekeeper, Gunnar. She thinks that it is rather apt, because she finds that Danish sounds like bees buzzing, to those who don’t understand it.
  
  Gunnar is a recent widower. Ever since his wife’s death, he has not been himself. He has not bothered looking after for himself, or the bees that he and his wife tended to, so lovingly. His friends and family have been worried about him, but soon, they have another worry – his new apprentice, Raihana. Gunnar himself was not jumping with joy at having Raihana in his house. He preferred to be left to his own sorrow. Nothing mattered to him any more. However, once he got over the shock of having Raihana as his assitant, he slowly starts pulling himself together. Slowly, he goes back into the bees, and starts teaching Raihana, everything he knew. Teaching the young refugee about bee keeping and Danish seemed to have a therapeutic effect on Gunnar himself. Slowly, the immigrant and the widower forge a bond, a friendship, which is not viewed by others around them very kindly. A friendship that is as strong as it is unexpected. Just when Raihana starts getting comfortable in Danish society, and pushing her past out of her mind, when she is forced to confront certain realities.
  
  I loved the premise of the story. The lives of immigrants, of refugees who are forced to leave their country, sometimes to save their lives, sometimes to forge a better life and the ways in which they integrate themselves into the host country. Some like Raihana, go for it, wholeheartedly, giving it their all, while some, like some of her neighbours, just do what they have to do, or live off benefits. For a change, the book also looks at the situation from the point of view of the people of the host country. The reasons or prejudices why they find it difficult to help the refugees integrate. Of how it takes two to tango, it is as important for the hosts to be welcoming as it is for the immigrants to want to integrate. And above all, irrespective of the differences in outward appearances, internally, we are all the same, with the same type of emotions, and attachments. The story is also about Raihana as a person and her reactions, and her ways of adapting herself to the new place she finds herself.
  
  It was a beautiful story, a change from the regular run-of-the-mill sorts. The characters were well fleshed out. You could completely understand where each of them were coming from. The whole situation is handled in a very simplistic way, not really getting into more complex issues surrounding immigrants and their integration into the host country, but I think the book did achieve what it set off to do. There are a few things which do not quite sit right. Like the cover picture. It shows a woman in a hijab, but Raihana herself did not wear one, in fact she resisted pressure from others around her to wear a hijab. But that is a minor point, really, one that did not bother me too much. A book that I would certainly recommend. I would give it a 3.5/5.
• 
  Renata

  As a polyglot, I loved the premise of language separating people or bringing them together. Each language has its own way of being spoken, which new learners often struggle to pick up. And then there's the grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation - I could completely associate with Raihana's journey of learning a foreign language. Malladi aptly refers to Danish as the sound of bees buzzing. Combining language with a hobby/profession like beekeeping was an interesting premise indeed. Added to this, the underlying theme of refugees and immigrants brought another dimension to the story line. I have loved all of Malladi's books, and this one doesn't disappoint either. Give it a read and you'll pick up a smattering of Danish on the way.
• 
  Malcolm

  Among sociologists, the idea of the ‘sociological imagination’ is held up as an essential aspect of our scholarly practice where a vital component of work is seeing the general in the specific and the specific in the general; it sits alongside scholarly empathy (for the people with or about whom we work). This engaging novel is a fine example of the general in the specific.
  
  It starts from a seemingly mundane premise – Raihana, an Afghan refugee in Denmark, must, as part of her language classes, do a praktik, a kind of work experience programme to get experience of the language in a different setting. Most finish up in shops as cleaners or factories doing the less skilled work. Her teacher, however, arranges a praktik with a recently widowed bee keeper, and Raihana finds herself working with an elderly man. No-one seems all that happy: some of Gunnar’s family object to her presence (there is no shying away from the mundane daily racism that frames and runs through much of Europe’s refugee and immigration debate here), while Raihana’s family are concerned about a single woman working with a single (if elderly) man – the discourse of modesty and moral danger is nicely woven into this aspect of the story.
  
  Malladi has done well to present the sense of alienation that accompanies migration; the taken for granted aspects of everyday life that migrants need to learn but that many non-migrants don’t even realise they do, and through this she shows the importance of living and working with other migrants for whom everything is equally unusual. She has also done extremely well to use Gunnar & Raihana and their families to tell a much bigger story, but without losing the individuality of the characters; these are not two dimensional or stereotypes but in some cases for the central players at least rich and deep, from Raihana’s cousin convinced no Danes want them there, why else would it be so hard and the political discourse so hostile, to Gunnar’s daughter-in-law who learns to bite her tongue so as not to offend, and in doing so perform if not feel civility. Malladi also effectively builds on the fear caused by dislocation where although the physical danger is much less in Skive than it is in Kabul, the effects on some of the Afghan characters are similar.
  
  I’m a voluntary migrant into a country where I speak the language (even if oddly accented), with experiences nothing like refugees fleeing persecution, but Malladi (also a voluntary migrant) has managed to get into the everyday sense of weirdness that is how we live, at least for the first few years. The touch is light (although at times it does feel a little didactic) and in centring on the issue of language learning and mutual (in)comprehension the novel holds together well as a case in favour of both groups breaking their cultural barriers and step outside their comfort zones to learn and break the stereotypical views that pervade all parts of these debates.
  
  But this is not a sociological or political text – it is a novel, with engaging and believable characters, an entirely realistic and believable story, a lightly imposed authorial voice that more seems to guide the events that govern character responses and full of ordinary people finding their way through the circumstances life has conjured up for them. Just the thing for a summer weekend in the park…. engaging, well written and nuanced.
• 
  Shara

  This is a sweet book but not a very good book. I would have given it 2-1/2 stars if I could. My loose definition of stars is 1 star--not worth finishing; 2 stars--I finished it but wouldn't recommend it; 3--good, readable but no greatness; 4--excellent book but not classic-worthy or potentially a classic but I didn't love it; 5--saved for the best books only.
  The plot follows the experience of an Afghan woman who comes to Denmark as a refugee and learns to tend bee-hives from an older Danish widower. Unfortunately, the author does not make the people come to life for me. The basic theme--younger person who somehow does not fit in, who wins the heart of an older curmudgeon--has been done far too many times before and with more success. The book reads as a compendium of stereotypes--Muslim woman with trauma history, uptight Danish people who don't like or understand immigrants, a couple of neo-Nazi teens, a compulsive do-gooder who makes the initial introduction between the main character and her Danish host. There are a few novel insights for me about Danish society but fewer about the immigrant experience, as I have read better novels on the topic. I also noticed some errors of language and grammar that should have been corrected by a good editor.
• 
  James Frase-White

  I was hooked from the moment I read the dedication: "For refugees everywhere -- may you find home." One reviewer wrote "this is an impossibly beautiful book" and I do not disagree. The book is two in one: a beekeeper's journal provides a key thread to the main tale, of the immigrant Raihanna, seeking refuge from the Taliban in their slaughter of Afghan civil order and progress around them. Fleeing for her life to Denmark, Raihana struggles to learn the Danish language, which to her sounds like the buzzing of bees. The Danish people seem to react to immigrants much like many Americans, viewing these people not as seeking a safe haven, but as welfare moochers, seeking a free ride, on the tax money of the Danish people. The story that evolves, between a contrary, sorrowing beekeeping widower, and this young Muslim woman is like honey, sweet, and wrought with delicacy and danger. A perfect book to soothe you in these troubled times, so often filled with malice, misunderstanding, and many moments of goodness and grace.
• 
  Marwa

  A minor point: What's with the cover? The main character doesn't wear hijab, so why is the woman on the cover of the book wearing one?
  Overall: This book had so much potential, but it was as if the writer was too scared to dive into the more uncomfortable and shocking scenes.
• 
  Brittney

  R
• 
  Bola Nagy

  بمناسبة الأحداث في أفغانستان ...أرشح لكم رواية
  The sound of language
  
  صدرت الرواية عام 2007 ، عدد صفحات الرواية 256 ص
  الكاتبة هندية... حصلت علي بكالريوس هندسة الإلكترونيات من جامعة أوسمانيا في حيدر أباد في الهند، و درست الصحافة من جامعة ممفيس في أمريكا، و اشتغلت فترة كاتبة في شركة في سيليكون ڤالي ، و بعد كدة انتقلت للدنمارك و استقرت هناك ...و من هنا استلهمت أحداث الرواية دي ..
  الكاتبة كتبت في الرواية دي عن الأفغان الفاريين إلي اادنمارك من جحيم طالبان بعد وصولهم للحكم
  بعد وصول طالبان للحكم تم منع الأطباء من ممارسة المهنة .....و من استمر في المهنة كان يتم.قت.له ..
  ريحانة بطلة الرواية اللي اتدمرت حياتها بعد وصول طالبان للحكم...بتبدأ أحداث الرواية بانتقال ريحانة إلي الدنمارك .كلاجئة أفغانية هاربة من جحيم الحرب ، تبدو الدنمارك جنة للهاربين من الحروب بتسهيلات الحكومة بتوفير برامج حماية و دعم للمهاجرين ...و لكن أصعب شئ يواجه المهاجرين هو اللغة الدنماركية ..فلكي يحصل علي وظ��فة يجب الالتحاق بكورس لتعلم اللغة ..لكي يحصل علي شهادة اتقان اللغة ،تمكنه من العمل ، فبدت اللغة بالنسبة لريحانة مثل طنين النحل ..
  و في درس اللغة وجدت ريحانة نساء كثيرات هاربات من ويلات الحروب في بلدهم....فتحدث بينهم حوارات..لتتأكد ريحانة أنها ليس وحدها من تعاني ...
  و هناك أيضا ما يسمي بال
  Praktik
  و هو تدريب عمل للاجئين .. أنهم يتوظفوا للعمل عند أسرة دنماركية يتعلموا حرفة أو صنعة عشان يقدروا يصرفوا علي نفسهم ..
  ما بين دروس اللغة و ما بين الأسرة اللي ريحانة بتشتغل عندهم ...بتدور أحداث الرواية ...
  الشخصية المحورية ااتانية في الرواية هي شخصية جونار ..عجوز دنماركي ..يعاني من تجرية فقد دمرت حياته ...لديه هواية تربية النحل ..بمجرد وصول ريحانه له تتغير الأحداث ..
  شخصيتان عالمهم مدمر ما بين ريحانة الهاربة من جحيم الحرب، و جونار الحزين ..
  و في الأحداث ريحانة بتحكي الحادثة اللي دمرت أسرتها ، و عن حكم طالبان
  .و عن بحثها عن الحب خارج الوطن ..
  الكاتبة قدرت تقدم تنوع في الشخصيات الدنماركية و رؤيتهم لللاجئين ..ما بين شخصيات مؤيدة للاجئين و شخصيات رافضة لوجودهم .داخل البلد...و هناك شخصيات داخل الرواية تنتمي لأيدولوجية الناز.يين الجدد..و اللي بيمارسوا ار..هاب ضد المهاجرين و كأن البطلة هربت من جحيم لتجد جحيم أخر في انتظارها ...
  الرواية فيها تفاصيل كتير و حوارات كتير عن الحرب و الإ.رهاب و الصورة النمطية للشعوب ...التطرف الديني و التطرف الأيدولوجي ..إلخ
  الرواية بالتأكيد فيها جرعة من الحزن ..و لكن قررت الكاتبة توزن الحزن بنهاية سعيدة ...
  في قصة علي الرغم من الحزن إلا أنها مفعمة بالأمل و الفرصة الثانية و الأمل و البدء من جديد..
  الرواية أيضا تتحدث عن كل ما يخص تربية النحل ..هواية جونار ..
  الرواية أقل شهرة من روايات خالد حسيني ..لكنها أيضا تلقي الضوء علي حكم طالبان من زاوية أخري و هي اللاجئين و المهاجرين ...
  
  الكاتبة في أحد حواراتها بتقول أنها أول مرة سافرت الدنمارك كانت اللغة بالنسبالها عاملة زي طنين النحل ..
  الرواية مكتوبة باللغة الإنجليزية السهلة و البسيطة ..فهي مناسبة جدا
  Bad people do bad things to good people. That is the law of nature.
  
  people are good and bad, regardless of where they are from.”
  "We are creatures of desperate times."
• 
  lesenwanderer

  💭 “We are here and we live here. If you keep one foot in Afghanistan, you will be neither here nor there.”
  
  💭 (on Gunnar losing his wife) What a luxury, she thought enviously, that he could mourn his loss like this when her husband had disappeared. She would have liked to give up on life and cry until she was empty of tears; instead she had to brave a refugee camp, a new country and now a whole new language.
  
  💭 Having the Afghan girl around has certainly changed a few things for Gunnar. She always seemed happy. Content. Far removed from Gunnar’s mourning.
  
  💭She knew boys like this, had seen their cockiness, the hard glint in their eyes. Just because these boys were white didn’t mean they were different from the many young men she has seen in Afghanistan wearing bandoliers across their chests, carrying Kalashnikovs in their hands and hatred in their heart.
  
  💭 Would these Afghan men have been so liberal in Afghanistan? Did being in a different country really change them? Or would they always be this liberal, regardless of county? Would they change when they move back to Afghanistan?
  
  I’m always sceptical of narratives that come full circle, but it’s in these stories that we find hope and positivity in humanity. The spark of this story lies in Amulya Malladi’s ability to depict how otherness is always relative amidst the backdrop of racial tensions.
  
  In the thick of the action, there seemed to be little space for Raihana to grief for her traumatic past and journey from Kabul to Skive. In a completely foreign land as she tries to rebuild her life, every step is a terrified tentative tip toe as she struggles to find her footing in the heritage that she cannot fully accept and a new culture that she cannot fully grasp. Shackled by expectations and her trauma, the moments Raihana battled within herself were especially heartbreaking and real.
  
• 
  Alexis

  I read Amulya Malladi’s The Copenhagen Affair last month which set me onto an affinity with all things Danish. So when I found out the author had written another book set in Denmark, I knew I HAD to read it. Like The Copenhagen Affair, the story is set in Denmark and the protagonist are cultural transplants. But the similarities stop there. Whereas in The Copenhagen Affair the protagonists are expatriates who move to Denmark for either career choices or mental health breaks, the protagonist of The Sound of Language is a refugee seeking asylum in Denmark after leaving Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. This is story is unique and did not disappoint.
  
  Actually, this book revolves around two protagonists: Raihana, a young widow from Afghanistan, and Gunnar, and elderly Danish beekeeper whose wife, and beekeeping partner, recently passed away. Throughout the story we get to peer into equal parts local Danish customs and imported Afghan culture. It also delves into the at times troubled, and at times beautiful balance of assimilating into a new country while sharing one’s traditions and values of their home country. It’s also a story of an unlikely friendship, and their families being brought together in unity as well. ❤️
  
  Trigger warnings: Race-based hate crimes, Islamophobia, neo-nazis, death of a spouse, war
  
  I really enjoyed this book. As an English teacher of recently settled refugees in my locality (some being from Afghanistan too!) this book is very dear to my heart.
  
  Recommended for those seeking to read refugee’s stories, interested in Danish or Afghan culture, language teachers, or stories of unlikely friendships ❤️
• 
  Em

  This is a story about the life and challenges faced by refugees who settled in Denmark. Raihana, a refugee from Afghanistan had left a nightmarish life in Afghanistan and made Denmark her new home. She had lost her husband in the hands of the brutal Talibans and miscarried a child while fleeing the country. Being determined, she willed herself to learn Danish which to her sounded like the buzzing of bees. Coincidentally, she ended up working with a Danish widower who kept bees as part of her settlement agreement, akin to an internship. Initially, the Danish were prejudiced towards Raihana when she started to work on Gunnar's premises. They gossiped and talked Gunnar out of having Raihana as a bee helper. Gunnar however, fell on deaf ears as Raihana had gotten him out of his depression after the death of his wife, Anna. The two unlikely people gradually forged a friendship based on trust. Gradually, Gunnar and his family accepted Raihana and her Afghani host family and the walls of prejudice were knocked down. The malicious teenage neighbour who intentionally harmed Raihana was also put to justice with support from Gunnar and the neighours. The story has given me an insight into the challenges that refugees go through including fitting in with their host society. It is a story whose ending has left the readers with a sweet after taste, like the heather honey that Raihana and Gunnar have successfully and collaboratively produced.
• 
  Kristin

  Solid 3 stars. An interesting look at a new refugee's experience in Denmark, and the challenges/prejudice/learning difficulties such a person faces in the early years of his/her time in a new country. I enjoyed getting to know the main characters, Raihana and Gunnar, and found their relationship touching. I also enjoyed learning a bit about beekeeping. I do feel, however, that the book takes a very basic, somewhat surface look at the refugee experience, and the prejudice refugees often face in the hosting country. It's a good story for those who have little experience with refugee issues/stories, introducing some the most basic issues involved. But for those immersed in such stories, there isn't a ton of depth to the book. I do think the book does a good job highlighting how incredibly difficult it is to be a refugee in a new country, although there is a lot more mental health involved that is really only touched on briefly the book.
  
  Lines from the book that caught my eye:
  
  "The wings of honeybees stroke about 11,400 times per minute -hence the distinctive buzz."
  
  "You keep saying that people here [in the West] judge you because you are Muslim; because of the acts of a few terrorists, the entire following of Islam is now suspect, isn't that what you say? And you're doing the same thing, judging all Danes by the acts of those tree [Nazi] boys."
• 
  Sarah

  ‘The Sound of Language’ by Amulya Malladi teaches some hard lessons.
  .
  This book is about a refugee from Kabul, Raihana, who starts a new life with relatives in Denmark. As part of living in Denmark she must take Danish classes as well as have a job to further her Danish practice. Her teacher sets up a job with her beekeeper uncle, Gunnar, who is still grieving the recent loss of his wife. Together Raihana and Gunnar form an unexpected friendship and learn how to move on from their pasts together.
  .
  I both liked and disliked this book.
  .
  I liked the lessons it taught about resilience, strength, and embracing the present while not dwelling on the past. Those can be some hard subjects to tackle, but I felt Malladi did a good job showing these aspects among the characters and their situations. I also loved how the topic of stereotypes was discussed. There were so many accusations and stereotypes being thrown out by both the Afghan and Dane characters, yet Malladi constructed it as a learning opportunity, ultimately showing that one person’s actions do not define a whole nationality and that having an open mind can show you the goodness of others even if they are from a different culture than your own.
  .
  I wasn’t fond of the writing style. I found it repetitive at times and not overly engaging. I also found that the middle of the book was slow and I was very close to DNF’ing it.
• 
  Samantha

  The cover art on the book I read was stunning and when I learned it was the author's own work, I thought that made it even more perfect.
  I had been eager to read more from Malladi since reading The Copenhagen Affair and did a bit of a throwback as The Sound of Language is one of her earlier books. I've been hooked on her writing since reading my first book by her. The voice in her books is so clear and vivid with all the emotions of the characters.
  In this book, I instantly felt the struggles of the lead characters as they each tried to come to terms with their new reality.
  Raihana was so determined and I loved her spirit. As she started to break down Gunnar's walls and defenses, I was thrilled. To see him creep out from his isolated mourning and slowly begin to live again, it was pure magic at the hands of an Afghan girl.
  This book was so incredible at showing the perceptions from different cultures of people on one another. It was very eye-opening how each side thought the same things but claimed to be thinking differently. The honest realizations and the plans to move forward warmed my heart as well as gave me some perspective into my own thoughts.
  There's always such beauty in Malladi's words and stories; I cannot wait to read more of her books.
• 
  Puiu Mirela

  Este o poveste frumoasă dar și tristă. Este despre curaj, tărie, voință, despre efectele unui război fără sens. O tânără afgana reușește să fugă din Afganistan lăsând în urmă ororile, frica, groaza, dar și un soț decedat. Ajunge în Danemarca unde este nevoită să o ia de la capăt, să își clădească un viitor chiar dacă este printre străini. Nevoită să învețe limba daneză - condiție obligatorie pentru refugiații ce doreau să rămână aici - ajunge să lucreze în casa unui văduv Gunnar creând stupoare celor din jur. Din păcate, războiul își lasă amprenta în sufletul eroinei noastre iar mentalitatea oamenilor și prejudecățile fac și mai mult rău.
  O prietenie frumoasă dar greu de acceptat. Doua suflete rătăcite, triste, diferite dar unite prin durere. Fiecare a pierdut ceva/pe cineva. Va reuși Raihana să își clădească un viitor? Vor reuși cei doi să își vindece rănile?
  Mi-ar fi plăcut povestea sa fie mai detaliată, sentimentele eroilor noștri, trăirile lor, să fie mai complex descrise.
  Cartea se citește ușor iar finalul reușește să îți aducă zâmbetul pe buze.
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  Arliegh Kovacs

  I've loved every book by Malladi that I've read. This one isn't about families in or from India. It's about those who emigrate from unsafe home countries to settle in Denmark. To stay in their new nation they are required to take classes to learn to speak Danish and then to work at a practice job.
  One young woman works for a beekeeper. A crotchety older man who has isolated himself after his wife's death. Mistrust of the emigrants on the part of the Danish and and of the emigrants for the Danish is a prevailing theme. Expectations and acceptance is another. Oh, and you learn some awesome things about beekeeping...
  I highly recommend this one.
  
• 
  Jw Li

  i just happened upon this book many years ago but i really enjoyed it.
  I enjoyed reading about what seemed like another world, with a different set of rules, beliefs and customs. I appreciated how the author allowed the main characters relationship to bloom, while going through their respective struggles.
  There is many underlying lessons taught in this book. It was one of those books i shared with others.