| Title | : | Kiss the Dust |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0140368558 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780140368550 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 |
| Publication | : | First published April 1, 1991 |
Kiss the Dust Reviews
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Given how small this book was, and how slowly it started off, I am pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it.
The story follows twelve year old Tara Hawrami and her family as they are booted first from their comfortable life in Iraq to the mountains of Kurdistan, then to Iran, and finally to England, hoping to escape the Iran-Iraq War (I think that was the war, it never said specifically though) and the persecution that the Kurdish people were faced with.
I think that historical fiction is a great way to get an introduction to world issues, and this was no exception. I don't know much about the various conflicts in the Middle East, or indeed much about anything that happened between the end of WWII and the turn of the century, even though my parents grew up during the 60's and 70's.
Kiss the Dust served as really good insight to the discrimination that Kurdish people face throughout the Middle East and the world.
I drew a lot of parallels between this novel and
Between Shades of Gray, including the various camps and the uncertainty the family faced throughout. Even though the two novels are set in different times and places, the themes were very similar, and I do understand that things that happened in WWII did lead to many of the conflicts during the Cold War and the period that followed.
Another book this reminded me of was
Home is Beyond the Mountains, which I honestly haven't thought about in years. Again, it is set in a different time period, in WWI, although the region is the same. All three of these books have taught me a lot about the world, and again, I generally believe that historical fiction is a great way to do this, for any and all age groups.
I do feel like
Kiss the Dust itself was lacking a little bit in its plot development. In both of the other books I mentioned, there is loss early on and throughout the story. While I don't believe that all books need to have sadness or loss to be good, I do feel that in historical fiction it helps to give a larger picture of what the world was like at that time, and a larger picture of the author's message about that situation in writing their story. I kept expecting this type of loss, and then I was almost disappointed when it wasn't in this novel in the same way. Again, I'm not saying that all historical fiction should have death and loss, but I think that it adds something to the genre, and especially the war and refugee sub-genres.
I started off this week not wanting to read a book dealing with super heavy themes, but I eventually looked at this on my shelf at home, and I'm glad I did. I did really enjoy the story. I don't know if it's necessarily something I would reread any time soon, but I'll definitely keep it around in case I do decide to, and not give it away any time soon either. -
This book was really good. It reflected all the struggles that the Kurds are going through and the struggles that refugees are going through around the world, just to live their life. The writing was amazing and Laird really showed how they had lost their home and how it slowly seemed further and further away. It was really interesting, the way she showed how completely different the customs were in England and how hard it is for refugees to adjust. Laird showed that a lot of the people living in the west are ignorant, and live sheltered lives, having no idea what's going on in other places in the world. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the ending. I've found that I've never particularly like Laird's endings in her other books I've read because they're two abstract and in my opinion leave too much to the imagination. Overall though, I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone.
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The hallmark of an Elizabeth Laird book is research. Regardless of the topic, her books are always grounded very solidly in truth. I believe what she writes and that's a testament to her sensitivity as a writer. I adored
The Garbage King and in a sort of strange way Kiss the Dust is a little bit of a precursor to that book despite their vastly different subject area.
Kiss the Dust, written in 1991, is set initially in Iraq. Tara is living a comfortable life until her father's work with the Kurdish resistance becomes discovered by the Iraqi secret police. This results in Tara's family leaving the country and becoming refugees.
It's a sensitive, mature coming of age story for both Tara and her family. Set in a period of history I know very little about, Laird is clever at fleshing out her story with incidental detail without distracting from the central narrative. It's also intriguing to see how she constantly draws her story into discussing community, how people shape home regardless of where you thought your home was.
There were points in this book that became slow for me but I think that's possibly a personal thing of balancing my expectations against the actual narrative. Additionally I wasn't keen on the fact that the edition I read had a contextual preface in the front of it. I appreciate the necessity of context in a story of this nature but much prefer it to come after a book rather than at the front, before the actual story itself. -
This is one of the best books I have read about the Kurdish diaspora experience. Simple and direct in style, it follows a teenage girl from Suleymaniya in Iraq as her family takes refuge in the Zagros mountains, then cross the border into Iran, then move through several refugee camps, until finally receiving asylum in England. The book is both sensitive and detailed, describing events (and their causes) that few other mainstream books have tackled. These include:
* Tensions between Kurds and Saddam's regime before the Iran/Iraq war
* Unwillingness of young Kurdish men to be conscripted into Saddam's army to fight Iran (joining one enemy to fight another)
* Bombing raids conducted against Kurdish villages by Saddam's army in 1984-5, even before the genocide of Al Anfal officially began in 1986
* Extreme danger and difficulty of fleeing by foot and horseback over the Zagros Mountains to Iran
* Horrible conditions of refugee camps in Iran (barely any food, bug-infested shacks to live in, and the mistrust of Persians towards Kurds)
* Genuine friendships between Kurds and Arabs in Kurdish Iraq, despite governmental pressure and unfairness
* Desperation of refugees seeking asylum, and the lack of reliable information given to them
* Prison-like conditions in UK detention camps for asylum seekers
I really admire Elizabeth Laird for the great job she did describing all these things while still writing an engaging story appropriate for young adult readers. -
I’m not sure how I stumbled upon this book, but I read it when I was 10 years old and it had a lasting impact on me. I was living in a war zone of my own within a very unhappy family where outbursts of violence and conflict were a daily occurrence. I never felt safe within my own home and reading a story about a young girl around my own age being displaced from her home felt very akin to my own experience, despite the fact that I was living in a peaceful society. I think that connection to that character fostered within me a compassion for and desire to really get to know the struggle of those from other cultures that has been carried with me into my 30s. I am very grateful that I stumbled upon this book at such a young age.
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Read this book maybe 10 15 years ago, and glad I reread it again as I'd forgotten what all had happened but remembered enjoying it. Still enjoyed it, although the writing style is more YA than my norm.
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The story starts with an execution on the street witnessed by the young girl on the street. It then quickly escalated to her family having to flee to the mountains to join Kurdish freedom fighters. I found it interesting; the mother who fought to keep the family together and raise her children as best she could in a hostile environment, Arab neighbours willing to help their Kurdish neighbours, a father who maintained that to do the right thing was more important than anything, a brother caught up in the excitement of going off to be a freedom fighter and a village surviving and thriving despite indiscriminate bombings.
My friend gave me this book and I read it without realising it was a children's book. It explores the fictional life of a Kurdish family forced to flee Iraqi secret police during the time of the war between Iraq and Iran from the point of view of a young girl of 15. The writer conveys the confusion and desperation of what must be millions of Kurds during that time through this family. -
I had to read this for my English class when at school, but it is one that made a lasting impression on me, a book I've never forgotten, partly because it inspired me to write this poem, at age thirteen:
Freedom is not
waiting in the dust
for someone to pick up the pieces
so you can start again
Freedom is
making your own decisions
and deciding upon what
other people may ask of you
Freedom is not
frightening away hope
with fears of the past
and being locked away in it
Freedom is
letting yourself loose
and rediscovering the world
which you live in.
I don't remember much of the story itself, actually, apart from the fact that I was quite taken with the lead character. -
Please pardon any spelling errors and consider this review to be petty. Like many others, I read this in seventh grade for school. It was assigned a few months after the September 11, 2001 attacks. I remember wondering if there was a reason it was assigned then, or if every school had to read it. Reading this book as an adult brought back flickers of memories of reading it then. School comp/lit classes always made me hate reading, and I'd come home and dive into my pile of library books and ignore my homework. I also loathed my seventh grade teacher. Everyone who had her did. I was a real jerk to her, especially about this book. I couldn't relate to it, had no idea why we were reading it, and found it boring and confusing. As an adult, I was determined to read it in one sitting, which I did, and hoped for a different opinion. I'm ashamed that I still can't relate and that I'm critical of the writing: repeated prettysetting! Bombing! Long journey! Arguing! Long journey! Barely there emotions! This is clearly for young teens, and that's fine, but it really feelslike the author normally writes for adults, and is somehow holding back. The little kids add nothing to the story and annoyed me. From the way they were written, I wonder if the author had children the same age when she wrote this. Reading this in one sitting overall reinforced my lack of enjoyment or connection.
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If only I knew who did the jacket art to the original Heinemann edition. It's haunting. This was a new book when I read it to my 7 year old. I remember her being impressed that the family carried a samovar into exile in the mountains - and that was impressive, but even more impressive to me was that they managed it with a three-year-old. My daughter also laughed at Mrs. Amina's driving and Teriska Khan's shopping in London. There is a lot in this book, though, for an older child or adult to help understand what happens when to stay in your own land means death. The fear that you might have put others in danger, the sadness of a child missing their friends, a small child who only remembers a refugee camp as home, and finally the terror of settling in completely unfamiliar surroundings with people, sometimes unsympathetic, who do not understand a thing you say.
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I breezed through this book pretty quick given how simple it was. Although it was a refugee/war based story, it didn’t have alot of war elements like violence & etc. & I believe it’s because of the audience & the perspective it’s written from. It was refreshing to look at it from a different angle. I usually steer clear of war books because they tend to be too heavy.
The only thing I didn’t like was the constant changing & diversion from every situation they were in. They would get somewhere & immediately move without much elaboration on the place they were at. Sometimes I got tired of not seeing much development.
Overall, I love the writing style & the fact that this was centered around Kurds. They just don’t write books this way anymore -
A fictional story about a Kurdish family living in Iraq who has to flee across the mountains to Iran.
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A good read.
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This is a look into the life of a Kurdish girl in Iraq during a time of persecution of Kurds. Tara's father and brother are involved in the Kurd resistance, which makes it unsafe for them to remain in their home. The family fleas Kurdistan and Iraq, going to refugee camps in Iran. The refugee camp is cramped and dirty. The people are controlled in every way, even their messages to the outside world is limited. Tara's mother is ill when they arrive, and Tara must take care of the family and nurse her mother back to health. This experience of being the woman-in-charge forces Tara to grow up and see the world differently. When they are granted leave to visit relatives, Tara finds that she has a hard time relating to her cousin. She no longer is interested in talking about make up and shopping since these things have become so unimportant in her life. Finally, the family goes to London, where Tara's father has a job he hates and the family has barely enough money to survive. Tara, however, can go back to school and finish her education. She struggles as a new girl in a new school in a foreign language, but the book ends on a hopeful note. Tara, the reader can easily believe, will be fine.
Young teens can use this novel as a starting point to thinking about war and other social problems. It is a little predictable, but it's an interesting story. -
The beauty of this book is that it deals with a coming-of-age in the midst of most extraordinary and often horrific circumstances. Tara is young in the beginning. She is a slightly immature schoolgirl, and acts it. Her parents have sheltered her, she has a good home, schooling, and an Arab friend who does not look down on her simply because she is a Kurd, as so many other Arabs in Iraq do. Life is relatively simple and good.
Then, one day, everything changes. Tara witnesses a young Kurdish boy being executed, and her eyes begin to open. As events start to unravel around her, she learns many things: her father is a high-ranking leader in a rebellion, her uncle is a fighter, her mother is supportive, but afraid...her whole world begins to change.
Forced to flee their home, Tara learns many life lessons among the terror of village bombings, the misery of refugee camps and the threat of family illness. Tara, truly, comes of age. -
This is an absolutely fantastic book. I read it because I was hoping it would offer an accurate glimpse of Iraq for a unit I am doing with a sixth grade student whose sister is currently deployed there. It does. Although the book is about a Kurdish family during the Iraq-Iran War of the 1980s, all the information is still extremely accurate and useful. It explains that Kurdish and Arab are ethnicities split 20-80 percent (respectively) in Iraq. It deals with Islam not only as it applies to the 12-year-old Kurdish protaganist, but also how it is practices differently in Iran once her family flees there. Then it offers her perspective on Western culture when she finds herself in London. All this information would be great for any students grades 6-8 who need a view of the Middle East that has a more human face and feel.
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TW: Death, violence, war.
A historical fiction novel, this book revolves around Tara Hawrami, a Kurdish girl living in Iraq, and her family. Throughout the novel, the family must deal with the war between the Kurds and the Iraqis, with Tara’s uncle and brother both having joined the pesh murga, or resistance fighters. Tara must escape to the mountains to enter hiding, and then later flees to England, where she gains refugee status. Given the continuing importance of the conflicts in the Middle East, it is worthwhile for students to deepen their understanding of this region and its history. This novel would be most effective in a unit on political conflict and violence, multiculturalism, or family. -
A gripping story
Readers of all ages will find this novel absorbing and memorable, which delves into war, the fighting between two ethnic groups in Iraq and the impact it has on a teenage girl and her prosperous family. The characters are powerful and real with Tara, the protagonist, and her family fleeing the war-torn county, facing the unknown and a culture shock when she and her family seeks asylum in England. The story is relevant today and epitomizes what is going on in various parts of the world. The author reminds us that no matter what obstacles or catastrophes people may face, there is always hope. -
My edition had a blue background.
I remember how she manages to secure a capful of dettol in order to clean the dirty cell that her, her sister and mother are sent to.
When the family arrive in the UK they are confused the customs agents find the last bits of jewelry hidden in a pot of face cream and return them, but take a packet of white power which is medicine for her sister's foot infection.
She goes shopping with her mother, but can't read the packaging so they lick their fingers and run them down the seams of the packets of flour etc... to work out what they are.
She is devastated when she realises her little sister has forgotten their family home in Kurdistan. -
Kiss the Dust takes readers through all the levels of being a refugee.
We see Tara go from living at home with her family, going to school everyday and playing with her friends to the confusion of having to pack and leave home. Tara sneaks away with her family and lives in a small village. After unfortunate events at the village Tara's father hires men to lead the over a mountain. Tara stays at a refugee camp for a few days, lives with old friends, flies across the country and finally is safe.
Kiss the Dust makes readers happy and sad, frustrated and anxious.
