Amir: friend on loan

by Amra Pajalic

Amir has been best friends with Dragan since they were in kinder and the boys are looking forward to starting high school together next year. Even though Amir’s parents are Bosnian Muslim and Dragan is of Serbian Orthodox background, the boys think of themselves as Australian and their cultural differences have never mattered ... until the Balkan war breaks out. Suddenly their families tell them that they are not supposed to be friends because Bosnians and Serbs are fighting overseas. Can they find a way to keep their friendship in the face of their families’ opposition?

64 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 2014

About the author

Amra Pajalić is an award-winning author, educator, and PhD researcher of Bosnian heritage whose work explores how fiction represents the Bosnian genocide.

Amra Pajalić won the 2009 Melbourne Prize for Literature's Civic Choice Award for her debut novel The Good Daughter, now re-released as Sabiha's Dilemma (Pishukin Press, 2022). The anthology she co-edited, Growing up Muslim in Australia (Allen and Unwin, 2014), was shortlisted for the 2015 Children's Book Council of the year awards and her memoir Things Nobody Knows But Me (Transit Lounge, 2019) was shortlisted for the 2020 National Biography Award. Her short story collection The Cuckoo's Song (Pishukin Press, 2022) features previously published and prize-winning stories.

She is the author of the Sassy Saints series, Sabiha's Dilemma, Alma's Loyalty, and Jesse's Triumph, and the forthcoming Seka Torlak historical-mystery series, beginning with the prequel The Tree That Stood Still and the first book in the series Time Kneels Between Mountains. Her companion essay collection Fragments of History: The Essays Behind the Story, examine the legacy of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

She works as a high school teacher and is completing a PhD in Creative Writing at La Trobe University exploring representations of the Bosnian genocide in fiction. Her work blends storytelling with historical analysis to confront dehumanisation and preserve cultural memory. Her website is www.amrapajalic.com.

Amra Pajalic also writes romance under pen name Mae Archer
https://www.goodreads.com/mae_archer

Be sure to follow Amra on BookBub for the latest on sales https://www.bookbub.com/authors/amra-...

Reviews

[Brit McCarthy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Goodreads and the author Amra Pajalic for providing me with a copy of this book.

Amir: Friend On Loan tells the story of Amir and Dragan, best friends living in Australia but with different ethnic backgrounds. This has never been a problem for their friendship, until the 'Serbs' invade Bosnia. Dragan is from Serbia and Amir from Bosnia. This causes all kinds of problems with their families and friends, and the boys find themselves not allowed to be friends anymore.

I thought this book would go on to prove that ethnic backgrounds should not be any reason for kids not be friends, but instead got the opposite. Amir and Dragan try to be friends without their parents knowledge but the pressure is mounting from their schoolmates, who are divided. I know that this sort of thing happens, and I know that when you have family in a country being invaded it's going to be hard for you. But why on earth take your anger out on people who no longer live in that country? Australia is a land of peace and prosperity and it's doors are open. There is such a wide diversity of backgrounds and we should all be able to live peacefully here in a country where there is no war. I thought it interesting that Amir identified himself as Australian - and why shouldn't he - but yet was dragged into a war he had no interest in by his parents and other parents in the community.

I was disappointed in the ending of this book. I felt the author could have done so much more with it, the fact that it is marketed to younger readers shouldn't make it short, and expanded these issues far more than she did and leave the young readers with a positive impression of how to overcome differences in the community and an understanding that everyone is different, but here we are all Australian. Instead, it felt a bit like, bad luck, no hope for you. I know there are places where this happens, but why not use your book to help bridge a gap and show that we are all the same? In a week where we happen to be celebrating and calling out for diverse books and characters, it especially feels like the author dropped the ball on this one. So much potential to really write some lessons for children of all ages, races and religions to be able to learn from.

2.5 Stars.

[Faruk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. This book gives us real and not sugar-coated reality of ethnic relations and life in general in Australia. I think it is pitch-perfect for the audience in terms of language and length. There's a lot to learn about the conflict in the Balkans and how it affected (negatively) communities from that area living in Australia. Being from ethnic background myself I can vouch that the book gives us the real picture of how war affected scores of immigrants living thousands of miles away. Without giving away any plot points or the ending I think there's plenty to celebrate about this book and there is a very positive message for all of us in this book. I would rather my children read books like this than some pretend "all is good in the land of down under" non-sense.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compelling novella perfectly pitched for upper primary/lower secondary students that chronicles the moment a shift occurs in the friendship between Amir, a Bosnian Muslim, and Dragan, a Serbian Christian, at the outbreak of the Balkans conflict. The writing is tight and rings with the truth of lived experience and, as in real life, there are no happy endings and things are not neatly resolved. Keen to seek out other books in this series (The Third Space series).

"Amir felt a cold chill. He realised something about this kind of war: that just because it was being fought overseas, didn't mean that there were no casualties at home." (P.62)

[Cassy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book as a Goodreads winner. This a good book for younger readers to help teach acceptance and cultural diversity.