Don't Look Back by Achut Deng & Keely Hutton - 4 stars

[Booknblues]

I've been interested in the plight of displaced people around the world for several years and have been reading books about refugees from various countries to be better informed.

We don't have good answers to their suffering but the least we can do is offer empathy and understanding especially when we realize that many involved are children and only want to live with their families.

Sometimes that is not possible as with Achut Deng when she escaped rebels in South Sudan with her grandmother. She retells her story in Don't Look Back: A Memoir of War, Survival, and My Journey from Sudan to America. Her grandmother tells her "Don't look back, because it will slow you down."

This is a hard story, but it is ultimately one of life and survival. I encourage anyone at all interested to read it.

[Jen K]

Great review! I was waiting to see how you found the story.

I was in South Sudan for the month of October (for work), the first time after regular visits 14 years ago. It is still a difficult place with generational trauma and interrupted education. I read a few memoirs of those coming out of South Sudan a decade ago. I will have to check this one out as well.

[Booknblues]

Jen K wrote: "Great review! I was waiting to see how you found the story.

I was in South Sudan for the month of October (for work), the first time after regular visits 14 years ago. It is still a difficult pla..."

So many displaced people from that war. It is staggering.

Achut and her family fled the rebels in 1991. She spent the 90s in a refugee camp in Kenya and then was chosen to go to the US in around 2000.

I would be interested in your take on this as you have experience there.

[Jen K]

Such terrible tragedies and no good outcomes. I will try to find this one to read.

[Booknblues]

Jen K wrote: "Such terrible tragedies and no good outcomes. I will try to find this one to read."

I'll be interested in your take on it.