What Features of the Book Caused my Responses?
I am a historical fiction fan; I like my books to begin with a map and a specific date. Home is Beyond the Mountains does both (Lottridge, 2010, p. 7, 10). Third person narration is all right by me as long as the voice doesn’t have the effect of distancing the reader from the story. In this case I found the narration distancing at times, but wouldn’t have traded it for first person narration because of the clarity of the narrator; the writing flows well.
North Vancouver is home to a significant number of Iranians. In 2006, they comprised 25% of the total immigrant population (City of North Vancouver, n.d.). I’m curious about Iranian history, and intrigued to get a female’s perspective on it.
Finally, my father came to Canada as a refugee and I’m interested in reading about refugees’ experiences.
Responses Caused by the Reader’s Personal History
The setting was important to me as I read. I don’t know much about this setting; when Papa said that the soldiers in the garden were Turkish deserters (p. 13), I had no idea what he was talking about. Google image searches were helpful in allowing me to form a mental picture of what the landscape of the journey looked like.
The soldiers who steal food from the garden in the first scene of the book remind me of a story my father used to tell of the Russian soldiers arriving to take over their house when he was eight years old – I grew up understanding that soldiers coming to your house was a threat to your security.
I saw a lot of my children in these characters. Early in the book the cousins play school together (p. 15). This is currently my own children’s favourite game; there is a teacher’s strike in BC and they too keenly feel the desire to learn. At the start of the novel, Samira is nine. My eldest daughter, Ava, is eight and a half. Her cousin Ester is a similar age to my middle child, Phoebe. Samira’s sister, Maryam, is the same age as my son, Silas. Her death on page 29 was particularly hard to read for that reason.
Responses Caused by the Reader’s History as a Reader
Home is Beyond the Mountains conformed to my idea of what it would be like: there were difficulties and deaths along Samira’s journey, but the ending was hopeful. I hadn’t expected it to follow a traditional narrative arc because it is a true story. However, I was disappointed that Samira and Benyamin never seemed to develop a close relationship and that Elias didn’t live with his ‘mothers’ Samira and Anna once they returned home. I guess that it’s challenging for me to understand how separate the lives of boys and girls were at that time and in that place. It did seem inconsistent that Malik came to live with four females at the end — would this not be considered inappropriate?
I came to read Home is Beyond the Mountains after my epic ‘Eva Wiseman-athon’ and reading Graffiti Knight. I was more than ready for a light read, preferably with zombies. Instead, this was another heavy read. An early scene in Home is Beyond the Mountains reminded me of a similar scene toward the end of Graffiti Knight, but in this case the family crossed without incident (p. 27-8). I’d say it was a slightly less intense read than the others, probably because it intended for a younger audience.
Responses Caused by the Text Alone
The plot of the book is circular: it describes the Assyrians leaving Urmieh, time spent in refugee camps and orphanages, and their journey home. While it doesn’t have a traditional narrative arc, the plotting fits the theme of the book and satisfies the reader.
Lottridge uses third person narration to tell the story. It doesn’t give us direct access into the protagonist Samira’s thoughts and fears, but does allow for a more measured telling of the story than having a first person child narrator would. One of the costs of telling the story this way, is that the reader is slightly less emotionally invested in the characters. With some characters, notably Benyamin and Miss Shedd, Lottridge never fully bridges the distance between character and reader; they continue to feel written rather than alive.
For the most part, I admire Lottridge’s use of language. She does a wonderful job making a foreign setting come alive through descriptive detail. On page 44, there is a description of a Western playground with a seesaw and swing. Lottridge’s description of both (“They sat at either end of a long plank and tipped up and down, or perched on a wooden seat hung from a metal frame and swung back and forth”) highlights how foreign Western experiences are to Samira and the orphans. Just as we find them different, so they would find us.
There is some cliched use of language. For example, when Samira learns to read “the words seemed to jump off the paper into her mind” (p.47).
Instead of being divided into chapters, the book is told in five parts. Each part is quite long. I wonder how successful this book would be as a read aloud. Would many teachers pass it over because of the challenges in breaking it down into smaller segments? My own children like to be read a chapter per night of a novel. I wouldn’t choose My Home is Beyond the Mountains as a bedtime read purely because of the arguments the long chapters would inspire.
What Does This Book ask of Readers?
The world described in this novel is completely unfamiliar to most modern readers: the children have lost everything (their families, their homes, etc.) and are unsure of their futures. There is much less technology available and children play and communicate differently. (My 8-year old routinely emails her friends.)
There are unfamiliar words in Home is Beyond the Mountains. Words that might be unfamiliar to the reader are explained well. One character might clarify new words for another. For example:
Mrs McDowell: “'[…]the permit might be revoked.’
‘Revoked?’ said Samira. ‘What does that mean?’
‘It would mean they changed their minds,’ said Mrs. McDowell” (p. 62)
Lottridge also makes good use of defining relative clauses to explain new words. For example “umbar, the cellar under the terrace” (p. 19), and “Mules and their chavadars – the men who would load them and drive them all the way to Tabriz – had arrived that morning” (p. 144).
In a classroom, passages from this book could be used to teach readers how to decipher meaning from context clues.
This book also asks that readers understand that boys and girls play different roles in different cultures. Even Miss Shedd as a girl “was never allowed to go [outside the city walls] unless her father or some other man could go with her” (p. 101-2). At home in Ayna, Samira and her brother lived separate lives, and when the children are given jobs, the girls become seamstresses, while the boys are shoemakers.
For many readers, the subject matter of Home is Beyond the Mountains is outside their own experience. There are several deaths early in the novel, and the children are required to walk very long distances. In North Vancouver, children are driven six blocks to school on sunny days.
In my community, some of the girls names are commonplace, like Maryam, and Samira. I think children would enjoy reading this book to see their friend’s names in print. I know many young girls like reading Daisy Meadows’ Rainbow Magic series partially for that reason.
Image Sources (from top to bottom)
Van Manen, M. (2014, June 13). Ready for action, fans Yan Angha, left, Maral Angha and Cyrus Angha are being served by waitress Samantha Thomas, right, Thursday, at North Vancouver’s The Narrows Pub: “The Official Iranian House” for World Cup [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/cms/binary/9916043.jpg?size=620x400s
Kidtelligent. (2012, September 14). Playing school [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://blog.kidtelligent.com/images/2012/09/playing-school.jpg
Graffiti knight [Book Cover]. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.karenbass.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/GraffitiKnight_xs-206×300.jpg
Learning Toys. (n.d.). Kettler Kiddi-o Go Nanas See Saw [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.learningtoys.ca/english/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/s/e/see-saw–kids-8311-100.jpg
Getty. (2009). Only three per cent of fathers now find the time to read to the kids compared to 89 per cent of mothers [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01356/bedtimestories_1356045c.jpg
A springless wagon and the roughest of roads, but mounted tribesmen as guards [Photograph]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ourstory.info/library/5-AFSIS/Watt/images/watt15.jpg
Phoebe the fashion fairy [Book Cover]. (2005). Retrieved from http://images.scholastic.co.uk/assets/a/a6/54/99503-ml-68303.jpg
References
City of North Vancouver. (n.d.). City of North Vancouver official community plan: population in the City of North Vancouver. Retrieved from http://www2.cnv.org/CityShaping/papers/Discussion%20Paper%20-%20Population.pdf
Please stop reading this blog right now and go read Half World by Hiromi Goto. (I won’t be offended.) While this blog merely describes a page turning dark YA fantasy with exceptional writing that engages the reader’s senses, Half World is that very thing.
lis516lesku 
