What do you think?
Rate this book
Travellers
Modern Europe is a melting pot of migrating souls: among them a Nigerian American couple on a prestigious arts fellowship, a transgender film student seeking the freedom of authenticity, a Libyan doctor who lost his wife and child in the waters of the Mediterranean, and a Somalian shopkeeper trying to save his young daughter from forced marriage. And, though the divide between the self-chosen exiles and those who are forced to leave home may feel solid, in reality such boundaries are tenuous, shifting, and frighteningly soluble.
Moving from a Berlin nightclub to a Sicilian refugee camp to the London apartment of a Malawian poet, Helon Habila evokes a rich mosaic of migrant experiences. And through his characters' interconnecting fates, he traces the extraordinary pilgrimages we all might make in pursuit of home.
Moving from a Berlin nightclub to a Sicilian refugee camp to the London apartment of a Malawian poet, Helon Habila evokes a rich mosaic of migrant experiences. And through his characters' interconnecting fates, he traces the extraordinary pilgrimages we all might make in pursuit of home.
296 pages, Hardcover
First published June 18, 2019
122 people are currently reading
3841 people want to read
About the author
Helon Habila
25 books202 followersHelon Habila was born in Nigeria in 1967. He studied literature at the University of Jos and taught at the Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, before moving to Lagos to work as a journalist. In Lagos he wrote his first novel, Waiting for an Angel, which won the Caine Prize in 2001. Waiting for an Angel has been translated into many languages including Dutch, Italian, Swedish, and French.
In 2002, he moved to England to become the African Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia. After his fellowship he enrolled for a PhD in Creative Writing. His writing has won many prizes including the Commonwealth Writers Prize, 2003. In 2005-2006 he was the first Chinua Achebe Fellow at Bard College in New York. He is a contributing editor to the Virginia Quarterly Review, and in 2006 he co-edited the British Council's anthology, NW14: The Anthology of New Writing, Volume 14. His second novel, Measuring Time, was published in February 2007.
He currently teaches Creative Writing at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where he lives with his wife and children.
In 2002, he moved to England to become the African Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia. After his fellowship he enrolled for a PhD in Creative Writing. His writing has won many prizes including the Commonwealth Writers Prize, 2003. In 2005-2006 he was the first Chinua Achebe Fellow at Bard College in New York. He is a contributing editor to the Virginia Quarterly Review, and in 2006 he co-edited the British Council's anthology, NW14: The Anthology of New Writing, Volume 14. His second novel, Measuring Time, was published in February 2007.
He currently teaches Creative Writing at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where he lives with his wife and children.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 201 reviews
June 9, 2020
One of the richest and most intellectually-driven stories of recent immigration I've read. The male protagonist is Nigerian, married to an American artist who is gently coded in the novel as African American but who has reached a level of privilege, when compared with others in this story (including her husband) that she's detached from the sufferings of recently immigrated Africans, unless they are in some way useful subjects for her art projects.
When the couple relocates to France for her art, the novel evolves organically to a story about the many layers of privilege and suppression that humans are relegated to, depending on their immigration status.
Habila does such a good job of depicting both the resigned despair of those without legal status, and the narrow self-interest of those who don't need to worry about such things.
When the couple relocates to France for her art, the novel evolves organically to a story about the many layers of privilege and suppression that humans are relegated to, depending on their immigration status.
Habila does such a good job of depicting both the resigned despair of those without legal status, and the narrow self-interest of those who don't need to worry about such things.
August 28, 2021
| | blog | tumblr | ko-fi | |
Helon Habila's Travellers is a searing and heart-wrenching novel that recounts the stories of those who are forced to, or choose to, migrate to Europe. Readers learn of how their lives have been disrupted by conflict, war strife, war, persecution, and famine. They embark on dangerous journeys, alone or with their loved ones, only to end up in countries which will deem them criminals, illegal, and aliens.
Travellers can be read a series of interconnected stories. One of the novel's main characters is nameless Nigerian graduate student who follows Gina, his wife, to Berlin where she has been granted an arts fellowship. Here Gina works on the 'Travelers', a series of portraits of "real migrants" whom she pays fifty euros a session. Gina shows little interests in those who sit for her, seeming more focused on displaying the pain etched on their faces (turning down those whose faces seem too "smooth" or untouched by tragedy). In spite of her self-interest and hypocrisy, Habila never condemns her actions. Our nameless protagonist however becomes close to Mark, a film student whose visa has just expired, who goes to protests and believes that "the point of art" is to resist. We then read of a Libyan doctor who is now working as a bouncer in Berlin, a Somalian shopkeeper who alongside his son was detained in a prison reserved for refugees in Bulgaria, a young woman from Lusaka who meets for the first time her brother's wife, an Italian man who volunteers at a refugee center, and of a Nigerian asylum seeker who is being persecuted by British nativists. Their stories are interconnected, and Habila seamlessly moves switches from character to character. He renders their experiences with clarity and empathy, allowing each voice the chance to tell their story on their own terms. Habila shows the huge impact that their different statuses have (whether they are migrants, immigrants, refugees, or asylum seekers) and of the xenophobia, racism, and violence they face in the West.Habila never shies away from delving into the horrifying realities faced by 'travellers'. Yet, each story contains a moment of hope, connection, and of humanity.
Habila writes beautifully. From Germany to Italy he breathes life in the places he writes of. Although we view them through the eyes of 'outsiders', Habila's vivid descriptions and striking imagery convey the atmosphere, landscape, and culture of each country.
Habila also uses plenty of adroit literary references, many of which perfectly convey a particular moment or a character's state of mind.
Travellers is as illuminating as it is devastating. Habila presents his readers with a chorus of voices. In spite of their differences in age and gender, they are all trying to survive. They are faced with hostile environments, labelled as 'aliens', dehumanised, detained, and persecuted. They have to adjust to another culture and a new language. Yet, as Habila so lucidly illustrates, they have no other choice.
Haunting, urgent, and ultimately life-affirming, Travellers is a must read, one that gripped from the first page until the very last one.
If you've read the news lately you will know that the current pandemic is having devastating consequences for migrants and refugees (here is a article published a few days ago: 'Taking Hard Line, Greece Turns Back Migrants by Abandoning Them'). I know that we are not all in the position to donate but I would still urge you to learn how to support local charities (here are two UK-based charities: 'The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants' and 'Migrant Help'. A few days ago I listened with disbelief and disgust as a man on the radio said that allowing the children of immigrants and refugees into British school would somehow be detrimental to the education of 'genuine children’. Maybe that person wouldn’t have said such an ignorant thing if he had read this book.
“Are you traveling in Europe?” he asked. I caught the odd phrasing. Of course I was traveling in Europe, but I understood he meant something else; he wanted to know the nature of my relationship to Europe, if I was passing through or if I had a more permanent and legal claim to Europe. A black person's relationship with Europe would always need qualification—he or she couldn't simply be native European, there had to be an origin explanation.
Helon Habila's Travellers is a searing and heart-wrenching novel that recounts the stories of those who are forced to, or choose to, migrate to Europe. Readers learn of how their lives have been disrupted by conflict, war strife, war, persecution, and famine. They embark on dangerous journeys, alone or with their loved ones, only to end up in countries which will deem them criminals, illegal, and aliens.
“As far as they were concerned, all of Africa was one huge Gulag archipelago, and every African poet or writer living outside Africa has to be in exile from dictatorship.”
Travellers can be read a series of interconnected stories. One of the novel's main characters is nameless Nigerian graduate student who follows Gina, his wife, to Berlin where she has been granted an arts fellowship. Here Gina works on the 'Travelers', a series of portraits of "real migrants" whom she pays fifty euros a session. Gina shows little interests in those who sit for her, seeming more focused on displaying the pain etched on their faces (turning down those whose faces seem too "smooth" or untouched by tragedy). In spite of her self-interest and hypocrisy, Habila never condemns her actions. Our nameless protagonist however becomes close to Mark, a film student whose visa has just expired, who goes to protests and believes that "the point of art" is to resist. We then read of a Libyan doctor who is now working as a bouncer in Berlin, a Somalian shopkeeper who alongside his son was detained in a prison reserved for refugees in Bulgaria, a young woman from Lusaka who meets for the first time her brother's wife, an Italian man who volunteers at a refugee center, and of a Nigerian asylum seeker who is being persecuted by British nativists. Their stories are interconnected, and Habila seamlessly moves switches from character to character. He renders their experiences with clarity and empathy, allowing each voice the chance to tell their story on their own terms. Habila shows the huge impact that their different statuses have (whether they are migrants, immigrants, refugees, or asylum seekers) and of the xenophobia, racism, and violence they face in the West.Habila never shies away from delving into the horrifying realities faced by 'travellers'. Yet, each story contains a moment of hope, connection, and of humanity.
Habila writes beautifully. From Germany to Italy he breathes life in the places he writes of. Although we view them through the eyes of 'outsiders', Habila's vivid descriptions and striking imagery convey the atmosphere, landscape, and culture of each country.
Habila also uses plenty of adroit literary references, many of which perfectly convey a particular moment or a character's state of mind.
Travellers is as illuminating as it is devastating. Habila presents his readers with a chorus of voices. In spite of their differences in age and gender, they are all trying to survive. They are faced with hostile environments, labelled as 'aliens', dehumanised, detained, and persecuted. They have to adjust to another culture and a new language. Yet, as Habila so lucidly illustrates, they have no other choice.
Haunting, urgent, and ultimately life-affirming, Travellers is a must read, one that gripped from the first page until the very last one.
If you've read the news lately you will know that the current pandemic is having devastating consequences for migrants and refugees (here is a article published a few days ago: 'Taking Hard Line, Greece Turns Back Migrants by Abandoning Them'). I know that we are not all in the position to donate but I would still urge you to learn how to support local charities (here are two UK-based charities: 'The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants' and 'Migrant Help'. A few days ago I listened with disbelief and disgust as a man on the radio said that allowing the children of immigrants and refugees into British school would somehow be detrimental to the education of 'genuine children’. Maybe that person wouldn’t have said such an ignorant thing if he had read this book.
November 12, 2023
“Not all of us have that luxury, of a past. My history doesn't offer me much in that respect.”
““Are you traveling in Europe?” he asked. I caught the odd phrasing. Of course I was traveling in Europe, but I understood he meant something else; he wanted to know the nature of my relationship to Europe, if I was passing through or if I had a more permanent and legal claim to Europe. A black person’s relationship with Europe would always need qualification—he or she couldn’t simply be native European, there had to be an origin explanation.”
This is a novel split into six interlinked stories. It is about refugees in Europe and those migrating to Europe. The first part is “One Year in Berlin”. It concerns a Nigerian student completing his PhD (not named). He becomes friendly with a group of protesters, one of whom is Mark from Malawi, a trans man, who is “out of status” and in danger of being deported. He also meets Manu, a Libyan doctor working as a bouncer. He is looking for his wife and child who may have been lost in a boat crossing the Mediterranean. The second part, “Checkpoint Charlie” follows Manu as he goes to Checkpoint Charlie each Sunday, the appointed meeting place with his wife and child. Part three is entitled “Basel”. Here Portia, a Zambian student, daughter of a dissident poet, sets off with the narrator in part one to visit and speak to the woman who married and then killed her brother. In “The Interpreters” (4), Karim narrates his flight through Yemen, Syria and Turkey, into a Bulgarian jail whilst trying to protect his sons. Part five, “The Sea” tells the story of a woman crossing the Mediterranean in a small boat which sinks: she ends up on the island of Lampedusa with amnesia. In the final part (Hunger) the narrator from part one and Portia are in London. They meet Juma, an asylum seeker on hunger strike who is on the run from immigration officials.
Habila is a great story teller and this is a good book. It tells stories about the human flotsam and jetsam who move around and through Europe. We see migrants as strangers excluded from belonging (“Even in Berlin I miss Berlin”). In the novel the Med is a liquid frontier, but it is porous and permeable and a place where many nationalities intersect and interrelate. There are a number of borders: Checkpoint Charlie is another. It is no longer the dividing line between East and West, more a tourist attraction. However, it represents possibility and Habila plays with Derrida’s notion of “democracy to come” whilst narrating an awful present.
There are literary references everywhere, plenty of Shakespeare. Milton’s plea not to leave Lycidas “unwept” (unmourned) is now a plea not to leave unmourned all those lost in the Mediterranean. Arnold’s “On Dover Beach” is reimagined from The Jungle in Calais. Flaubert, Dostoyevsky and Eliot’s Wasteland are also referenced.
“As far as they were concerned, all of Africa was one huge Gulag archipelago, and every African poet or writer living outside Africa has to be in exile from dictatorship.”
Great storytellers can tell heart-rending stories and at the same time make their point in a way that even good journalism cannot.
““Are you traveling in Europe?” he asked. I caught the odd phrasing. Of course I was traveling in Europe, but I understood he meant something else; he wanted to know the nature of my relationship to Europe, if I was passing through or if I had a more permanent and legal claim to Europe. A black person’s relationship with Europe would always need qualification—he or she couldn’t simply be native European, there had to be an origin explanation.”
This is a novel split into six interlinked stories. It is about refugees in Europe and those migrating to Europe. The first part is “One Year in Berlin”. It concerns a Nigerian student completing his PhD (not named). He becomes friendly with a group of protesters, one of whom is Mark from Malawi, a trans man, who is “out of status” and in danger of being deported. He also meets Manu, a Libyan doctor working as a bouncer. He is looking for his wife and child who may have been lost in a boat crossing the Mediterranean. The second part, “Checkpoint Charlie” follows Manu as he goes to Checkpoint Charlie each Sunday, the appointed meeting place with his wife and child. Part three is entitled “Basel”. Here Portia, a Zambian student, daughter of a dissident poet, sets off with the narrator in part one to visit and speak to the woman who married and then killed her brother. In “The Interpreters” (4), Karim narrates his flight through Yemen, Syria and Turkey, into a Bulgarian jail whilst trying to protect his sons. Part five, “The Sea” tells the story of a woman crossing the Mediterranean in a small boat which sinks: she ends up on the island of Lampedusa with amnesia. In the final part (Hunger) the narrator from part one and Portia are in London. They meet Juma, an asylum seeker on hunger strike who is on the run from immigration officials.
Habila is a great story teller and this is a good book. It tells stories about the human flotsam and jetsam who move around and through Europe. We see migrants as strangers excluded from belonging (“Even in Berlin I miss Berlin”). In the novel the Med is a liquid frontier, but it is porous and permeable and a place where many nationalities intersect and interrelate. There are a number of borders: Checkpoint Charlie is another. It is no longer the dividing line between East and West, more a tourist attraction. However, it represents possibility and Habila plays with Derrida’s notion of “democracy to come” whilst narrating an awful present.
There are literary references everywhere, plenty of Shakespeare. Milton’s plea not to leave Lycidas “unwept” (unmourned) is now a plea not to leave unmourned all those lost in the Mediterranean. Arnold’s “On Dover Beach” is reimagined from The Jungle in Calais. Flaubert, Dostoyevsky and Eliot’s Wasteland are also referenced.
“As far as they were concerned, all of Africa was one huge Gulag archipelago, and every African poet or writer living outside Africa has to be in exile from dictatorship.”
Great storytellers can tell heart-rending stories and at the same time make their point in a way that even good journalism cannot.
April 23, 2021
4.5
I first started reading this around the time I’d finished Jenny Erpenbeck’s Go, Went, Gone. Perhaps I put it aside because the novels cover some of the same events, though I really don’t remember. When it popped up on my Kindle as a book I hadn’t finished, I was reading another novel of emigration*, so perhaps that was my reason for deciding to restart it, though once again it was the Erpenbeck I compared it to (subconsciously this time), and favorably.
I am impressed with Habila’s prose, especially as it moves past the first part, as the mentions and appearances of certain characters intertwine and, realistically, don’t necessarily resolve. Stories are told to the main character, but none of them bog the narrative down. There’s even a heart-pounding plot element in the middle that doesn’t feel gratuitous. The final sentences are gorgeous and heartbreaking.
*
*Infinite Country
I first started reading this around the time I’d finished Jenny Erpenbeck’s Go, Went, Gone. Perhaps I put it aside because the novels cover some of the same events, though I really don’t remember. When it popped up on my Kindle as a book I hadn’t finished, I was reading another novel of emigration*, so perhaps that was my reason for deciding to restart it, though once again it was the Erpenbeck I compared it to (subconsciously this time), and favorably.
I am impressed with Habila’s prose, especially as it moves past the first part, as the mentions and appearances of certain characters intertwine and, realistically, don’t necessarily resolve. Stories are told to the main character, but none of them bog the narrative down. There’s even a heart-pounding plot element in the middle that doesn’t feel gratuitous. The final sentences are gorgeous and heartbreaking.
*
*Infinite Country
August 20, 2025
The stories of refugees related in Travelers are intense, horrific, and moving and made me realize (I had before, but these tales fortified that realization) how blessed I am to live in a country that, despite its faults and despite the efforts of certain politicians and others, isn't ruled by a dictator and isn't in a state of chaos. This may have been one of the aims of the author, although Travelers is not a didactic book and it does possess artistic qualities.
The problem that I had with the novel is the the protagonist is a cipher. I never had a sense of who he was, what he wanted from life, or where he was going. I believe that may have been the author's intent. However, for me, that left the book without a center and I was left with an unsatisfied feeling when I finished reading it.
The problem that I had with the novel is the the protagonist is a cipher. I never had a sense of who he was, what he wanted from life, or where he was going. I believe that may have been the author's intent. However, for me, that left the book without a center and I was left with an unsatisfied feeling when I finished reading it.
April 23, 2020
Well, I'm shattered. I didn't expect this much heartbreak, but here it is.
September 27, 2019
Helon Habila has written a stellar story of the lives of immigrants seeking asylum in various European and Northern American Countries. The reader is given snapshots of various people's from African and Middle Eastern nations searching for freedom from oppression, tyranny, gangs and wars. In the process, they are often forced to make quick, life changing decisions with little information. Hoping for the best, the results often fall far short of their dreams and expectations. This story explores the reasons for their struggle to form a new life without access to jobs and housing, many living separated from their loved ones due to circumstances beyond their control; sometimes for months and years, and sometimes for forever.
Though sad and frustrating, it often illuminates the humanity of those who try to help to the extent that they can. It also sparks hope in the reader as stranger reaches out to stranger to show acceptance and assistance, when there only seems to be darkness. Told in six separate units, one man, a Nigerian , who had moved to the U.S., becomes a unifying factor as other's stories of disenfranchisement are told to him. In some instances, he becomes a part of those people's stories, in an effort to bring them to safety, security and hopefulness.
The writing itself was amazing. It was highly engaging despite the writer's use of large words to impress. Surprisingly, writers are told to shy away from cumbersome words as it interrupts the flow of the reading experience and this author is a professor at an American University. Despite this "flaw", I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it to others.
Most people in the United States have a strong opinion on immigration. Regardless of which "side" you stand, this book will give you points to consider.
Though sad and frustrating, it often illuminates the humanity of those who try to help to the extent that they can. It also sparks hope in the reader as stranger reaches out to stranger to show acceptance and assistance, when there only seems to be darkness. Told in six separate units, one man, a Nigerian , who had moved to the U.S., becomes a unifying factor as other's stories of disenfranchisement are told to him. In some instances, he becomes a part of those people's stories, in an effort to bring them to safety, security and hopefulness.
The writing itself was amazing. It was highly engaging despite the writer's use of large words to impress. Surprisingly, writers are told to shy away from cumbersome words as it interrupts the flow of the reading experience and this author is a professor at an American University. Despite this "flaw", I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it to others.
Most people in the United States have a strong opinion on immigration. Regardless of which "side" you stand, this book will give you points to consider.
July 24, 2024
“Do you miss your country?”
“I have no country.”
Travelers by Helon Habila is a collection of interconnected short stories (or a novel following different characters who cross paths) about individuals who have found themselves in Europe (most of them in or near Berlin). Migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, artists, PhD students. All foreigners, all haunted by their foreignness. The stories clash at the end.
This book was okay. My review won’t give it justice, I fear. The first story fucked me up, the ending was something I didn’t expect and it rattled me. The chapter ‘The Sea’ which takes place in a refugee camp was also a favorite. The other stories felt more dragging and all over the place, I don’t think I understood the point they were trying to make - maybe there was no point and it was just snippets of conversations and uncomfortable/melancholic moments. Even the last chapter where it all clashed together felt more like a natural progression of refugee trauma stories than the lingering ending I wanted (maybe the book started too strong?). The one element I think the stories shared was how ‘out of place’ they made me feel like I was nowhere I’d consider safe or comfortable.
The writing was simple and direct, which I liked. It made for a quick read. Nothing too flowery. I’ll probably pick Habila up again in the future, I loved the social commentary. I’m interested in refugee/migrant stories, and I don’t know what this may say about me, but I like them better when they are more emotional. Habila’s writing includes emotional scenes in a detached voice and I think this book didn’t quite hit me like I wanted to.
“Victim how? Of what?”
“Of your anger and jealousy. Of the whole system, of Europe.”
“I have no country.”
Travelers by Helon Habila is a collection of interconnected short stories (or a novel following different characters who cross paths) about individuals who have found themselves in Europe (most of them in or near Berlin). Migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, artists, PhD students. All foreigners, all haunted by their foreignness. The stories clash at the end.
This book was okay. My review won’t give it justice, I fear. The first story fucked me up, the ending was something I didn’t expect and it rattled me. The chapter ‘The Sea’ which takes place in a refugee camp was also a favorite. The other stories felt more dragging and all over the place, I don’t think I understood the point they were trying to make - maybe there was no point and it was just snippets of conversations and uncomfortable/melancholic moments. Even the last chapter where it all clashed together felt more like a natural progression of refugee trauma stories than the lingering ending I wanted (maybe the book started too strong?). The one element I think the stories shared was how ‘out of place’ they made me feel like I was nowhere I’d consider safe or comfortable.
The writing was simple and direct, which I liked. It made for a quick read. Nothing too flowery. I’ll probably pick Habila up again in the future, I loved the social commentary. I’m interested in refugee/migrant stories, and I don’t know what this may say about me, but I like them better when they are more emotional. Habila’s writing includes emotional scenes in a detached voice and I think this book didn’t quite hit me like I wanted to.
“Victim how? Of what?”
“Of your anger and jealousy. Of the whole system, of Europe.”
April 28, 2019
“If I wait here long enough, presently something would be revealed to me, someone would step up to me, a familiar face or a total stranger, a child, a man, a woman, and they would say, Listen. And they would tell me a story, a secret, something so pithy, so profound, that it is worth the wait.”
Travelers is about the stories and secrets that African refugees and asylum seekers carry, the colorful past that helps answer the question, “Where am I? Who am I? How did I get here?” It’s about how we remain human when a loss of identity and sense of dislocation begin closing in, and what we cling to to find the resilience to move ahead. With successive chapters that introduce interweaving characters, it is a tour de force.
Right at the center of the vortex is a Nigerian doctor whose marriage to his American wife is flailing. While in Berlin, he meets a number of Africans who have fled their home. Through their connections, we hear the poignant stories: a one-time doctor who now works as a bouncer and who shows up every Sunday at Checkpoint Charlie where he hopes to reunite with his lost wife. A shopkeeper who fled an al-Shabaab commander who was determined to marry his 10-year-old daughter. A young woman who visits her husband’s Swiss ex-wife who stood trial for his murder. An amnesiac woman who lost her fleeing family and is schooled to believe she is someone else. A soon-to-be-deported young man on a hunger strike. The narrator, too, gets a taste of what it means to be in a refugee camp after a mishap with his papers.
At a time in the world’s history when refugees are dehumanized and lumped into one category – “the other” – Habila refuses to let us rest on that complacency. Each of these characters is an individual with rich memories and experiences and each soldiers on despite bad luck and wretched conditions. This is a book that deserves to be read.
Travelers is about the stories and secrets that African refugees and asylum seekers carry, the colorful past that helps answer the question, “Where am I? Who am I? How did I get here?” It’s about how we remain human when a loss of identity and sense of dislocation begin closing in, and what we cling to to find the resilience to move ahead. With successive chapters that introduce interweaving characters, it is a tour de force.
Right at the center of the vortex is a Nigerian doctor whose marriage to his American wife is flailing. While in Berlin, he meets a number of Africans who have fled their home. Through their connections, we hear the poignant stories: a one-time doctor who now works as a bouncer and who shows up every Sunday at Checkpoint Charlie where he hopes to reunite with his lost wife. A shopkeeper who fled an al-Shabaab commander who was determined to marry his 10-year-old daughter. A young woman who visits her husband’s Swiss ex-wife who stood trial for his murder. An amnesiac woman who lost her fleeing family and is schooled to believe she is someone else. A soon-to-be-deported young man on a hunger strike. The narrator, too, gets a taste of what it means to be in a refugee camp after a mishap with his papers.
At a time in the world’s history when refugees are dehumanized and lumped into one category – “the other” – Habila refuses to let us rest on that complacency. Each of these characters is an individual with rich memories and experiences and each soldiers on despite bad luck and wretched conditions. This is a book that deserves to be read.
February 3, 2020
Immerses you in the daily lives of a variety of different refugees seeking asylum in Europe. The chapters are interconnected stories, with a linked thread in the form of a Nigerian man in Berlin who is not a refugee, but is feeling unmoored in a way that resonates with the lives of the refugees he meets. The clean, clear, non-melodramatic writing creates the perfect tone to allow the reader to really live with these people, and realize just how few twists of fate it would take to make any of us a desperate refugee - your known world turned unknown, threatening your very sense of yourself.
They met in Greece and for one year they traveled together, almost a family, he and Hannah and Rachida, in the manner he has seen many people do on the road, childless women falling in with motherless children, wifeless husbands with husbandless wives, proxy partners for as long as it lasts...
June 30, 2022
Resenärer påverkar mig starkt. Jag har svårt att sätta ord på vad den handlar om - vad den förmedlar. Den borde vara obligatorisk skollitteratur.
Resenärer är en gripande, skrämmande, hjärtskärande, uppslitande och rak skildring av människor på flykt. Habila lyckas väva samman flera historier till en - ett tag känns det som att jag läser en novellsamling som handlar om samma person. Den är rik på skildringar och berättelser, ingen historia lämnar en oberörd.
Flyktingbåtar med hoppfulla människor som sjunker, familjer som slits itu, trygghet som försvinner på några sekunder, flyktingläger, mänskliga dofter, kärlek, panik, död, död, död och utsiktslös framtid. Habila berättar allt detta för mig med en ton som inte är uppläxande - bara uppriktig.
Perspektiv. För en stund ger den mig perspektiv på livet, på allt.
Jag hoppas att den här obehagliga, läskiga, verkliga känslan ligger kvar i mig länge, för den behöver vi bli påmind om. Länge.
Resenärer är en gripande, skrämmande, hjärtskärande, uppslitande och rak skildring av människor på flykt. Habila lyckas väva samman flera historier till en - ett tag känns det som att jag läser en novellsamling som handlar om samma person. Den är rik på skildringar och berättelser, ingen historia lämnar en oberörd.
Flyktingbåtar med hoppfulla människor som sjunker, familjer som slits itu, trygghet som försvinner på några sekunder, flyktingläger, mänskliga dofter, kärlek, panik, död, död, död och utsiktslös framtid. Habila berättar allt detta för mig med en ton som inte är uppläxande - bara uppriktig.
Perspektiv. För en stund ger den mig perspektiv på livet, på allt.
Jag hoppas att den här obehagliga, läskiga, verkliga känslan ligger kvar i mig länge, för den behöver vi bli påmind om. Länge.
April 30, 2020
The concept of survivor's guilt has gone out of fashion, but I can't think of a better way to describe the main character's motivations in Travelers. The nameless Nigerian man who narrates in the first person and features in most of the stories is an outsider, albeit "an exile by choice" (like Helon Habila himself) who left his country to pursue graduate education. During a stint in Berlin with his black American wife, the narrator plunges, voluntarily, into the no man's land of migrant life in Europe, unmoored by the tales of trauma recounted by the Africans he meets. Something within seems to demand that he suffer too, in solidarity with these lost, persecuted souls, none of whom deserved to be treated as prey, or filth. None of whom should have been forced to make the terrible choices that resulted, all too often, in degrading themselves in their own eyes or in the eyes of the families that traveled with them.
However much he laments the exile's plight--"the anxiety, the nostalgia, the sense of alienation"--Habila has been home only twice in seventeen years. The first time, he and his Nigerian wife had brought their infant daughter to meet her grandparents, discovering only as they prepared to fly back to England, where they were living at the time, that the baby would not be permitted into the country on her mother's visa.
I think that a similar urge was behind this book. "We have all, at one time or another, narrowly escaped death, seen neighbors slaughtered, their houses set ablaze," he said in a recent interview, going on to acknowledge that most Nigerians have not had the opportunity to emigrate legally, nor found a comfortable berth as a professor at an elite university in America. The challenge is to be truthful about the reality back home without pandering to the taste for what he calls "CNN, western-media-coverage-of-Africa, poverty-porn [of] child soldiers, genocide, child prostitution, female genital mutilation, political violence, police brutality, dictatorships, predatory preachers, dead bodies on the roadside."
Habila avoids this trap. His characters are fuller, more complicated, their stories less predictable. He was a journalist before he became a novelist, and parts of Travelers, toward the end, did read more like good reporting than literature. The character of Portia never came alive the way Mark did, perhaps because he was based on someone Habila knew fairly well, whereas she was more of a vehicle for a rather bizarre story (no doubt true) than a person in her own right. If you've never read anything by this author, I'd recommend his first book, Waiting for an Angel.
However much he laments the exile's plight--"the anxiety, the nostalgia, the sense of alienation"--Habila has been home only twice in seventeen years. The first time, he and his Nigerian wife had brought their infant daughter to meet her grandparents, discovering only as they prepared to fly back to England, where they were living at the time, that the baby would not be permitted into the country on her mother's visa.
My wife had to stay two more weeks to get the visa. That night, as I flew back to England, robbers had broken into my sister’s house, where my wife and daughter were staying, and shot my sister’s husband six times while next door my wife hid in the bathroom shaking and a few feet away my daughter lay under the sheets sleeping through the whole uproarUnderstandably, it would be another ten years before the couple returned, now with three young children, for a family wedding. In the interval, Islamic extremism had spread into Nigeria, adding a new dimension to the poverty, government corruption, repression, and endemic violence that has plagued the country. From this visit was born Habila's sole foray into nonfiction, The Chibok Girls: The Boko Haram Kidnappings and Islamist Militancy in Nigeria. I get the feeling that, having gone back in the aftermath of those events, which put Nigeria on the map for many Americans (in the worst possible way), he felt compelled to look into the story, to present the horror from a Nigerian perspective, allowing the victims and families to speak in their own voices.
I think that a similar urge was behind this book. "We have all, at one time or another, narrowly escaped death, seen neighbors slaughtered, their houses set ablaze," he said in a recent interview, going on to acknowledge that most Nigerians have not had the opportunity to emigrate legally, nor found a comfortable berth as a professor at an elite university in America. The challenge is to be truthful about the reality back home without pandering to the taste for what he calls "CNN, western-media-coverage-of-Africa, poverty-porn [of] child soldiers, genocide, child prostitution, female genital mutilation, political violence, police brutality, dictatorships, predatory preachers, dead bodies on the roadside."
Habila avoids this trap. His characters are fuller, more complicated, their stories less predictable. He was a journalist before he became a novelist, and parts of Travelers, toward the end, did read more like good reporting than literature. The character of Portia never came alive the way Mark did, perhaps because he was based on someone Habila knew fairly well, whereas she was more of a vehicle for a rather bizarre story (no doubt true) than a person in her own right. If you've never read anything by this author, I'd recommend his first book, Waiting for an Angel.
January 25, 2024
5+stars. An all timer.
A deeply moving and exquisitely constructed book of stories through the eyes and about the lives of migrants and refugees. Empathy, compassion, walking in someone else’s shoes; whatever the terminology you choose to use, it is a lost art in our world today. Not enough people truly care or are concerned about others. Let alone others’ situations or understanding on a level of love. They only see the perceived threat of another impeding on what they have, their idea of what should exist, and plain old fashioned differences; be it language, skin color, or culture.
This book digs deep into the stories and lives of people living their lives the best way they know how, attempting to improve the ups and downs of life, as well creating opportunities for themselves and others to improve their day to day conditions in this world. Whether we want to admit it or not we are deeply tied together in ways and on levels that would astound us if we would just take the time to educate ourselves about others.
The author has crated a beautiful and heartfelt novel of intertwined stories displaying the cruelty of misguided, misinformed, and uneducated people. At the same time taking that three quarters empty glass of negativity and showing the reader the three quarters full glass of perseverance, adaptability, hope, and determination. Recognize each other’s suffering, feel each other’s hurting, listen to each other’s pleas, and let compassion and gentleness be our first instincts.
A deeply moving and exquisitely constructed book of stories through the eyes and about the lives of migrants and refugees. Empathy, compassion, walking in someone else’s shoes; whatever the terminology you choose to use, it is a lost art in our world today. Not enough people truly care or are concerned about others. Let alone others’ situations or understanding on a level of love. They only see the perceived threat of another impeding on what they have, their idea of what should exist, and plain old fashioned differences; be it language, skin color, or culture.
This book digs deep into the stories and lives of people living their lives the best way they know how, attempting to improve the ups and downs of life, as well creating opportunities for themselves and others to improve their day to day conditions in this world. Whether we want to admit it or not we are deeply tied together in ways and on levels that would astound us if we would just take the time to educate ourselves about others.
The author has crated a beautiful and heartfelt novel of intertwined stories displaying the cruelty of misguided, misinformed, and uneducated people. At the same time taking that three quarters empty glass of negativity and showing the reader the three quarters full glass of perseverance, adaptability, hope, and determination. Recognize each other’s suffering, feel each other’s hurting, listen to each other’s pleas, and let compassion and gentleness be our first instincts.
April 18, 2019
Travelers by Helon Habila: 10/10
An absolutely outstanding, beautiful book from beginning to end. Throughout the course of the novel, we get not only the story of a single character, nor just that of the rest of the characters, but rather the story of an entire group of people. Habila effortlessly weaves multiple characters, nations, and storylines to produce this hauntingly gorgeous portrait of travelers and refugees. There is not much else to say, this is a book that absolutely everyone should try to read once it comes out. This is one novel that has left me virtually speechless.
An absolutely outstanding, beautiful book from beginning to end. Throughout the course of the novel, we get not only the story of a single character, nor just that of the rest of the characters, but rather the story of an entire group of people. Habila effortlessly weaves multiple characters, nations, and storylines to produce this hauntingly gorgeous portrait of travelers and refugees. There is not much else to say, this is a book that absolutely everyone should try to read once it comes out. This is one novel that has left me virtually speechless.
March 14, 2021
Travelers concerns refugees and migrants moving in and out of Europe, Africa, north America, and the Middle East.
Formally, it's a string of short stories linked by the misadventures of an unnamed narrator. We begin with he and his wife, Gina, settling into Berlin as she pursues an art fellowship, painting portraits of migrants and refugees titled... "Travelers." The couple's relationship falls apart and the narrator travels, collecting stories of other people moving across national boundaries.
It's a very political novel, urging the world to take better care of migrants. It doesn't have to come out and say so; the sheer presentation of abuse and suffering is clear.
That presentation is also ultimately very, very depressing. I read this with my very empathetic son and we both were surprised at reviews claiming the book to be inspiring. There is little in the way of relief or redress.
It's written with an understated clarity, stating facts without lyrically celebrating or condemning them. Yet this affords passionate intensity.
Recommended.
Formally, it's a string of short stories linked by the misadventures of an unnamed narrator. We begin with he and his wife, Gina, settling into Berlin as she pursues an art fellowship, painting portraits of migrants and refugees titled... "Travelers." The couple's relationship falls apart and the narrator travels, collecting stories of other people moving across national boundaries.
It's a very political novel, urging the world to take better care of migrants. It doesn't have to come out and say so; the sheer presentation of abuse and suffering is clear.
That presentation is also ultimately very, very depressing. I read this with my very empathetic son and we both were surprised at reviews claiming the book to be inspiring. There is little in the way of relief or redress.
It's written with an understated clarity, stating facts without lyrically celebrating or condemning them. Yet this affords passionate intensity.
Recommended.
January 29, 2021
A very moving and beautifully written book about refugees and their struggles. Several different stories, but all with the same theme. What people will put themselves through to find safety and security.
March 13, 2023
What a powerful book! Refugees, immigrants, travelers. The line might be fleeting for an African in Europe but one thing is sure: if you are black and from Africa and moving around in Europe people won't assume you are just on vacation. They might want to see your reason, the more documentation the better. And if even if you have every legal right to be there, a few wrong steps could land you in a refugee camp.
Told in 6 parts, very much reminiscent of an interconnected short story collection, we primarily follow our Nigerian narrator who is married to an African American woman. When they both move from the US to Berlin he gets involved with several refugees and migrants from the African continent and it changes the trajectory of his life. That's the best synopsis I can come up with, this is a very fragmented novel, we see a lot of life stories: people either share their backgrounds or maybe tell their father's story. You hop in and out of a lot of fates which all circle in some form around our narrator who confronted with theses various lives questions his own place in the world.
And it's beautifully done, the interconnections Habila slowly creates between these tales, the observations of refugee experiences, on exile, on belonging, on love and connection. Introspected and definitely scattered but in the best way. Also, I truly love fragmented story telling. A long continuous life journey on paper can sometimes bog me down and drag, but somehow when a writer jumps around like this I kind of love it. When there are gaps and bridges and holes between each segment, when each tale brings different aspects to the themes. I was especially touched by the story about someone who became an exile poet and when the situation in his home country changed, he personally wasn't able to make his way back because this existence of the celebrated resisting poet in the West was the only persona he could see himself as anymore.
Within a very short span this is my 2nd novel taking a rather critical look at how Europe and to further extent the Western world (here in the example of the Afro-American wife who might share skin color but not the life experience, she is just as Westernized as the white institutions) fails to be open towards immigrants, especially those of color and especially if they qualify for refugee status. It is a very thoughtful book with a very dreamlike feel. Our main character hangs in a personal limbo while observing and hearing all these stories around him, while getting sucked in. Gotta say, I sometimes wanted a bit more happening on the page since there is a lot listening to people's life stories, you know, some pacing issues for me. But that is such a minor criticism looking at the impact the book has a whole.
I loved how this story asks you to examine the difference between what it means to be a refugee or an immigrant or a traveler and why we regard these so differently, why some even garner hate from the general public. It has some tragically beautiful comments on the outsider existence within these themes, the loneliness and the strain of not having a place to call home and I would love to share some quotes here:
"I knew every departure is a death, every return a rebirth. Most changes happen unplanned, and they always leave a scar."
"There is no loneliness like the loneliness of a stranger in a strange city."
"Stories are made up and traded as currency among homeless, rootless people, offered like a handshake, something to disarm you with."
4.5*
Told in 6 parts, very much reminiscent of an interconnected short story collection, we primarily follow our Nigerian narrator who is married to an African American woman. When they both move from the US to Berlin he gets involved with several refugees and migrants from the African continent and it changes the trajectory of his life. That's the best synopsis I can come up with, this is a very fragmented novel, we see a lot of life stories: people either share their backgrounds or maybe tell their father's story. You hop in and out of a lot of fates which all circle in some form around our narrator who confronted with theses various lives questions his own place in the world.
And it's beautifully done, the interconnections Habila slowly creates between these tales, the observations of refugee experiences, on exile, on belonging, on love and connection. Introspected and definitely scattered but in the best way. Also, I truly love fragmented story telling. A long continuous life journey on paper can sometimes bog me down and drag, but somehow when a writer jumps around like this I kind of love it. When there are gaps and bridges and holes between each segment, when each tale brings different aspects to the themes. I was especially touched by the story about someone who became an exile poet and when the situation in his home country changed, he personally wasn't able to make his way back because this existence of the celebrated resisting poet in the West was the only persona he could see himself as anymore.
Within a very short span this is my 2nd novel taking a rather critical look at how Europe and to further extent the Western world (here in the example of the Afro-American wife who might share skin color but not the life experience, she is just as Westernized as the white institutions) fails to be open towards immigrants, especially those of color and especially if they qualify for refugee status. It is a very thoughtful book with a very dreamlike feel. Our main character hangs in a personal limbo while observing and hearing all these stories around him, while getting sucked in. Gotta say, I sometimes wanted a bit more happening on the page since there is a lot listening to people's life stories, you know, some pacing issues for me. But that is such a minor criticism looking at the impact the book has a whole.
I loved how this story asks you to examine the difference between what it means to be a refugee or an immigrant or a traveler and why we regard these so differently, why some even garner hate from the general public. It has some tragically beautiful comments on the outsider existence within these themes, the loneliness and the strain of not having a place to call home and I would love to share some quotes here:
"I knew every departure is a death, every return a rebirth. Most changes happen unplanned, and they always leave a scar."
"There is no loneliness like the loneliness of a stranger in a strange city."
"Stories are made up and traded as currency among homeless, rootless people, offered like a handshake, something to disarm you with."
4.5*
July 16, 2019
timely and beautifully written. stories of black immigrants in europe, the horror and the hope, the disappointment and the problems it poses. a graduate student of nigerian origin comes from virginia to berlin with his wife for one year, and then stays on. he meets people who came to europe from different countries in africa, for different reasons, and listens to and tells us their stories.
the novel has a feel of story collection about it, there are different stories and pov’s, but in the end a complex puzzle does emerge which can be called a novel. beautiful prose, with a realistic, honest, reporter-like quality about it which i enjoyed, wise and timely. recommended
the novel has a feel of story collection about it, there are different stories and pov’s, but in the end a complex puzzle does emerge which can be called a novel. beautiful prose, with a realistic, honest, reporter-like quality about it which i enjoyed, wise and timely. recommended
May 19, 2020
This is a touching collection of stories that might remind you how lucky you are in the safety of your home. No wars are raging in your country, you don't fear extremists that might come to your village to rape and kill. You don't have to sell all your life to pay smugglers for a place on a dingy boat that might not make it to the coast. The alternatives are scarier so you still chose a slim chance, trying to remember whether you know how to swim.
It takes immense bravery to go somewhere without knowing the language or whether you'll find a place to sleep, a job there. Would you be able to provide for your family?
I recently read that the world is getting better but books like this one remind me that it can still be quite bad in some parts. Please, get better faster!
It takes immense bravery to go somewhere without knowing the language or whether you'll find a place to sleep, a job there. Would you be able to provide for your family?
I recently read that the world is getting better but books like this one remind me that it can still be quite bad in some parts. Please, get better faster!
August 23, 2020
A beautifully written novel about the African diaspora in Europe, told through the eyes of a Nigerian graduate student at an American university who travels to Berlin with his wife and becomes swept up in the refugee crisis. His story intersects with the stories of the people he meets his travels and the people they have met along the way. There were chapters that reminded me of Chekhov stories where strangers meet in their travels and share their experiences and reflect on their lives. The story of the family who is separated while crossing the Mediterranean and promises to meet one another at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin if they all survive is particularly moving. Highly recommended.
May 4, 2024
Enjoyable but heavy at times, as it follows immigration and refugee journeys of some fictional characters. Felt a wee hard to follow at times.
August 27, 2020
Almost Perfect!
I am in total awe of the simplicity of the storytelling In this powerful and emotional collection. The language is accessible and eminently readable. From the tone, yes it may have been written for a Western audience but from the accessibility of the language and the relatability of the stories, it is written for the “travelers” as well- anyone who has ever been a stranger or gone somewhere for a better life and better opportunity, safety or a new identity.
Being Nigerian and knowing people who have gone to desperate measures in search of a better life in Europe, these stories felt real like they were from people I knew. The collection of 6 stories are interlinked by an unnamed Nigerian protagonist- a long-term PhD scholar in America who is temporarily in Europe having accompanied his American wife there for her university fellowship. Our protagonist meets lots of travelers with different back stories that teach him about his own travel and exile from home even as he learns more about different dynamics leading to the migration of black and brown people into Europe in the 21st century.
Book 1 tells the story of Mark, a Zambian who has self-exiled himself to Europe and considers himself a citizen of Berlin even though the apparently liberal city seeks to expel him. Book 2 is the story of Libyan, Manu and his daughter Rachida, and their ceaseless yet futile-seeming search for his wife and son from whom they were separated from crossing the Mediterranean. Book 3 is Portia’s story of the men in her family and their wanderlust and need for exile and rebellion from the land of their birth. Book 4 is about the ones who are pushed away from their homeland despite their desperate desire to stay and the depth of feeling of that loss of home and family no matter how many new travels are undertaken. Book 5 talks about the inhumanity of reception centers in Europe, and the impact of the first hand trauma on travelers and on local communities hosting such landing sites. Book 6 focuses on closure for the traveler and whether that is possible and if the journey is ever really complete. This collection covers some really heavy themes around the motivators for travel (emigration) from war, violence, insecurity, and intimidation, to discrimination, gender identity, and the hope of education and a better life. It is trigger and content warnings galore but also a very important read.
This was almost perfect for me. My first minor nitpicky issue is that the stories all felt very “male” to me. Even Book 3 which had Portia telling a lot of the story felt very male-centered with the true travelers being Portia’s father and brother. I don’t know if that was intentional but I would have liked a bit more of a stronger approach to showing women as travelers. The only other nitpicky issue I have is the fact that this isn’t really own voices and sometimes in the storytelling it shows a bit- it is possible that I am reflecting myself but I couldn’t help but recognize some of my own privilege and judgment in the storytelling at times. I think the author wrote this with as much compassion and empathy and honesty from the perspective of a traveler as one can being close to a situation but not having the actual full lived experiences. The visceral nature of the language and the on-point-ness of the descriptions lives you in no doubt that this author did his research and spoke to people and knows these characters. However, there is still a faint air of being an outsider to the situation in it even though I think this is as close as you can get to authentic. I knew some of these characters too.
What makes this a 5-star read for me is the approach to the storytelling. It is confirmation that you don’t have to overwork something to have a great impact with the storytelling. It never felt precious or contrived and for such a heavy subject with such heavy stories, it never felt like it was pushing the grief porn spectrum. The astuteness of the author’s witty observations gave this a sort of dark humor that provided that “you’ve got to laugh or else you’ll cry” air to this collection and relieved some of the heaviness. I don’t know how he did it with such simplicity but the author was able to capture that air of futile hope in the traveler that the destination will be different and better than the origin despite the loss and experiences you bring with you, and even within the hopelessness of a magically improved future, there is the imprint of a hope that once existed and an optimism that breathes life into this otherwise devastating collection of stories. I think this was fantastic.
I am in total awe of the simplicity of the storytelling In this powerful and emotional collection. The language is accessible and eminently readable. From the tone, yes it may have been written for a Western audience but from the accessibility of the language and the relatability of the stories, it is written for the “travelers” as well- anyone who has ever been a stranger or gone somewhere for a better life and better opportunity, safety or a new identity.
Being Nigerian and knowing people who have gone to desperate measures in search of a better life in Europe, these stories felt real like they were from people I knew. The collection of 6 stories are interlinked by an unnamed Nigerian protagonist- a long-term PhD scholar in America who is temporarily in Europe having accompanied his American wife there for her university fellowship. Our protagonist meets lots of travelers with different back stories that teach him about his own travel and exile from home even as he learns more about different dynamics leading to the migration of black and brown people into Europe in the 21st century.
Book 1 tells the story of Mark, a Zambian who has self-exiled himself to Europe and considers himself a citizen of Berlin even though the apparently liberal city seeks to expel him. Book 2 is the story of Libyan, Manu and his daughter Rachida, and their ceaseless yet futile-seeming search for his wife and son from whom they were separated from crossing the Mediterranean. Book 3 is Portia’s story of the men in her family and their wanderlust and need for exile and rebellion from the land of their birth. Book 4 is about the ones who are pushed away from their homeland despite their desperate desire to stay and the depth of feeling of that loss of home and family no matter how many new travels are undertaken. Book 5 talks about the inhumanity of reception centers in Europe, and the impact of the first hand trauma on travelers and on local communities hosting such landing sites. Book 6 focuses on closure for the traveler and whether that is possible and if the journey is ever really complete. This collection covers some really heavy themes around the motivators for travel (emigration) from war, violence, insecurity, and intimidation, to discrimination, gender identity, and the hope of education and a better life. It is trigger and content warnings galore but also a very important read.
This was almost perfect for me. My first minor nitpicky issue is that the stories all felt very “male” to me. Even Book 3 which had Portia telling a lot of the story felt very male-centered with the true travelers being Portia’s father and brother. I don’t know if that was intentional but I would have liked a bit more of a stronger approach to showing women as travelers. The only other nitpicky issue I have is the fact that this isn’t really own voices and sometimes in the storytelling it shows a bit- it is possible that I am reflecting myself but I couldn’t help but recognize some of my own privilege and judgment in the storytelling at times. I think the author wrote this with as much compassion and empathy and honesty from the perspective of a traveler as one can being close to a situation but not having the actual full lived experiences. The visceral nature of the language and the on-point-ness of the descriptions lives you in no doubt that this author did his research and spoke to people and knows these characters. However, there is still a faint air of being an outsider to the situation in it even though I think this is as close as you can get to authentic. I knew some of these characters too.
What makes this a 5-star read for me is the approach to the storytelling. It is confirmation that you don’t have to overwork something to have a great impact with the storytelling. It never felt precious or contrived and for such a heavy subject with such heavy stories, it never felt like it was pushing the grief porn spectrum. The astuteness of the author’s witty observations gave this a sort of dark humor that provided that “you’ve got to laugh or else you’ll cry” air to this collection and relieved some of the heaviness. I don’t know how he did it with such simplicity but the author was able to capture that air of futile hope in the traveler that the destination will be different and better than the origin despite the loss and experiences you bring with you, and even within the hopelessness of a magically improved future, there is the imprint of a hope that once existed and an optimism that breathes life into this otherwise devastating collection of stories. I think this was fantastic.
January 9, 2022
Sublimely written.
Masterfully crafted six novellas, connected and entertwined stories of migration; people who left home out of choice and those forced to leave; fleeing domestic wars ravaging their countries hoping for a better life, a better reception.
Travellers will chew and spit out your heart.
Travellers forces you to check your privilege and your humanity.
All the six stories will leave an indelible impression.
Highly recommended.
Masterfully crafted six novellas, connected and entertwined stories of migration; people who left home out of choice and those forced to leave; fleeing domestic wars ravaging their countries hoping for a better life, a better reception.
Travellers will chew and spit out your heart.
Travellers forces you to check your privilege and your humanity.
All the six stories will leave an indelible impression.
Highly recommended.
July 28, 2020
My favourite read of 2020 so far.
Each chapter could be its own complete story, but Travellers is a novel, not a collection.
I read this book as a part of this year’s #FLNovel course/James Tait Black Prize nomination.
Each chapter could be its own complete story, but Travellers is a novel, not a collection.
I read this book as a part of this year’s #FLNovel course/James Tait Black Prize nomination.
December 21, 2019
As a North American who spent a year or two in Europe, including Germany, the perspective of a foreign visitor in Berlin resonated with me. But I didn't like some of the very obvious language and geographical errors (spelling mistake of Schokolade, implication of The Hague being in Denmark, and other details that just seemed misplaced or careless).
At times touching and thoughtful and other times very boring, poorly edited (it started off great, but after the first story I had to force myself to finish weeks after starting and I ended up skimming most of the second half), this is a story of characters whose lives intersect and thus a portrayal from different perspectives of the lives of African migrants. There are some heart-wrenching descriptions of what migrants go through, so I feel bad rating this poorly. But they were buried in a story that seemed too coincidental/forced/unlikely, and boring at times (in terms of how the characters lives or paths crossed, the turn of events, and the ensuing descriptions of events).
I wonder how much of this came from people's stories shared with the author and how much from his imagination - some of it seems very realistic and plausible, and some of it seems too unrealistic which makes me think that it probably is reality, because it's so hard to believe and the migrant experience is so horrible and just that.
At times touching and thoughtful and other times very boring, poorly edited (it started off great, but after the first story I had to force myself to finish weeks after starting and I ended up skimming most of the second half), this is a story of characters whose lives intersect and thus a portrayal from different perspectives of the lives of African migrants. There are some heart-wrenching descriptions of what migrants go through, so I feel bad rating this poorly. But they were buried in a story that seemed too coincidental/forced/unlikely, and boring at times (in terms of how the characters lives or paths crossed, the turn of events, and the ensuing descriptions of events).
I wonder how much of this came from people's stories shared with the author and how much from his imagination - some of it seems very realistic and plausible, and some of it seems too unrealistic which makes me think that it probably is reality, because it's so hard to believe and the migrant experience is so horrible and just that.
July 19, 2019
Fantastic, if you can get through the first story. It really dragged on for me but once I got past that, this book was excellent. A must read to get more perspective on the refugee crisis.
September 30, 2019
A hint of unreality pervades this book (sometimes to its benefit, but mostly to its detriment)
May 17, 2021
changing my rating bc i think about this book like every single day!!!! go read it !!!!!
September 20, 2019
Habila's beautifully written and carefully structured novel portrays the struggle of African refugees to maintain their humanity and self-respect in their search for a home in Europe. The relentless sadness of their interconnecting stories will stay with me because of the author's insights into the human need to belong and to share our stories. Habila's main character, seemingly secure in his own place in his adopted country (America, then in Germany), is at first an observer and then, a participant in the sagas that play out before him in Berlin.
The situations of these refugees differ; but, what remain constant are the losses they endure - loss of their culture, their families, their professions, their pasts, and the corruption of their dreams. Habila's ability to delve into the circumstances and hopes of each character in each of the six sections of the novel guarantees our attachment and empathy. Particularly moving was the story of the husband who waits hopefully for the reunion with his wife and son at Checkpoint Charlie (Berlin) each Sunday, a promise they had made to each other on their escape from Africa.
With the struggle to migrate becoming more difficult, more political, Habila brings the focus back to the individual - to the man, woman, and child caught up in the horror of escape; to the individual face, fear and desire for freedom that often gets lost when the images of our newspapers and TV screens show us the anonymous thousands lingering in refugee camps and detention centres.
The situations of these refugees differ; but, what remain constant are the losses they endure - loss of their culture, their families, their professions, their pasts, and the corruption of their dreams. Habila's ability to delve into the circumstances and hopes of each character in each of the six sections of the novel guarantees our attachment and empathy. Particularly moving was the story of the husband who waits hopefully for the reunion with his wife and son at Checkpoint Charlie (Berlin) each Sunday, a promise they had made to each other on their escape from Africa.
With the struggle to migrate becoming more difficult, more political, Habila brings the focus back to the individual - to the man, woman, and child caught up in the horror of escape; to the individual face, fear and desire for freedom that often gets lost when the images of our newspapers and TV screens show us the anonymous thousands lingering in refugee camps and detention centres.
October 29, 2024
The central character is an obvious stand in for the author in some ways. He casts himself as the ultimate Middle Brow Man. That's the best way I can describe it. The purpose of the novel is to illustrate the plight of migrants from Africa into Europe. The stories Habila tells are compelling although some of them border on melodrama. There is an amnesia plot I found particularly cringeworthy. Also the narrative is steeped in liberal meritocracy. Habila wants to justify his characters by virtue of their special talents that may give them appeal to middle class strivers. They are film students or humanities scholars. One is a doctor. Even the Somali refugee children have to be distinguished by their capacity for languages. The main character's wife was an Obama volunteer which is supposed to mean something. American expats in Berlin talk excitedly about Corey Booker. I have no idea why.
At the end of the story, a man on hunger strike withers away into twigs while the fatigued liberals who were tending to him (and the author's surrogate character too!) give up and move on with their lives. For me, that works well as a criticism of the failings and hypocrisies of their brand of liberalism. But I don't think Habila means for it to be.
At the end of the story, a man on hunger strike withers away into twigs while the fatigued liberals who were tending to him (and the author's surrogate character too!) give up and move on with their lives. For me, that works well as a criticism of the failings and hypocrisies of their brand of liberalism. But I don't think Habila means for it to be.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 201 reviews