PDF Dream Country Shannon Gibney Books
Download As PDF : Dream Country Shannon Gibney Books
The heartbreaking story of five generations of young people from a single African-and-American family pursuing an elusive dream of freedom.
"Gut wrenching and incredible.”— Sabaa Tahir #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes
"This novel is a remarkable achievement."—Kelly Barnhill, New York Times bestselling author and Newbery medalist
"Beautifully epic."—Ibi Zoboi, author American Street and National Book Award finalist
Dream Country begins in suburban Minneapolis at the moment when seventeen-year-old Kollie Flomo begins to crack under the strain of his life as a Liberian refugee. He's exhausted by being at once too black and not black enough for his African American peers and worn down by the expectations of his own Liberian family and community. When his frustration finally spills into violence and his parents send him back to Monrovia to reform school, the story shifts. Like Kollie, readers travel back to Liberia, but also back in time, to the early twentieth century and the point of view of Togar Somah, an eighteen-year-old indigenous Liberian on the run from government militias that would force him to work the plantations of the Congo people, descendants of the African American slaves who colonized Liberia almost a century earlier. When Togar's section draws to a shocking close, the novel jumps again, back to America in 1827, to the children of Yasmine Wright, who leave a Virginia plantation with their mother for Liberia, where they're promised freedom and a chance at self-determination by the American Colonization Society. The Wrights begin their section by fleeing the whip and by its close, they are then the ones who wield it. With each new section, the novel uncovers fresh hope and resonating heartbreak, all based on historical fact.
In Dream Country, Shannon Gibney spins a riveting tale of the nightmarish spiral of death and exile connecting America and Africa, and of how one determined young dreamer tries to break free and gain control of her destiny.
PDF Dream Country Shannon Gibney Books
"Overwhelming, devastating, so incredibly moving. I cannot do a review that would be enough. Five stars are certainly not enough! I highly recommend the Audible version which really brings it alive with Bahni Tirpin’s passionate, sympathetic voice and consistently authentic-sounding accents.
Other reviewers have put significant time and effort into outlining thoughts on the storyline and characters. I’ll just say I had goosebumps, over and over, while listening to this epic family saga and the horrifying fall out of slavery-colonization-revolution and I do not cry easily but got choked up several times toward the end.
I am not much of a nonfiction reader. I learn best through fiction. I have worked side by side with Liberian immigrants and clients. I knew nothing of the history they were affected by and forced to come to the US. I didn’t ask many questions because I sensed it was an uneasy topic. Also, my work is with clients with mental illness so I am seeing many reactions to trauma. I have sometimes listened to stories of children and grandchildren who have achieved extreme success but I’ve seldom heard stories of difficult or disconnected children because why would I? Immigrant parents do not suffer for themselves, they suffer for their children. And a child who fails to be a model immigrant has to be too painful to discuss outside the family. That’s the beauty of fiction. It gives us access to experience that is rarely articulated in a multidimensional way.
If you, like me, know little to nothing about Liberia you can check Wikipedia before reading. The links inside the articles led me to information that I found helpful. But also keep in mind that no one work if fiction can cover the ethnic diversity of the Liberian people and certainly not the diversity of lived experience.
Gibney writes with so much compassion for every character and the book surely has a universal message. I hope many many young adult readers will be exposed to it because it can potentially build bridges and humanize every “other†in our lives. It’s also a great model for finding ways to bring parts of ourselves together by honoring our own histories, both known and forgotten. For that reason, I gave my son’s 10th grade teacher (who happens to be Somali-American) this book, as well as See No Color by the same author, in hopes that she might add them to her curriculum. Anyone who can afford to do something like this-please do!"
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Dream Country Shannon Gibney Books Reviews :
Dream Country Shannon Gibney Books Reviews
- Overwhelming, devastating, so incredibly moving. I cannot do a review that would be enough. Five stars are certainly not enough! I highly recommend the Audible version which really brings it alive with Bahni Tirpin’s passionate, sympathetic voice and consistently authentic-sounding accents.
Other reviewers have put significant time and effort into outlining thoughts on the storyline and characters. I’ll just say I had goosebumps, over and over, while listening to this epic family saga and the horrifying fall out of slavery-colonization-revolution and I do not cry easily but got choked up several times toward the end.
I am not much of a nonfiction reader. I learn best through fiction. I have worked side by side with Liberian immigrants and clients. I knew nothing of the history they were affected by and forced to come to the US. I didn’t ask many questions because I sensed it was an uneasy topic. Also, my work is with clients with mental illness so I am seeing many reactions to trauma. I have sometimes listened to stories of children and grandchildren who have achieved extreme success but I’ve seldom heard stories of difficult or disconnected children because why would I? Immigrant parents do not suffer for themselves, they suffer for their children. And a child who fails to be a model immigrant has to be too painful to discuss outside the family. That’s the beauty of fiction. It gives us access to experience that is rarely articulated in a multidimensional way.
If you, like me, know little to nothing about Liberia you can check Wikipedia before reading. The links inside the articles led me to information that I found helpful. But also keep in mind that no one work if fiction can cover the ethnic diversity of the Liberian people and certainly not the diversity of lived experience.
Gibney writes with so much compassion for every character and the book surely has a universal message. I hope many many young adult readers will be exposed to it because it can potentially build bridges and humanize every “other†in our lives. It’s also a great model for finding ways to bring parts of ourselves together by honoring our own histories, both known and forgotten. For that reason, I gave my son’s 10th grade teacher (who happens to be Somali-American) this book, as well as See No Color by the same author, in hopes that she might add them to her curriculum. Anyone who can afford to do something like this-please do! - I love this book. We start in a 21st century Minneapolis high school and wind up exploring 18th century Virginia; early 20th century Liberia and back again to the Midwest of "now," but not quite to the same space; it's a spiral, to use one of the book's key metaphors. Would we be better if we understood the threads of our history--the way we are tied to pasts we cannot touch; the way old conflicts can suddenly replay and reverse themselves and play out again, but not quite the same? This book kept surprising me and kept being beautiful and feeling true. Part of that is a mystery of art and the writer's craft--the intuitiveness that great writers stay open to, but which they can't scrutinize too closely or the magic could go. But the other part of this book's power comes from the writer's long, deep decade-long dive into deeply challenging historical times and spaces, both here in the US and in Liberia; listening hardest to the voices of people who feel the least at home in the spaces they wound up in. One of the best books I've read.
- I like all of it. I know who wrote this book. She is my best instructor of writing at my College. This book was great so give my regards to her and tell her that it’s me, one of her former student at MCTC.
Thank you, I love it reading.
Abo - Dream Country by Shannon Gibney
Rating 4.5/5 stars
Best For 15 and up, 9th grade and up
# of Pages 337
Clean Read No, a lot of language with mentions, though little detail, of violence and raping.
Worth a Check Out Yes, this book is deep and sad, but so very good.
Buy It or Not This book is well written with a beautiful story entwined. Definitely worth a purchase.
Book Club Discussion What do you think of the term fictional canvas of fact in regards to the narrative family history Angel wrote? Why do you think it was therapeutic for Angel to find out where she came from? The author stated that "some stories you choose, and others choose you. How do you think that would change the writing experience? Do you think Yasmine changed b/c of where she was at, or b/c of the experiences she had?
Lesson Ideas Refugees. Refugee Camps. Liberia/Congo conflict. American Colonization Society. Forced Labor Period. Liberian Civil War. Immigrants. African Americans and Black Americans. Monrovia. Slavery vs. Poor Wages. Racism.
For a more detailed review check out my full review at Alohamora Open a Book. - This is a hugely ambitious book and the execution absolutely matches (and exceeds) the promise. The story examines one family over centuries and delves into history most readers won't be familiar with, but it does so incredibly well. Highly, highly recommended.
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