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sarahlobster's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
tasmanian_bibliophile's review
4.5
‘Here in these pages is everything we must face if we are to save ourselves from the horror of repetition.’ (From the Foreword by Tara June Winch, 2022)
Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish-Iranian writer, journalist and refugee activist was detained on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea for several years. He now lives in New Zealand. This book contains a collection of essays and poems that provide a first-hand account of his experiences in detention, and the struggles faced by those in offshore detention seeking asylum in Australia. Behrouz Boochani’s own writings are accompanied by essays written by other activists and by historians and journalists.
‘If we wanted to describe life in the Manus Prison, we could sum it up in just one sentence: A prisoner is someone who needs to line up in order to fulfil even the most basic needs of every human being.’
This is a powerful and confronting work. Behrouz Boochani writes about individuals, about people. He tells us their stories, their hopes and tragically in some cases their illnesses and deaths. We may be able to ignore people anonymised as numbers, but how many of us can ignore the stories of individuals and the impact detention had on them?
Behrouz Boochani writes of a kyriarchal system, a term borrowed from feminist writing, which he describes as ‘best described as interlocking and mutually reinforcing structures of violence obsessed with oppression, domination and submission, structures also characterized by their replication and multiplication.’ (page xviii)
I found this very uncomfortable reading. Australia’s colonial past should be history, uncomfortable as it is. Australia’s colonial past should not be shaping the institutions we build now and thereby influencing the decisions we make about the future. The people of Papua New Guinea and Nauru also deserve better treatment.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
jasgrace's review
5.0
Another important book by Behrouz. I really appreciated the setting of the scene at the beginning of each chapter, and the jump between Behrouz's writing and other writers. Incredibly written and informative.
bexkmanderson's review
challenging
emotional
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Suicide, War, and Racism
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