Dark at the crossing

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Elliot Ackerman: Dark at the crossing (2017, Alfred E. Knopf)

237 pages

English language

Published Jan. 11, 2017 by Alfred E. Knopf.

ISBN:
978-1-101-94737-1
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OCLC Number:
948734278

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3 stars (1 review)

"[A] timely new novel of stunning humanity and tension: a contemporary love story set on the Turkish border with Syria" -- provided by publisher.

"Haris Abadi is a man in search of a cause. An Arab American with a conflicted past, he is now in Turkey, attempting to cross into Syria and join the fight against Bashar al-Assad's regime. But he is robbed before he can make it, and is taken in by Amir, a charismatic Syrian refugee and former revolutionary, and Amir's wife, Daphne, a sophisticated beauty haunted by grief. As it becomes clear that Daphne is also desperate to return to Syria, Haris's choices become ever more wrenching: Whose side is he really on? Is he a true radical or simply an idealist? And will he be able to bring meaning to a life of increasing frustration and helplessness?" -- page 4 of cover.

4 editions

Review of 'Dark at the crossing' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

3 stars. This book is worth reading not necessarily for its quality, but because it humanizes an important moment in current world events. Like Virgil in Dante's Inferno, protagonist Haris leads us back and forth over the Syrian border and introduces us to characters living in a variety of circumstances whose life courses have been altered by the civil war. It's moving and specific in a way that news reports are not. I recommend it for anyone interested in getting more insight into the conflict there.

Subjects

  • Arab Americans
  • Refugees
  • Fiction

Places

  • Syria