The verse novel, Home Is Not a Country, is labelled for young adults and teens, but we shouldn’t let them have all the enjoyment. As if identity is not enough problem in adolescence, Nima lives in a suburban town far from the land where her mother grew up. The author, Safia Elhillo, never names the country but hints at Sudan in this lyrical verse novel. Nima relates too much to her current circumstances to fit into her mother’s culture and too little to feel like she belongs in her own. An early sample gives a taste of her ability to wrap feelings in words.
“in the dream i am back home & i am beautiful my country
wrapped like an embrace around me my god not hated
my language washed of all its hesitation my father
alive alive”
With no friends except her childhood companion Haitham, she lives the role of an outsider. In her mind she builds a better world around her dead lionized father. In that world she is Yasmeen, the name he chose for her, instead of Nima, her mother’s choice. A breaking point comes when she lashes out at the two people she can depend on – her mother and Haitham – and begins a trip into the world she thought she wanted.
Her venture into the spirit world in the magical realism of the novel brought a suspension of disbelief for me as complete as that of Scrooge with his three spirits in The Christmas Carol and a conclusion just as satisfying. In this excursion she finds what would have happened if she had changed places with her alter ego bearing the name Yasmeen, the name of a flower, that had been her father’s choice for her. Understanding comes in a flashback scene when an aunt tells her youthful dancing mother that she should have been named “Nima” for “graceful one,” and she replies that she will save the name for her daughter.
This is a book that conveys a compelling story in words worth lingering over and savoring.