book review: The Lives of Immigrants and Refugees: Tales of Migration, Hope, Grief, and Finding Home in Nebraska edited by Matthew F. Bokovoy, Lisa Guill, Michelle Carr Hassler, Joy Castro, and Emira Ibrahimpašic

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 4/5

Thank you University of Nebraska Press for providing an ARC for review consideration via NetGalley! All opinions are my own.

My eyes and heart have been opened wider after reading The Lives of Immigrants and Refugees: Tales of Migration, Hope, Grief, and Finding Home in Nebraska. 

In this moving collection, thirty-one of the immigrants and refugees residing in Lincoln, Nebraska, share their journeys through personal essays. What I loved most was the lack of a rigid format; the contributors were allowed to write about what spoke most to their individual experiences, in their own voices. The editors who compiled the pieces are deeply embedded in the community, hosting monthly storytelling and writing workshops for two years to help the authors shape their narratives. For those who felt more comfortable speaking, their spoken words were carefully transcribed and transformed into print. 

The accounts come from a remarkably diverse group of individuals spanning many different countries, ages, and eras of arrival in the US. I learned so much from the first hand experiences of people who have survived political unrest, wartime, and constrained upward mobility. Yet, whether they were actively fleeing these harsh conditions or arrived through other circumstances, threads of hope, perseverance, and tenacity were always present. 

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys learning more about the world through authentic, personal accounts.