Let's Go Swimming on Doomsday
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Forced to become a child soldier, a sixteen-year-old Somali refugee must confront his painful past in this haunting, thrilling tale of loss and redemption for fans of A Long Way Gone and What is the What
When Abdi's family is kidnapped, he's forced to do the unthinkable: become a child soldier with the ruthless jihadi group Al Shabaab. In order to save the lives of those he loves, and earn their freedom, Abdi agrees to be embedded as a spy within the militia's ranks and to send dispatches on their plans to the Americans. The jihadists trust Abdi immediately because his older brother, Dahir, is already one of them, protégé to General Idris, aka the Butcher. If Abdi's duplicity is discovered, he will be killed.
For weeks, Abdi trains with them, witnessing atrocity after atrocity, becoming a monster himself, wondering if he's even pretending anymore. He only escapes after he is forced into a suicide bomber's vest, which still leaves him stumps where two of his fingers used to be and his brother near death. Eventually, he finds himself on the streets of Sangui City, Kenya, stealing what he can find to get by, sleeping nights in empty alleyways, wondering what's become of the family that was stolen from him. But everything changes when Abdi's picked up for a petty theft, which sets into motion a chain reaction that forces him to reckon with a past he's been trying to forget.
In this riveting, unflinching tale of sacrifice and hope, critically-acclaimed author Natalie C. Anderson delivers another tour-de-force that will leave readers at the edge of their seats.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This gripping read offers an unflinching view of young people in desperate need of safety and healing after being caught up in political upheaval and violence. In her sophomore novel, Anderson (City of Saints & Thieves) tells the story of Abdi, a 16-year-old Somali in Kenya. While Sam, a U.N. relief worker, cares for the teen at her home as she searches for a suitable foster placement, traumatic episodes from Abdi's past haunt his present. These include violent terrorist group Al Shabab abducting his older brother in Mogadishu, Somalia; his family's kidnapping and imprisonment by U.S. forces in order to "motivate" Abdi to infiltrate Al Shabab and become an informant against his now radicalized sibling; and his experiences training, fighting, and killing alongside a ragtag group of boys while trying to gain the leaders' trust, that he might later betray them to save his family. Anderson draws intriguing parallels between American-born Sam's ongoing recovery from her upbringing in a Christian apocalyptic cult and Abdi's encounter with Islamic fundamentalism; their recognition of shared trauma proves healing for both. Without melodrama, Abdi's immediate first-person narrative conveys the physical abuse he endures; his anguished attempts to maintain a moral compass in the midst of widespread violence, chaos, and emotional manipulation; and his longing to find people he can trust. Ages 12 up.
