military operation in an unnamed Muslim country. Jonas is fifteen when his family is killed during an errant U.S.

He has talent and an impressive knowledge of refugees in America so there is a very good book in there. It is not perfect, and it certainly celebrates conformity, but it is not filled with the one-dimensionality or the stupidity he brings to it. Dau needs to take a little of the dispassion he brought to Jonas and bring it to his consideration of middle America. (I assume he did, I should look that up.) Mr. As someone who grew up and fled the midwest I see the unmistakable prejudices of a person who lived there and hated it. The Christianity discussion at the foster mother's table is so ludicrous and ham-fisted it made me laugh. Given the subject matter that seems as if it would be impossible, but it left me cold and utterly detached.Ģ) All of the secondary characters (everyone but Jonas and Christopher) are silly broadly drawn tropes. Dau's prose is lovely and the subject matter is important and of great interest.ġ)In an effort not to be sentimental (an effort I applaud) the book feels completely devoid of emotional resonance.

I really want to have liked this more than I did. It is a rare and virtuosic novel from an exciting new writer to watch. Told in spare, evocative prose, The Book of Jonas is about memory, about the terrible choices made during war, and about what happens when foreign disaster appears at our own doorstep. When Jonas meets Rose, a shocking and painful secret gradually surfaces from the past, and builds to a shattering conclusion that haunts long after the final sentence.

Christopher's mother, Rose, has dedicated her life to finding out what really happened to her son, who disappeared after the raid in which Jonas's village was destroyed. soldier, Christopher Henderson, responsible for saving his life on the tragic night in question. Eventually, he tells a court-mandated counselor and therapist about a U.S. With the help of an international relief organization, he is sent to America, where he struggles to assimilate-foster family, school, a first love.

The Book of Jonas by Stephen Dau