Ousman Umar

In college I took a creative nonfiction class in which we had to write an essay about an embarrassing moment. I wrote about a time when I had a comical rollerblading accident on the sidewalk of a busy street. I dramatized rolling backwards arms flailing and then falling face first into an anthill at the bottom of the steep street.

My professor promptly pointed out that my story didn’t make sense nor did it seem believable. Which way was I rolling again? How does that work with falling forward into the anthill? Oh wait, you were rolling down hill? He argued either I was embellishing or I didn’t really remember this moment all that well. The truth is he was right about both. I embellished (badly) a story that was lame to make it more interesting and I honestly didn’t remember it that well either. I think I was rolling backward at one point, there definitely was an anthill. But even if it was all true, not feeling believable to your audience is still a big deal.

And that’s North to Paradise. A badly told, poorly remembered memoir (ehh) with a lot of holes, completely impossible moments, and strings of events. There is no scene building or character study. The most egregious for me was when Ousman was shopping for a migrant guide, chose one, and then all the sudden he was being tortured by the guy he just hired? Little things bothered me too - like how he finnalllly got into a routine just to be uprooted…and a sentence later we find out he only stayed in that place for one day.

All this to say, I get it. I’m a bad writer too. Face palm. Skip this one unless cringe is your thing.… (mehr)

This is a short memoir about a boy‘s following rumors to a better life in the “Land of the Whites,” and his journey from Ghana to Spain. He doesn‘t know his actual age but when he undertook the trip he was probably between 13-17. Among 46 people abandoned in the Sahara by smugglers, he was 1 of 6 who survived walking 3 weeks out of the desert. He spent the most time in Libya trying to make enough money to make it to Europe, which he finally accomplished. Along the way he spent significant time in prison or detention camps, and was almost raped twice. Why did he go? Having no access to media & no education, he acted only on rumors. A skilled auto mechanic at a tender age, he believed he‘d be welcomed with open arms. He was not welcomed anywhere in Africa, and more often than not he was conned. He learned about racism in Libya and how women were poorly treated. But two women likely saved his life in Spain where he was allowed to stay but had no ability to understand how to get help, sleeping on the streets. One of the women and her husband adopted him! He got his master‘s degree & started his own non-profit to educate children in Ghana. He knew all the horror he suffered was because of a lack of education and access to the world and so he is giving back. This book helps explain what motivates refugees.… (mehr)

“The desert is full of corpses, scattered among the dunes."

This nail-biting, engrossing memoir sweeps you away to Ghana and the illegal human smuggling route to Italy. The horrific brutality of the conditions that Ousman had to survive are apparent from the very first sentence, including one harrowing trek through the desert where only six of the forty-six migrants survived.

Ousman is born into a small tribal village in Ghana, where his father is the shaman. He loved his son enough to save his life, as children whose mothers die in childbirth are usually abandoned due to fear of a curse. Yet he lied to his son about who his mother was and struggled to have any sort of connection with the child he saved. Ousman grew up hearing fantastic tales about Europe, and he became determined to go there. At age twelve, he sets out, following the migrant route through Africa, the middle east, and finally, Europe.

The author uses a matter-of-fact tone to describe his circumstances, skimming over the emotions and exhaustion the circumstances must have created. Ousman bounces from job to job, barely surviving, at one point pausing for four years in Benghazi, but each time he gets a little cash, he takes a step closer to his destination. He finds and loses his friend Musa several times along the journey.

The devastation and horror of his circumstances along the route are balanced by his joy and accomplishments once he finally settles in Barcelona, Spain. This true story shed light on a struggle I knew little about: African migrants heading to Europe. It's a riveting read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.… (mehr)