Yu’s precise, poetic style is incredibly effective at holding together the disparate strands of this narrative. Moonlight washed the gnawed coral pinnacles, frosted the skeletal phosphate cranes, and drenched the canvas tents where a hundred dreamers dreamed grey, grim, and miserable dreams. Yu brings her mastery of language and atmosphere to this work, dividing it more specifically into three distinct narrative modes: there is the fable-like prose that weaves in and out of the protagonist’s perspective the fragmented style of ghosts and dreams and the snapshot scenes of supporting characters and their experiences within a cruel and unforgiving immigration system. The novel opens with a visual poem, and this sets up the lyrical, haunting texture that underlines every phrase and scene. When they arrive at last in Australia, their promised land is not what they had dreamed of-now, Firuzeh and her family must navigate the new and treacherous waters of Australian society, its unfamiliar culture and peoples, and hold each other close when circumstances threaten to splinter the family apart. The story follows their family as they leave Afghanistan and travel the dangerous seas and shores of Indonesia and Nauru, relying on kind strangers and cutthroat smugglers to find their way. On Fragile Waves is a tale about an Afghan family’s flight from war, their search for a new place to call home, and the stories they tell each other to survive the journey.įiruzeh and her brother Nour are born and raised amidst the drumbeat of war in Kabul. After a decade of excellent short stories, E.
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