City News
Hinterland by Caroline Brothers
Reviewed by Kimi
Hinterland, written by Caroline Brothers, tells the story of two refugees boys, only fourteen and eight, who are fleeing Afghanistan because of the war. Their names are Aryan and Kabir. After the death of both of their parents in the war due to bombing, the two boys seek a country with better safety and education, and they embark on a treacherous and heart wrenching journey across Europe in the hopes of reaching England. They commence their journey with nothing except the dirty clothes on their bodies and a little bit of inherited money hidden in a belt. Aryan sells all of his mother’s possessions, but only makes about forty euros, so the boys are essentially starting from scratch. Aryan makes his younger brother Kabir memorize the capitals of each country they plan on crossing so that he knows where to go if they ever get separated: Kabul, Tehran, Istanbul, Athens, Rome, Paris, and London. Along their journey, the brothers experience everything from forced unpaid labor on an orange farm in Greece to living on the streets and being sprayed with tear gas in France.
But despite these unimaginable hardships, it is Aryan and Kabir’s unbreakable bond as brothers that gives them the strength to persevere throughout the entire journey. Brothers’s novel shows the power of familial bonds as the boys support each other no matter what. When Kabir gets sick, his brother stays up at night taking care of him; and when Aryan subsequently catches the virus, Kabir makes sure he recovers completely. Furthermore, the brothers refuse to be separated. Every time Kabir goes away for even a second, Aryan panics from the fear of losing his brother. Facing discrimination, forced labor, and flashbacks of gory war images, the boys experience tremendous hardship, and the extreme power of their brotherly love is what keeps them going. Furthermore, it is significant that the book is from the point of view of two young boys rather than that of an adult. Possibly, this serves as a commentary on the adult world and devastating effects that can arise after it rushes in.
I greatly enjoyed this book, and would give it a ten out of ten stars without hesitation. It captured my attention from the very first page, and I had a very hard time putting the book down. It was both heartwarming and heart wrenching at the same time. This novel is one that I will remember for a very long time, and it has made me more aware of the experience of refugees and the hardship they face. The intense imagery and diction which Brothers employs in her writing will be etched in my memory for a long time. My favorite component of the novel was its message about the importance family. Even though the two brothers go through extreme hardships, their brotherly bond remains strong and never shatters. I would recommend this novel to anyone seeking a powerful book that will affect their perspective on life and hardship.