This was an eye-opening look into the generational effects of dramatic/traumatic beginnings in parents’ lives. Specifically dealing with infant abandonment & foster care and young adult immigration, Gurnah pulls back the curtains and shows us the emotional fall out of 4 adults grappling with these issues as one life comes to a close.

I appreciated Gurnah’s insight into the small, continuing frustrations and challenges immigrants can experience long after the foundational work of integration is done.