For the love of Literature!

This is a tale dictating a real life event and the experiences of Enaiatollah Akbadi, a young Afghan child left to fight his own fight in a dangerous world. The story is told with great skill and explains everything flawlessly with every emotion imaginable. The text is written in first person so provides the best effect as though I myself am Enaiatollah. A truly gripping book which I enjoyed very much.

The way in which the child’s story is described provides a true insight to the difficulties one would face if one were an asylum seeker fleeing from a broken society. Living our quaint lives we do not fully understand the tribulations asylum seekers face to simply find peace in the western world. This book encompasses the emotion and the journey from abandonment in the Pakistani border to Italy where safety is finally found.

A displaced young man finding his way, fighting to give himself a better life is truly a captivating story. Geda tells it marvellously encapsulating every finite detail possible whilst maintaining the tension and difficulty life was like for young Enaiatollah up until he reaches Italy and life becomes that bit more bearable.

This young child’s journey is truly amazing. How he managed to find a variety of jobs along his journey, maintaining that independence is something to admire but is, at the same time, tragic because it meant he had to grow up almost immediately. Despite everything, this story is one I shall hold with me always as it is one that has touched my heart as a reader and I know has touched everyone else’s who have read this novel also.

To conclude, ‘In the sea there are crocodiles’ is an astounding tale of a boys journey to a better life and is one I implore you to read. It allows us to break down that fourth wall and open our minds to what others may be going through in our current asylum seeker crisis.

Anna and the Swallow Man is Gavriel Savit’s debut Novel. He has created a totally new story about WWII which brings to life characters you would fall in love with from the start. Savit tells this tale fluently with his tremendous use of language. It begins in 1939 Poland, in a place called Kraków. He incorporates themes of mystery, friendship, survival, war and humanity all strung together to form this amazing story. It is a rather short story consisting of 5 chapters though packed  with great detail and description.

I began reading this book very recently and I do not lie when I say I cannot put it down. From the second I read the first few words I was fascinated by the story. The main characters are a little girl called Anna, a 7 year old multi linguist (like her father), and a man known to us as ‘the Swallow Man’ quite like her father, who takes Anna into his care after her father was executed along with a group of others by the Nazi Soldiers. 

 The language used in this book is something to be marvelled at. I have been thoroughly impressed with how the writer describes the setting and how the story itself glides along so effortlessly, it is honestly as if I myself, am a part of the story and present within the setting, it really draws me in.  A book that is able to engage you from page 1 and makes you feel like you’re in the novel itself is a book in my opinion, that is very well written. 

Savit encapsulates the setting of World War II perfectly. Just reading through the chapters, I can feel the tension built up in near encounters with nazi soldiers and feel my heart race in moments of fear and suspense like that of when Anna ran away from the Swallow Man and towards her newly made friend ‘Reb Hirschl’ in the chapter titled ‘The Man who Kissed his Rifle’.  

The journey Anna and the Swallow Man take is one of great risk, full of trepidation and well crafted dissimulation just to survive. The mystery behind the Swallow Man is one aspect I love about the book. Anna grows up travelling around with the Swallow Man, aiding him in passing through check points guarded by soldiers helping to avoid prosecution. We can see that the Swallow Man is someone of great intelligence and of logic which helps them both survive the wilderness and each passing day however, as the story unfolds, we can see he is a loving character with many other qualities yet to be discovered.

Anna and the Swallow Man is a novel about friendship, mystery and risk. It is an adventure within the most lethal and dangerous era known to us all. WWII was a heinous breach in human rights and an evil in itself. To survive the War was something of a miracle and Anna’s story is one to marvel at. It is very well crafted with great imagination woven into the structure of the tale. Savit is able to use words in such a mesmerising way, it leaves me, as a reader, enchanted and beguiled. The way the story is told really plants itself in your heart you can’t help but feel like you really know these characters on a personal level. 

The way WWII is depicted, from the beginning right until the end, is very well devised. Reading this novel, I can feel the build up of the War and how severe it had become through the years. Savit evidently expresses great understanding and knowledge of the War and this is demonstrated within the story itself. Each Chapter brings a new aspect to their journey however big or small it may be.