There's a lot of surprising beauty in this slim novel. Saeed and Nadia are two well-traced characters and the trajectory of their relationship was rendered with care. I was surprised because I went into this not knowing it would contain an element of magical realism, thinking instead it was a straight refugee story and prepared myself thus. But it uses a gimmick that reminded me of The Underground Railroad in many ways, but this is not as harrowing. There are great slivers of stories between Saeed and Nadia's, too. While it's quite an entrancing overall tale, something seemed missing by book's end though I enjoyed it. Perhaps it was the journeys themselves.

A great 'empathy' read, one that doesn't judge but gives perspectives of refugees.