Refugee: the Diary of Ali Ismail by Alan Sunderland

This book is about the journey of a 14 year old boy refugee from Afghanistan to Australia. Ali is looking for freedom but when he comes to Australia, he is locked up with other refugees in a detention centre in Woomera, South Australia. It takes place from 2001 to 2002.

Although it is a fictional story, it realistically describes what the life of a refugee in Australia would be like. At the beginning of the book, the author doesn't describe what is going on with details. I found this the confusing because if Ali doesn't know what is happening, then how are we supposed to know?


Before reading this book, I expected it to be more emotional because being a refugee is probably very hard. However, the lack of emotive language made it quite unmoving. The book starts by Ali talking about the future but ends by him only saying about the past, ''Back then we were talking about the future. Today we only talked about the past.'' (page 183)

I found this book easy to understand but rather boring. I think the author was focused on writing down the facts more than making this an entertaining book.  It ends in a similar way to the start. Ali is confused and doesn't describe things in detail. The last few sentences were very effective, ''Who are you, son? I am Faraq al Haq. I am Ali Ismail. I am a refugee.'' The short sentences and repetition of 'I am' makes the story end dramatically.

I don't usually read this genre but I'm glad I have read it because I have learnt a little bit from it. If you want to know how being a refugee in Australia is like from the point of view of a child, then you should read this book.