The New Odyssey: The Story of the Twenty-First Century Refugee Crisis

Patrick Kingsley gave a human face to the plight of the denizens on the move…and their modern day trials and tribulations…The new odyssey is a modern day take on the pilgrim’s progress…not in the religious sense … but in the canvass where intersections of the social, political and economic spheres align on a spiritual backdrop… where one seeks to find humanity … if it still exists… and to be lost in the labyrinth of red tape and bureaucracy…only to find salvation in the small acts of kindness of the nameless and faceless souls who champion all that’s humanly possible and good…A great read…

Mr. Kingsley's account of his experiences in North Africa and Europe, interviewing and following men and women fleeing from Syria, Eritrea, Afghanistan, and other countries, is a compelling and important read for anyone interested in this massive and unfortunate crisis. While there's nothing particularly novel about the information he presents, especially if you've stayed informed on the topic, the level of detail about the tragedies that these men and women face is refreshing, and the chance to read about the stories of individual men and women (rather than just an inhuman, mass block of migrants/refugees) is invaluable.I would warn anyone reading reviews of this book to ignore those bashing it for Mr. Kingsley's bias; it's definitely there (he argues quite specifically, several times throughout the book, for a more streamlined and uniform asylum process, and that those making their way to Europe should be welcomed), but I'm not sure how you could expect any journalist who took Mr. Kingsley's journey to feel any other way. If you're looking for a completely neutral take on the topic, this book isn't it, but even if you're anti-migration, I think it's worth the read.The writing alone deserves five stars, but unfortunately the book could have used a little more editing, mostly to make tangential transitions stronger and to reduce content redundancy in chapters, but for the most part the book flowed well. In my Kindle version, though, there were several misspellings and a lot of weird errors where words were split into two.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which covers the journeys of several refugees and refugee families from Africa and the Middle East to their final destinations in Europe. The author traveled with the refugees and experienced many of the same dangers and challenges that they did, which must have been a monumental task, but allows him to see inside their lives. He also interviewed many other people involved in one way or another with refugees, including people-smugglers, immigration officials, aid workers and resettlement officers. The barriers put up to control refugees are frequently based on misinformation and false assumptions, and the toll in human life is high. The resilience and determination of the refugees themselves is portrayed with compassion and sensitivity here.Kingsley also puts today’s mass migration into context: people have been migrating to Europe for centuries, and in large numbers since the 1960s, so the current movement should be no surprise. For the most part, Kingsley lets the stories stand on their own, and allows the reader to decide what should be done to change this situation. As of today, trends in migration to Europe show no sign of abating, so even this story of refugees in 2015 remains relevant and important.

I could t put the book down. The writer did an amazing job of capturing the entire trek of Hashemite and detailing the challenges faced.

What a touching and informative book! I appreciate the political back stories that Kingsley gave of what led to the failed state of Syria. I also learned so much of the struggle and lives that millions of refugees and those living in terror face each day. I can only hope that policy makers in Europe and the United States read this book so that they can have a deeper understanding of the crisis and recognize that their unity in resettling the refugees is needed!

It’s a very thorough and very readable examination of the current refugee crisis. Kingsley provides the information you need and moves you with accounts about the people he meets. I recommend this book to any one who wants to know more about this tragic situation. Hopefully it will also move and inspire you to help.

For anyone who wants to better understand the refugee crisis that is defining our times, and for those who think they already know it all, I highly recommend this book. The author does a phenomenal job of giving us a glimpse into the lives of those who are most affected by the current events, an understanding of their decisions, and compassion for their plight. Thank you, Patrick Kingsley!

The book discusses the refugee crisis through the stories of real people. As a piece of journalism, it is an achievement. Perhaps not your top option if you are more interested in policy and hard numbers, even though it contains those as well.

This is the news story that has dominated European news programmes for the last few months; the migrant crisis. I have witnessed endless stories of those attempting to cross the water in flimsy dingies or trudging across Europe to try to get to their final destination – in Hashem’s case (the individual migrant whose journey we follow throughout this book), he is making for Sweden. This story has divided people, has been used by political parties and has, ultimately, played a large part in dividing my own country from the EU. Yet, although I have seen so many news reports, I did not feel that I really understood many of the underlying causes of these events that have seemed to have suddenly exploded onto our screens and, as such, I turned to this book.The author looks at both the wider crisis and of the individual journey of one man – Hashem al-Souka, a Syrian who left his wife, Hayam and his three sons to try to make it to Sweden, in the hope that he could reunite his family in safety. Hashem was a civil servant with the water board, who lived in a small town outside Damascus, before political events overtook him. He was arrested during a sweep in his area, beaten, tortured and, when finally released, he returned to find his house destroyed and Civil War. In this book you will get to care about Hashem and his journey and this is reported throughout the book.However, as well as Hashem’s journey, we also read of so many more. We read of desert routes through the Sahara, of people smuggling, of flimsy boats and the reasons why so many have turned to dingys, indeed of more seaworthy vessels. This is the story of small towns who, having lost their own ways of life, and ability to earn a living through various reasons, have turned to the lucrative business of people smuggling. Migrants are not, of course, always refugees. They are not all Syrians fleeing war; many are people looking for a new future, away from religious extremism, corrupt governments and poverty. It is also a story of corruption, bribery and profit and of the scale of the migration and of the futility of trying to curb it from Europe when it is plain that no one has any interest in stopping it from the places that the migrants are leaving from. This is a business, plain and simple. Shop manikins in Libya have swopped wearing fashion to model lifeboat jackets and some people are getting very wealthy while those hoping for a better life are being sent to sea in dangerously overcrowded, flimsy boats; or facing being shot, dumped, kidnapped or killed before they even make it to this point.Immigration is something that has affected so many of our own lives. Indeed, in London, where I live (like so many large cities), virtually everyone in my street, my work place, my children’s schools, are immigrants. My own part of London has large immigrant communities and, generally, everyone gets along very well. However, even immigrants I know, that live in London, have expressed disquiet about the situation in Europe. When you read individual stories, it is impossible not to feel sympathy with those fleeing difficult circumstances. My own father left Ireland to find work – he was, in effect, an economic migrant. If my own children were unable to go to school, would I not feel motivated to try to do something to help their future? Personally, I had no knowledge about counties, such as Eritrea, and no idea how difficult it was to live there, for example. So, this book has opened my eyes, even if it failed to really answer any questions. For certainly, for the migrants themselves, this situation needs to be addressed by politicians, as the very people being exploited are those most in danger…

I bought this book for my dissertation, but I got really caught up in its story. I like how Kingsley develops small details (such as smuggling) into full chapters of their own, I think this is really important to understand the refugees journeys.I think that, although it's kind of left-oriented, it offers all the proof for being so. The statistics, his meetings with various people and hands-on experience of various situations makes the story as truthful as possible. I also like that he chose to 'tell the story of an everyman', as a lot of people just consider the refugees to be numbers. When you give them a name (Hashem is the main character of the book), you acknowledge that they are also human, not very different from you. I think this is an extremely important detail, especially with all the paranoia and fear that is boosted in the media.Also, it is very easy to read!

The way Kingsley balances a personal perspective with a wider view of the migration crisis works to help the reader understand how complicated the issues are. I have read accounts written by Afghan and Syrian refugees before but this book helps explain why things are the way they are and why we Europeans need to change the way we view migration and how we try to help.

I don't know if this is secondhand or just be one a bit bent in places during delivery but I'm giving this as a gift and I wasn't that impressed with the condition .

What an amazing experience to be able to travel alongside these refugees as they make their torchered journeys across continents to from war zones to unwelcoming Western hosts. Patrick Kingsley has put himself in a unique position, not observing but actually being on the inside of these incredible journeys and looking out at what we can't begin to know.