Sea Prayer (English) Paperback – 1 January 2015

"Because all I can think tonight ishow deep the sea,and how vast, how indifferent.How powerless I am to protect you from it"Khaled Hosseini wrote Sea Prayers, after inspired by the story of Alan Kurdi, a 3-year-old Syrian refugee who drowned in the sea trying to reach safety in 2015.This book is written partly in the form of letter and partly poetry from a father who is watching over his sleeping son, as they wait for dawn for boat to arrive so that they flee from their motherland Syria. The father grieves over the life that is little known to his son, of the childhood memories and mourns over the present state of affairs in the same country."But that life, that time,seems like a dream now,even to me,Like some long-dissolved rumour"The title is basically derived from all the prayers of the father for his son, during their journey at sea. The author describes the city of Homs, before the protests, siege and the sky spitting bombs. It is heartbreaking how the helplessness of a father is described that his son has memories of the starvation and burials in the country and not of the beautiful city as it was earlier."You have learned that mothers andsisters and classmates can be foundin narrow gaps between concrete,bricks and exposed beams,little patches of sunlit skinshining in the dark"The book is mere 48 pages, but it is beautiful, both words by Khaled Hosseini and the illustrations by Dan Williams. As the blurb describes, this book is dedicated to the thousands of refugees who have perished at sea fleeing war and persecution. It describes how people long for home, for freedom in their own homeland and how they become "misfortune" everywhere else in the world."I have heard it said we are the uninvited,We are the unwelcome.We should take our misfortune elsewhere."

This is an illustrative 50 pages book which is a letter written by a father to a son. It captures the fear of a refugee who is leaving with his innocent sleeping son from his beautiful home/ country now hit by the war. Apart from the fear of leaving his war stricken country, the man along with his family has to take a dangerous sea journey which can lead to anything.The letter begins by giving the beautiful description of the city, its lively markets, its religious places etc. Later, it speaks about the transition that the happy city went through after the war.The pictures of the book are so beautiful and seeing them along with the words just hit my heart. This book in minimum words describes a pain of every refugee who has undergone this heart breaking journey.

Sitting still, heartbroken, holding the book close to my heart with so many emotions & thoughts that can't be put into words, so many things I want to tell people about this book and its message but I know I can't do it justice. Thank you Khaled Hosseini.This is a short war story and in the form of a letter by a father to his son on the eve of their journey fleeing from war-ridden Syria and a prayer to the sea for the safety of his son in this journey.We all remember the harrowing image of Alan Kurdi, the 3 year old Syrian boy whose body washed upon a beach in Turkey in Sept '15 after drowning in the Mediterranean Sea trying to reach safety in Europe. This book is a tribute to millions of families like his.It reads like spoken word poetry. The story, heartwarming. His writing style, elegant as always. It reminds us of the perils refugees face while leaving their country, a place they've called home their entire life; how unwelcome they are in other countries; how they are asked to take their misfortune elsewhere. The story starts with the father describing his childhood in Syria and its beauty with its mosques, souks and crowded lanes in contrary to what his son got to witness which is only death, air filled with dust from exploding bombs and families praying for survival. The gorgeous illustrations change as the story develops from displaying green fields & busy lanes to protests, siege and war. Hosseini is one author who can make you feel empathy like no one else

To my dismay this wasn't a Novel but a book filled with illustrations and a little poetry.Not worth the money. Being an admirer of his writing, I'm upset with the way this book has come out to be. It's more like a memoir. And this is not something that comes to our mind when we hear the name Khalid hosseini.

Apparently I had read this book quite a while back but I forgot to review it earlier. Being a huge fan of Khaled Hosseini, I was quite excited about when this book was about to be released. Though the enthusiasm waned down when I found out that it is a poem with more stressed on illustration. I still went ahead and purchased this book and here is my take on it.The book is a letter written by a father to his son in poetry form. It is inspired mainly by the powerful image of Alan Kurdi who was found on the shores dead when his family were trying to cross the border via sea.What moved me about this book were the simple yet powerful words that Khaled described the entire ordeal. A country with lush green plains and with ordinary hustle bustle is now converted to a battleground. Children born in these years are subjected to the sounds of bombings, hungers and terror everyday.What made me unhappy about this book was the hype that it generated and which apparently died down since it was not a full fledged novel. The images were quite powerful and does bring tears to your eyes as you keep reading the poem and put yourself in shoes of the refugees who are only looking for a better life.

The jacket was torn off on the edges which took the beauty from the book itself but the inside pages were fine. I kept it because I’m afraid I won’t get it again as my order was cancelled automatically before. This is mainly a packaging issue. The content of the book itself is beautiful!