What Strange Paradise

What Strange Paradise is a 2021 novel written by acclaimed writer Omar El Akkad, author of American War. The plot is split between “Before” chapters, depicting protagonist Amir’s life as a refugee fleeing Syria as well as his time aboard an ill-fated refugee boat, and “After” chapters, in which he meets the secondary protagonist, Vänna, and contends with the perils of a country hostile to immigrants. El Akkad’s novel sheds light on the motives of migrants and refugees, as well as the insecurities and violence that plague the countries that receive them. What Strange Paradise was a New York Times notable book of the year in addition to being rated as one of the best books of 2021 by the Washington Post, NPR, and Buzzfeed, among others. The novel won the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize and was a finalist for the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize and the Oregon Book Award.

Born in Cairo, Egypt, Omar El Akkad grew up in Doha, Qatar, moved to Canada, and currently lives in Portland, Oregon. As an award-winning journalist, he has reported on major conflicts across the world, including the US war in Afghanistan, the trials at Guantánamo Bay, the Arab Spring in Egypt, and Black Lives Matter in Ferguson, Missouri.

Content Warning: This guide contains references to distressing scenes (including multiple human deaths and the death of children), xenophobia, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Plot Summary

Amir Utu is a nine-year-old Syrian boy who is forced to flee his hometown after it is leveled by bombings during the Syrian Civil War. Amir travels with his mother (Iman), his stepfather (his “Quiet Uncle” Younis), and his new half-brother. After taking refuge with a family to whom the fighting and devastation of the war is nothing but propaganda, Amir and his family cross into Egypt and begin to establish themselves in the port city of Alexandria.

Amir becomes suspicious of Quiet Uncle and follows him when he sneaks out of the apartment late one night. Quiet Uncle’s destination is a smuggler ship, the Calypso. An old man in charge of letting migrants onto the ship lets Amir follow his uncle onto the deck, telling him that the passengers are just going to the Greek island of Kos for vacation. Quiet Uncle spots Amir on board and is furious. However, he agrees to pay for Amir’s passage, and Amir takes a place below deck, with the poorer, mostly African refugees. There, Amir meets a cast of migrants seeking a better life in the West. The passengers are kept in line by Mohamed, an apprentice smuggler.

Trouble brews when the Calypso encounters a late-winter storm. The crew narrowly avoid a passing ship and eventually run out of fuel, buffeted by increasingly violent waves, within sight of Kos. Mohamed begins to lose control of the passengers; not even his pistol can quiet their panic. The Calypso sinks. Amir is presumably the only survivor. He washes up on the shore of a resort amid the wreckage of the ship and the bodies of his companions. Officials are already combing through the wreckage as crowds of curious onlookers and journalists gather and as police and soldiers attempt to cordon the area off. Amir regains consciousness and runs away.

Vänna Hermes, a 15-year-old Greek girl, is cleaning her yard when she hears a commotion. Amir emerges, terrified and frantic. Vänna makes the quick decision to hide Amir in the barn on her family’s property. She misdirects the soldiers who were chasing Amir. She then attempts to communicate with Amir, but the language barrier proves difficult. Amir lies that his name is “David Utu.” Vänna’s mother, Marianne, a bitter, xenophobic woman, sends her to get lunch from the Hotel Xenios, the resort where Amir washed up. Vänna attempts to communicate to Amir to remain hidden until she returns. Along the way to the hotel, she learns about the shipwreck and guesses that Amir is a survivor.

While Vänna is gone, a migrant couple wanders onto the Hermes’ property. Marianne confronts them, holding them at gunpoint until her friend Colonel Kethros arrives. Kethros and his soldiers are in charge of capturing any undocumented migrants on the island. He takes control of the situation, arresting the couple. When Vänna returns, she finds a backpack left behind by the migrant couple. Vänna confronts her mother about the backpack, and Marianne instructs her to take it to Madame El Ward, Vänna’s former French teacher who now runs the migrant detention center.

Vänna takes Amir with her to visit Madame El Ward. Amir is intimidated by the stark conditions of the camp, but Madame El Ward comforts him by speaking to him in his own language. Madame El Ward persuades Vänna that it will be better for Amir to be with his own people in a refugee community on the mainland; she instructs Vänna to take Amir to a lighthouse from which he can be smuggled off the island. Amir and Vänna leave Madame El Ward just as Colonel Kethros and his men arrive at the compound. Kethros interrogates Madame El Ward: He knows a child survived the shipwreck and escaped on the island. Madame El Ward lets slip that the survivor is a boy.

After stopping at the Hotel Xenios, where Vänna steals some new clothes for Amir, Vänna and Amir hide in a sea cave. Vänna earns Amir’s trust, and he tells her his real name. The next day, they continue north, a step ahead of Kethros and his soldiers. Amir and Vänna make it to the lighthouse after a grueling day of hiking in the heat. During the night, Vänna sees another migrant boat come ashore.

The colonel and his men find signs of Amir and Vänna’s stay in the sea cave. After hearing of the new migrant ship, Kethros and the other soldiers head to the lighthouse, where he happens to see Vänna and Amir fleeing. Kethros pursues them with his soldiers. The children run into the woods. One of the soldiers lets them escape to the house where they can await the ferryman, but Kethros guesses what is happening and goes after them. Kethros corners Vänna and Amir, and the soldiers take Vänna away in their jeep. However, they are halted at a bridge at the island’s narrowest point by a shepherd and his flock. Vänna takes advantage of the confusion to escape and leaps off the bridge.

Amir, meanwhile, is interrogated by Kethros, who tells Amir that the world only pretends to care about him and the plight of other refugees; he, unlike the rest of the world, does not forget. He tells Amir that he will take him to the refugee camp for processing. Vänna suddenly reappears and smashes Kethros over the skull with a shovel, knocking him unconscious. The two children flee to the ferryman, who begrudgingly takes both aboard. They sail away from the island.

In the final chapter, El Akkad returns to the morning of the wreck of the Calypso. A man in a protective suit finds the dead body of a boy. Inspecting it, he finds the boy wearing a bell-shaped locket, indicating that it is Amir.