What is a refugee? By definition, a refugee is “a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. In the book I will be reviewing, “Refuge”, by Alan Gratz, the readers are given the perspective of three refugees, Isabel, Mahmoud, and Josef, and the hardships they went through, alongside their families, to become free.

When reading “Refugee”, you are introduced to Josef, Mahmoud, and Isabel. Josef is a Jewish teenager in 1939 trying to escape the Nazi-controlled country, Germany, with his family in hope of a better life in Cuba. Mahmoud in another teenager who lives in Aleppo, Syria, where constant bombings and wars are tearing the country apart and Mahmoud alongside his family must escape in order to survive, in the year 2013. Lastly, Isabel is a young Cuban girl who is trying to escape the country with her and her friend, Ivan, and his family. The communist country is also being torn apart by constant riots led by rebel groups against the president, Fidel Castro. Isabel hopes to live a better life with her family in The United States by making a makeshift boat and sailing to Miami, Florida.

The reason I chose to read “Refugee” is because my brother has read it in the past and recommended it to me, given that the library is currently closed. At first, I thought that the book was going to be boring and I thought that it was just going to detail the journeys of three refugees with nothing interesting to read about. However, I was proven wrong by the amount of action and suspense in the novel, and the connections between characters in the different story’s left me deeply intrigued. One of the three main characters that stood out to me in this story and was honestly my favorites was Isabel. Isabel’s story detailed the most hardships in the novel, consisting of building a boat from scratch, witnessing the death of her best friend, and seeing the birth of her baby brother while swimming to the shore of Miami’s crowded beach. These were all done at sea while Isabel and her family were being pursued by a Coast Guard Ships. The problem with this is that if Cuban immigrants are caught at sea, they would be deported back to Cuba but if they are caught on American land, they are allowed to live in the states peacefully. The reason why Isabel’s story stayed with me instead of Josef’s or Mahmoud’s is because my English teacher in seventh grade was the daughter of Cuban immigrants or escaped their country ruled by a dictator, Fidel Castro. Her parents escaped Cuba the same way that Isabel did, by boat. Listening to my teacher telling her parents story reminded me of Isabel and I was able to make a connection.

Some parts of the book that I really enjoyed reading about were when Josef boarded the MS St. Louis, an ocean liner, to escape Germany with his family in hope of a better life in Cuba. Reading about the happiness and hope Josef and his family experienced led to a better mood in the story and this was one of the parts I really enjoyed reading about. I was able to sympathize with Josef’s story and was glad to see him happy after seeing all the hardships he and his family faced in the Nazi-controlled country of Germany, where Jews like him were being killed and sent to concentration camps constantly. The section in this part of the story I did not enjoy reading about was when Josef’s father tried to commit suicide by jumping overboard into the Cuban Sea because he was afraid that Nazi’s were going to storm the ship and take him back to the concentration camp once the boat came to a stop. Josef’s father was luckily saved by a police officer, who happened to be Isabel’s grandfather, and then put in a hospital to receiver proper treatment. Josef’s father was not allowed to board the ship again because he posed a danger to the other passengers due to his mental health. Soon enough, the ship had to sail from Cuba’s harbor because the country would not let the undocumented immigrants in and they had to sail back to Europe. Unfortunately, Josef’s father was not able to accompany his son, daughter, and wife and the family was quickly torn apart. This part of the story had a very melancholy and remorseful effect, and it seemed as if the family would not stop experiencing problems in their lives.

Overall, I would rate “Refugee” a ⅘ stars because I honestly wasn’t that interested when reading Mahmoud’s story. I did enjoy the small details of the book that improved it and I appreciated how the author gave all of the characters a resilient side that showed the readers that no matter what problem you face, it is important to fight through it and never give up.