Voices of the Lost

By Chloe Pan

The short: 

This novel is comprised of six letters written by individuals who have left their home countries in Syria or Lebanon and travel to Europe. 

The long: 

This novel won the 2019 International Prize for Arabic Fiction and is centered around describing the troubled nature of contemporary Arab society through the lens of displaced people, immigrants and refugees alike. These letters never reach their intended recipient, but each is a snapshot of the lives of seemingly unconnected strangers, revealing confessions of love and despair. Each lost letter inspires the unintended reader to write about their own secrets, becoming a network of shared human emotion as they continue their journeys away from home.  

To read or not to read: 

Read. The concept of lost messages fulfilling an alternative purpose as they’re found by other strangers and readers around the world is bittersweet and beautiful, encouraging a deeper connection to others’ humanity. However, it does appear to romanticize the lives of refugees and immigrants in a way that ignores the darker side to migration and the precarity faced by many people around the world today.