"Leila Aboulela's 'Elsewhere, Home' is a captivating collection of stories that delves into the complex experiences of immigrants and the challenges they face in assimilating to a new culture. With her exquisite prose and deep understanding of human emotions, Aboulela takes us on a poignant journey that traverses between Sudan and the United Kingdom. Through nuanced characters and thought-provoking narratives, this book explores themes of identity, longing, and the bittersweet yearning for home. Aboulela's storytelling prowess shines, making 'Elsewhere, Home' a truly compelling read."

I love short story collections and this one was no exception. I loved how these stories followed the lives of women and men in Africa.

I realize this is an extremely delayed review and my apologies for that!

I don't normally choose short story compilations but this was an excellent way to sample some authors' work I might never have come across otherwise.

My favourite short story was The Ostrich. And I truly appreciated reading about Sudanese culture. Thank you! I actually purchased a hard copy of this book and plan on keeping it.

„Elsewhere, Home” is a collection of 13 short stories about Egyptian and Sudanese immigrants and natives. And let me tell you one thing – I’m not usually a fan of short stories.

These, however, had the author’s expert knowledge and experience going for them and therefore they were worthy reads. They explored the precarious line between assimilation and cultivating the connection one needs to have to their homeland. The clash of the had-been and what now is. The constant struggle for the older generation (not just them though) not to forget where they came from and who their ancestors were. I found it that the gap between the generations (the parents and the children) was showcased and explained in an excellent way. As someone who doesn’t have such experience, I could still understand their reasoning and what they stood for. Especially given that the children are usually fully assimilated and the parents struggle or miss home more.

I did have a favourite short story (the one with the short-sighted girl), one that perhaps touched on the ‘bigger picture’ of immigration in the least significant way but I still loved the story and how it encompassed the struggles of growing up while being an immigrant and feeling that peer pressure or feeling inadequete because of a number of reasons. It was a rather short one but marvellous at touching on that subject of wanting to be accepted by your peers, no matter what really.

All of them were very interesting, even for a person who is not very religious or rather grew not to be, despite my religious, albeit Christian, upbringing. Or perhaps they were interesting and novel to me exactly because of those reasons.

I also liked the writing style. It had a nostalgic undertone but it wasn’t overly sentimental. Aboulela certainly knows how to spin stories with depth without her words tripping over themselves and creating a chaotic bundle of something overly dramatic. It all held so much more meaning because of that. It’s not a style that I think could work with everything but it proved an excellent option here.

I would recommend reading „Elsewhere, Home” to everyone who has some interest in cultural history of our world and who wants to explore the depths and struggles of mixed cultures that are now our reality. It’s a wise read with a lot of background. One we can learn from.

**massive thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

Overall I enjoyed these stories. Some were better than others, but some were beautifully written. The cover is also gorgeous, which is a bonus!

This is a slightly uneven short story collection but there are some really stupendous ones. The real strength is Aboulela's writing, she really drives home to the core of emigrant and immigrant experiences. She manages to softly talk about very heavy things and she does it in a way that you enjoy it.

A wonderful and memorable collection of short stories that explore the intersections and two worlds of the protagonists.

13 Amazing story that has been written since 1999 about the story of African immigrants. Each story reads different meanings and meanings for the reader. But all of these stories show views between races, Muslim views and life with different cultures. This relationship may also be very close to the author.
But I am sure I have to be amazed by Leila Aboulela. It's really not easy to live on a new land and house. That is not reflected in my mind at all. Also when accepting disturbing things and very different views. This perspective may be very different from other readers' minds. But I feel stunned to see all the stories in every short story in this book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this collection. While none could be said are written using linguistic gymnastics or great lyricism, they were told with a great deal of heart and nostalgia. Each were a good length, as in none were too short to feel they end abruptly but not too long either to lose its sense as a short story.

Many stories were about the struggle of straddling two cultures, leaving home or their African and Arab ways of life. Many of the stories were centred in Sudan, and moving to a new Western life (mainly in London and Scotland). They all had longing and a sense of loss of leaving and alienation felt while adapting to a different way of life. There did seem to be a lot of repetition in some of the stories, certain elements would appear almost exactly as they appeared in different stories. There was also many mentions of glasses, of a character needing glasses, or not being able to see clearly. A number of the stories were about marrying outside of their Muslim culture – either the man or the woman – so they centred around introducing their fiancees to family, to new traditions so it meant there were many explanations in each on the author’s culture.

The first story, Summer Maze was about a mother and daughter and it was a very nice start to the collection. While the daughter has lived in the US all her life, each year they return to Cairo. The mother struggles with wanting her to shelter her from western ways but is accused by her family in Egypt that while she’s left, it’s like she hasn’t moved on – she remains firmly in the old ways, even though this is not the current way of life in Egypt at all. It’s a story where the mother and daughter are trying to connect and recognize the value of new and old and what it means to each other. This seem to ground much of the rest of the collection – their struggle.

My favourites: Summer Maze, The Ostrich, and Farida’s Eyes with The Ostrich being my favourite out of the entire collection – it was one that I found to be the most compelling and I could have easily continued reading with the characters involved.

I was happy to have this collection start my return of sorts to the short story.

Maybe we should not judge a book by its cover. But I did and it felt great when I chose this book because of its beautiful cover. Loved the content and i was not disappointed with the writing.

I could see little happiness. A lot of resignation, the longing for the roots home, but also the pull of a better, modern life. There is no better place or better choice. No character can be judged, but as a reader you can just accept them and feel for them. The characters are from different backgrounds so this gives a more inclusive perspective on the Sudanese culture.

What surprised me was that despite having no knowledge of the Sudanese culture and literature, these stories read in a universal language - literally and figuratively. If it were any other country from the East, the feelings the characters would be similar to those in this collection. The life of an immigrant is never easy nor black and white and you can see this clearly in these stories. The unlikely connections and graspings for belonging in Scotland are endearing and makes you wish all the best for these characters. The characters are never just people on paper; not few times did I think about the people who maybe inspired each story: the unlikely, the sad, the unexpected. At times I feared that the clash of cultures will lead couples, spouses or parents and children apart. The tapestry is rich in colour, and each story brings something new.

I must confess that some stories read a bit slower as they are not easy to get into. However, it was fun to see how each person got to Sudan or Scotland and read along to see where the story led. The plan is to read more from this author.

Elsewhere home is a collection of short stories following the lives of various women (and a few men) in Africa. Many of the stories explore the characters' experiences straddling the line between their "home" in Africa and their home in Europe. Some of them are comfortable with their dual identity, while others are not sure whether they fit in to either place. We see various degrees of wealth, and each story is beautifully written. I personally don't particularly like collections of short stories, but I like Aboulela's work in general, and this is an excellent piece to add to the collection.

A collection of short stories about Egyptian natives and immigrants, who either revisit their country or are holding on to the last thread of connection to their homeland.

I really liked Aboulela's writing style. Her writing has a distinct nostalgic yet powerful touch to it, which even gave me goosebumps. I always used to think why immigrants weren't keen on knowing their culture and homeland, but this book changed my entire perception on that topic. The generation gap and the problems arising with it has been imaginatively dealt with. I especially loved the story of a bright girl struggling in studies because of her parent's ignorance to buy her glasses. It shows the daily life and simple struggles of people. There are some parts where I felt that the stories were kind of repetitive, but overall, I was very pleased with the array of characters and their varied stories.

The author knows what she is talking about and it reflects in her writing. This is a heartfelt piece you should not miss. Totally recommended.

Normally I’m not a big fan of short story collections, since most of the time they feel either too short or pointless.. But I want to try this one out since this book is own voices, the author is born in Egypt!

This is a collection of short stories about life as an immigrant, and finding your own way in a new country. This was really interesting to read, since I have no idea how this is. It was really nice that there were so many (13) stories, all with a different tale to tell. So you get to see a lot of different situations. And you get to learn a lot about the culture.

I did struggle a bit with the length of the stories. Sometimes the stories were a bit short and I would have liked to learn a bit more about certain characters and it felt like they stopped a bit abruptly. While other stories felt a bit too long. And of course there were stories that were exactly the right length :)

This is more a personal preference, but I would have liked if the longer stories would have been split up in smaller chapters. I usually lose my focus if chapters are too long, regardless of how much I’m liking the stories.

I would recommend this book if you want the learn more about immigrant, especially Muslim immigrants from Egypt who moved to England/ Schotland.

I really loved the idea and inspiration behind this book. The writing was gorgeous. It felt conversational, but also poetic. As someone who enjoys short stories immensely, I was a bit disappointed. The stories felt incomplete and the characters felt underdeveloped. I do think the author's message of what it's like to never be "home" was communicated in the works, but it felt like this book could have been so much more.

I will admit when I requested this on Netgalley, I wasn't aware of the fact that this novel consisted for 13 short stories. I'm not a major fan of short stories as I've found them to be very hit and miss for me. Unfortunately, this was the case with this novel as well.

Out of the thirteen short stories, I enjoyed 7 of them, which is more than what I was expecting to like. My favourites were:

- Summer Maze
- Farida's Eyes
- The Boy From the Kebab Shop
- Expecting to Give
- The Aromatherapist's Husband
- Coloured Lights
- The Museum

However, even though I enjoyed these stories, a lot of them I wished they were longer! I just felt like they were cut short just as the story was about to pick up and more could have been explored. On the other hand, the stories that I didn't seem to enjoy seemed to be the stories that were just that little bit too long for me.

Thank you very much to Grove Atlantic for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

These are beautifully written stories about different cultures, different countries, different people. Each story evokes very well the situations people find themselves in as they think of their 'elsewhere' homes. Some of the stories I was disappointed when they ended - they felt like they could have, should have gone further. But it's a very unusual and interesting collection of short stories.

I'm not a fan of short stories however being an expat the title appealed to me. Thirteen short stories on being Elsewhere Home. With them all being based in the UK and the Middle East I could really relate to them. The first one really touched me, I felt I was back in Egypt, I could almost smell it. The B and P mix up. Blease. Brought back so many memories.

I enjoyed these stories, I felt the author really got to heart of the complicated mix of feeling you experience when your Elsewhere Home.

A very solid four stars from me.

Leila Aboulela’s collection of short stories in Elsewhere Home focuses on the sorrow of people who have left their homeland, and live a life that, for them, is emotionally somewhere in between their adopted home and the home of their heart, always yearning for some part of home. The alienation of living in a land unlike the one they were accustomed to, and finding a way to hold onto one’s identity without upsetting the balance of life for all.

”Her country disturbed him. It reminded him of the first time he had held a human bone, the touching simplicity of it, the strength. Such was the landscape of Khartoum; bone-coloured sky, a purity in the desert air, bareness. A bit austere and therefore static. But he was driven by feelings, that was why he was here, that was why he had crossed boundaries and seas, and now walked through a blaze of hot air from the airplane steps to the terminal.”

”He had thought, from the books he’d read and the particular British Islam he had been exposed to, that in a Muslim country he would find elegance and reason. Instead he found melancholy, a sensuous place, life stripped to the bare bones.”
---Something Old, Something New

These two quotes show the promise of the writing in these stories, the complexity of thoughts and a vision of the experience of immigrating to a new land where life is very different from your former home. If I found any fault in this collection, the theme runs so strongly through this collection that it tends to feel a bit too much like every story is just a variation on the same note, which lessens the emotional impact each story would hold on its own. Despite this, it is a collection that I found moving and thought provoking.


Pub Date: 12 Feb 2019


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Grove Atlantic / Grove Press / Black Cat

Aboulela maintains a certain tone...how to describe it? It's gentle and "soft-spoken" but with impeccable pacing, the tension and urgency build and then release.

These short stories are beautiful pieces of writing but they end too soon for my taste. I prefer her novel-length stories where in the course of a book, she draws out the reading experience.

My favorite stories were: Summer Maze, The Ostrich, The Boy from the Kebab House, Coloured Lights, and The Museum.

Thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for this advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review. Its general description is amply available on GoodReads, on Amazon and elsewhere.