I don't rate other people's experiences, so my review will focus on the writing of the book.

I love how Pearlman organized the testimonies into sections and provided her own commentary to give context as the beginning of each section. Likewise, the footnotes helped me make sense of places, people, and events I was familiar with without interrupting the speaker's flow. I also loved hearing from a cast of people. The variety of their backgrounds, experiences, and goals made the book richer. Overall, definitely recommend.

I loved this vignette style, it made for such a quick read without sacrificing the emotional impact. I appreciated the historical footnotes throughout, but would have preferred the intro to give a more in depth overview of the history instead of focusing on why the author decided to write the book.

As I read through the struggles and victories of the various women and men interviewed for "The Home I worked to Make," I developed an increasing appreciation or what Wendy Pearlman has done here. The Syrian Civil War unfortunately has seemed to slip off the international consciousness, as have those affected by it - and the consciousness of many in turn, such as myself. However, Pearlman has given these displaced Syrians a place to have their stories heard and voices amplified, even if the war is no longer gracing the pages of any newspapers or sites with any frequency - and given me a valuable reminder that just because I'm not reading about them in the Times regularly doesn't mean that their lives aren't continuing on. I've also appreciated the many thoughtful and often-poignant reflections shared here - it's honestly given me quit a lot to think about about the nature of home.

Overall, just a genuinely helpful reminder of a read that's given me quite a lot to mentally chew upon - and definitely an excellent work to add to the shelves of my workplace.