Khaled Hosseini

A short, powerful, illustrated book written by beloved novelist Khaled Hosseini in response to the current refugee crisis, Sea Prayer is composed in the form of a letter, from a father to his son, on the eve of their journey. Watching over his sleeping son, the father reflects on the dangerous sea-crossing that lies before them. It is also a vivid portrait of their life in Homs, Syria, before the war, and of that citys swift transformation from a home into a deadly war zone. Impelled to write this story by the haunting image of young Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed upon the beach in Turkey in September 2015, Hosseini hopes to pay tribute to the millions of families, like Kurdis, who have been splintered and forced from home by war and persecution, and he will donate author proceeds from this book to the UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) and The Khaled Hosseini Foundation to help fund lifesaving relief efforts to help refugees around the globe.

Sea Prayer

A deeply moving, gorgeously illustrated short story for people of all ages from the international bestselling author of The Kite Runner, brought to life by Dan Williams's beautiful illustrations'The book may be brief, but it is beautiful, poetic - a distillation of his strengths' Sunday Times On a moonlit beach a father cradles his sleeping son as they wait for dawn to break and a boat to arrive. He speaks to his boy of the long summers of his childhood, recalling his grandfather's house in Syria, the stirring of olive trees in the breeze, the bleating of his grandmother's goat, the clanking of her cooking pots. And he remembers, too, the bustling city of Homs with its crowded lanes, its mosque and grand souk, in the days before the sky spat bombs and they had to flee. When the sun rises they and those around them will gather their possessions and embark on a perilous sea journey in search of a new home.

Awalnya aku pikir buku ini tuh buku novel dengan halaman yang tebal, ternyata buku ini terbilang tipis dengan hanya kurang dari lima puluh halaman. Buku ini sebetulnya lebih ke buku cerita pendek yang didominasi dengan puisi dan ilustrasi yang cantik tapi bisa buat hatiku serasa sedih.

Membayangkan bagaimana seorang pengungsi yang mendambakan kembali kampung halamannya jelas buat hati rasanya terkoyak. Entah kenapa, aku juga merasakan sedikit penyesalan dari seorang ayah di buku cerita ini.

Semoga para pengungsi di manapun mereka, bisa segera kembali pulang ke rumah.

ℛ.

Awalnya aku pikir buku ini tuh buku novel dengan halaman yang tebal, ternyata buku ini terbilang tipis dengan hanya kurang dari lima puluh halaman. Buku ini sebetulnya lebih ke buku cerita pendek yang didominasi dengan puisi dan ilustrasi yang cantik tapi bisa buat hatiku serasa sedih.

Membayangkan bagaimana seorang pengungsi yang mendambakan kembali kampung halamannya jelas buat hati rasanya terkoyak. Entah kenapa, aku juga merasakan sedikit penyesalan dari seorang ayah di buku cerita ini.

Semoga para pengungsi di manapun mereka, bisa segera kembali pulang ke rumah.

Ghofran Mustafa 

لكنّ الحياةَ في ذلك الوقتِ
تبدو الآن وكأنها كانت حلمًا..

Sea Prayer is composed in the form of a letter, from a father to his son, on the eve of their journey. Watching over his sleeping son, the father reflects on the dangerous sea-crossing that lies before them. It is also a vivid portrait of their life in Homs, Syria, before the war, and of that city's swift transformation from a home into a deadly war zone.

Sea prayer

Emily Burns

ella

brief, genuine, honest, and heartbreaking. aku turut bisa merasakan bagaimana penderitaan para pengungsi yang memperjuangkan hidupnya. aku jadi merasa jahat dan kufur nikmat, karena sering merasa kurang ini dan itu dalam aspek duniawi. padahal masih banyak orang yang kebutuhan dasar hidupnya saja tidak terpenuhi, terutama rasa aman.

Ryan 

4.5 stars

it became very evocative until it mentioned this story was inspired by a man that died while escaping from syria. definitely something you should read if you have any free time (trust me, in 5 minutes at most, you can finish this book)

Melissa Palmer

Book #83 Read in 2018
Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini

This is a short work of fiction, detailing the dangers of refugees trying to escape to a better life by the sea. The book is beautifully illustrated and written in poetic form. I borrowed this book from the public library.

Amena Elkayal

قصة بسيطة، قصيرة للغاية،و لكن ببساطة، مؤثرة... هي فقط جميلة... أجمل ما بها رسومها العظيمة... أردت فقط أن اقول انني الان أدركت أنها قصة عادية لكن الفن بها هو محور كل ما بها من جمال!

Jasper

**Please note that this will work best on a color device and will appear in a horizontal format** The #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And the Mountains Echoed responds to the heartbreak of the current refugee crisis with this deeply moving, beautifully illustrated short work of fiction for people of all ages, all over the world. "Intensely moving. . .Powerfully evocative of the plight in which displaced populations find themselves."– Kirkus, STARRED Review "Hosseini's story, aimed at readers of all ages, does not dwell on nightmarish fates; instead, its emotional power flows from the love of a father for his son."– Publishers Weekly, STARRED BOX Review A short, powerful, illustrated book written by beloved novelist Khaled Hosseini in response to the current refugee crisis, Sea Prayer is composed in the form of a letter, from a father to his son, on the eve of their journey. Watching over his sleeping son, the father reflects on the dangerous sea-crossing that lies before them. It is also a vivid portrait of their life in Homs, Syria, before the war, and of that city's swift transformation from a home into a deadly war zone. Impelled to write this story by the haunting image of young Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed upon the beach in Turkey in September 2015, Hosseini hopes to pay tribute to the millions of families, like Kurdi's, who have been splintered and forced from home by war and persecution, and he will donate author proceeds from this book to the UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) and The Khaled Hosseini Foundation to help fund lifesaving relief efforts to help refugees around the globe. Khaled Hosseini is one of the most widely read writers in the world, with more than fifty-five million copies of his novels sold worldwide in more than seventy countries. Hosseini is also a Goodwill Envoy to the UNHCR, and the founder of The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

Midori Kobayashi

Stef

Beautiful prose with beautiful illustration. Maybe, read this one while you were on working in the morning wasn't right time, cause you can't hold your tears in front of your office friend. And it me who baby crying in my little cubicle. T^T
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"All of us impatient for Sunrise, All of us in dread of it, All of us in search of home."

Jantien 

The sad truth about refugees from war struck countries 💔

Mohamed gamal

كل ما أستطيع فعله ، هو أن أصلي و أضرع الي الله 
و لكن قل لي كيف أصلي ليفهم البحر !

Amr Khater 

Heartbreakingly beautiful...
The artwork is brilliant 🥺

"How I pray the sea knows this"

Fadi

أتمنى يا مروان أن تتذكر حمص كما أتذكرها أنا 💔

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

"My dear Marwan, I look at your profile
in the glow of this moon, my boy,
your eyelashes like calligraphy,
closed in guileless sleep,
And I say to you, "Hold my hand.
Nothing bad will happen."

Sea Prayer: a 360 illustrated film by award-winning novelist Khaled Hosseini

https://youtu.be/LKBNEEY-c3s

Caroline Lewicki

Listed in my library as a work of fiction, Hosseini's Sea Prayer reads more like a moving poem about the struggle of refugees seeking better for not just themselves, but mostly their children. The illustrations are captivating and beautiful as well as the words and their meaning. I would highly recommend this.

Freeda Lobo

Mesmerizing illustrations with the Hosseini touch - a true delight!

Lulwa

I was reading this in public and I wish I didn’t. There are still tears in my eyes and pain in my chest. This book is short but so heart wrenching. The illustration are painful to witness. It is poetry in letters form written from a father to his son. And to know this’s actually inspired by a real Syrian refugee pains me more.

Анастасия Розова

I'm not rating this book 3 stars cause it's not important, no. I'm rating it purely on my level of enjoyment. The pictures were quite beautiful, but not my style, I guess. And the writing itself was just okay. The theme, of course, is very emotional, but maybe I'm not close enough to the topic to feel it inside.

Kath Lau

I was in a bookstore when I spotted this book. I had no idea what it was about. All I knew was it's a short illustrated book. I read it while standing and finished it around 8 minutes.

The inspiration of the story was the photo of Alan Kurdi, a 3-year old boy who drowned in the sea while trying to reach safety in Europe from Syria in 2015. Just like the photo of Alan, this book has made me tear up. This isn't just the story of Alan. This is the story of all the refugees and their hopes in finding a safer place and better lives for their families.

The watercolor illustrations by Dan Williams are beautiful. I loved the changed of colors alongside the story. This was a very short read but it has a very huge impact and powerful message. A very quick read that will definitely stay with me for a very very long time.

sam k

celeste

These are only words.
A father's tricks.
It slays your father,
your faith in him.
Because all I can think tonight is
how deep the sea,
and how vast, how indifferent.
How powerless I am to protect
you from it.

I wish this would have been longer. The artwork was stunning and the story was heart-breaking. I love that all the proceeds from this will go to the UN refugee agency, even though the UN has done very little to find a solution to the refugee crisis.

Hala Abdulaziz 

I’m wrecked 
Of course, What did I expect?

razan 

Pray God steers the vessel true,
when the shores slip out of eyeshot and
we are a flyspeck in the heaving waters,
pitching and tilting, easily swallowed,
Because you,
you are precious cargo, Marwan,
the most precious there ever was.
I pray the sea knows this.
How i pray the sea knows this." 
  

In such a small amount of words, Khaled Hosseini managed to bring an impactful and devastating book, to tell the story of many refugees who have died at sea fleeing the war and the suffering they had faced.

Sea Prayer

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