Three Summers: A Memoir of Sisterhood, Summer Crushes, and Growing Up on the Eve of the Bosnian Genocide by Amra Sabic-El-Reyess with Laura L. Sullivan

It is difficult and probably rather inappropriate for me to offer a “review” of a memoir, after all who am I to have opinions on someone’s lived experience.  And this non fiction book in particular is so desperately needed and important, as OWN voice middle grade literature about Bosnia is fairly non existent. So continue reading my thoughts with a grain of salt, suffice it to say, that I enjoyed the book, and loved the author’s YA book The Cat I Never Named, but ultimately I struggle to suggest this for the intended audience of 8-12 year olds.  As a child my family was involved with Bosnian refugees in the 90s, as an adult I understand that Islam, and being Muslim, is not a monolith, as someone who can empathize with loss and heartache, I couldn’t put the book down.  Yet, I truly doubt that many fourth graders will feel the emotional climaxes that are not shown, but told.  That they will understand the timeline and what is about to happen if the book were to continue.  That they will feel a connection to the characters who read so much older than them.  If the book was fiction, I would say the characters read YA, with the bikinis and details of body growth, kissing, making out, having boyfriends, and dancing at the discotheque, cigarette smoking, backless dresses, noting which neighbors are having affairs, and trying to become their “truest self,” but the book is a memoir, this is the author’s life when she was 11, 12, and 13.  In an environment where her maturity is noted as being heightened because of the loss of her brother and her personality, the book shows cultural norms, that will still strike contemporary reader as being much more adult in nature. Islamically, the label of Muslim and Bosniaks, is ever present.  Bosniaks were massacred for being Muslim, period.  The book never shows them praying, or mentions Allah swt or the Quran, covering is something only the older generations did, they do drink alcohol on occasion, but they have a cow slaughtered Islamically and burials are done in accordance with Islamic principles.  There is kissing, having boyfriends is not problematic unless they are Serb, the only imam mentioned does weird black magic type things.  So while the label of “Muslim” may feel to Muslims readers more like a cultural marker at times, it is none-the-less incredibly empowering to see that Amra takes pride in her Bosniak identity and doesn’t shy away from it. Other flags/triggers are domestic abuse, bullying, physical violence, attempted drowning, accidental drowning, death of a sibling, kidnapping, imprisonment, threat of war, racism, Islamophobia, music, fortune tellers, lying, threatening.  The backmatter offers a timeline and thus gives some information about the rape, torture, genocide, abuse, and destruction.

SYNOPSIS:

The book starts with a visiting fortune teller giving Amra and her family hope that her older brother Amar will be pain free soon. Amar suffers from Marfan syndrome, and is frequently weak, teased, and in pain.  But he is also wise and patient, brilliant and gentle, and beloved by so many, and Amra is broken when he passes away.  To help break her from her debilitating grief, her parents reach out to a cousin in Belgrade, who has long been estranged for marrying a Serb, to come visit for the summer.  Zana and her younger sister Vedrana, engulf Amra in warmth and adventure and the summer on the River Una is just what Amra needs.  The next summer Zana and Amra resume their idyllic adventures of swimming, make-up, crushes, and coming of age, with only a hint of fracture based on religious lines creeping in the final days.  The following summer Amra is starting to mature on her own and understand the world around her.  Her father has lost his job, been kidnapped essentially and tortured, and while nights dancing at the discotheque give laughter and light, the girls final summer, is the end of peace, and innocence for all Bosniaks.

WHY I LIKE IT:

I love the end, that there are real life updates of the people in the book.  It made me cry.  It is also so timely to what is occurring in Gaza and how no matter how clear it is that it is genocide, and it is oppression, and it is racism, some just cannot see it.  The book is joyful, but the reality of the backmatter is heavy, and real, and important.

I like that the book shows Bosnia and the culture and the traditions, the few books I’ve read focus on the war, and the rich culture and deep history doesn’t get to shine like it does here.

I do wish the book was more showing than telling.  I know it is a memoir, but at times it was just too advanced commentary and insight.  I fully believe the author is brilliant, and at 11 years old was pondering her life, but most readers just aren’t at that age, and the tangents keep the readers at arms length.  The book says it is about crushes, so I don’t want to keep harping on it, but it really is Amra and Zana and a gaggle of other female cousins quite often worrying about boys, and crushes, and kissing.  It doesn’t get obnoxious, but it isn’t a line here or there, it is the bulk of the book.

FLAGS:

Domestic abuse, bullying, physical violence, attempted drowning, accidental drowning, death of a sibling, kidnapping, imprisonment, threat of war, racism, Islamophobia, music, fortune tellers, lying, threatening, death, loss, grief, affairs, cheating, racism, bare bodies, crude jokes, crushes, kissing, making out, sneaking out, smoking, drinking, developing bodies, bullying, internalized Islamophobia, kidnapping, imprisonment, dancing, black magic imams.  The backmatter offers a timeline and thus gives some information about the rape, torture, genocide, abuse, starvation, and destruction during the Bosnian genocide.

TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:

I think with some context about war, about communism, the Ottoman empire even, this book could be used in a teaching setting to allow the time frame to be seen from those living it, but, for more mature middle school to early high school readers.  It is a lot for MG and that it is non fiction makes me want it to be understood and appreciated and I don’t know that for the intended demographic, even with context and guidance it would be achieved. There really isn’t a plot, it is a memoir, and the pacing and assumed context knowledge I feel like, just wouldn’t be there for the typical western middle grade reader.