Why a Booktrail?
2000s: Two immigrants move to Australia and their challenges are huge
Farewell, My Orange
What you need to know before your trail
Two immigrants, Salimah and Sayuri, navigate isolation, a new language, and devastating loss on their way to a lifelong friendship. Far from her native country of Nigeria and now living as a single mother of two, Salimah works the night shift at a supermarket in small-town Australia. She is shy and barely speaks English, but pushes herself to sign up for an ESL class offered at the local university.
At the group’s first meeting, Salimah meets Sayuri, who has come to Australia from Japan with her husband, a resident research associate at the local college. Sayuri has put her own education on hold to take care of her infant daughter and she is plagued by worries about financial instabilities and her general precariousness.
When Sayuri’s daughter dies in daycare and one of Salimah’s boys leaves to live with his father, the two women look to one another for comfort and sustenance, as they slowly master their new language.
Travel Guide
Australia
BookTrail a journey from Nigeria, Japan to a new life in Australia
This book looks closely at the struggles and challenges an immigrant can face when moving to a completely new country
“While one lives in a foreign country, language’s main function is as a means of self-protection and a weapon in one’s fight with the world. You can’t fight without a weapon. But perhaps its human instinct that makes it even more imperative to somehow express oneself, convey meaning, connect with others.”
The main two characters meet in an English language class and this is portrayed truthfully and carefully. The sense of excitement of a new chance in life, and the fear of what that means is neatly evoked. Immigration is not easy – there are lots of ups and downs, problems and challenges.
There is a sense of universality to this novel so that it could be set anywhere.The sun for example sets the same way which ever country you see it from:
Watching the sun slowly rising into the ultramarine sky, its orange tinge spreading, the trapped, despairing feeling that had been haunting her suddenly lifted. […] The orange seemed almost to drip fresh and sweet from deep within the slightly oval disc of the sun, to comfort her.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Farewell, My Orange
Destination: Australia Author/guide: Iwaki Kei Departure Time: 2000s
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