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Title details for Dream Country by Shannon Gibney - Available

Dream Country

by Shannon Gibney
Bahni Turpin
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
The heartbreaking story of five generations of young people from a single African-and-American family pursuing an elusive dream of freedom.
"Gut wrenching and incredible.”— Sabaa Tahir #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes
"This novel is a remarkable achievement."—Kelly Barnhill, New York Times bestselling author and Newbery medalist
"Beautifully epic."—Ibi Zoboi, author American Street and National Book Award finalist
Dream Country begins in suburban Minneapolis at the moment when seventeen-year-old Kollie Flomo begins to crack under the strain of his life as a Liberian refugee. He's exhausted by being at once too black and not black enough for his African American peers and worn down by the expectations of his own Liberian family and community. When his frustration finally spills into violence and his parents send him back to Monrovia to reform school, the story shifts. Like Kollie, readers travel back to Liberia, but also back in time, to the early twentieth century and the point of view of Togar Somah, an eighteen-year-old indigenous Liberian on the run from government militias that would force him to work the plantations of the Congo people, descendants of the African American slaves who colonized Liberia almost a century earlier. When Togar's section draws to a shocking close, the novel jumps again, back to America in 1827, to the children of Yasmine Wright, who leave a Virginia plantation with their mother for Liberia, where they're promised freedom and a chance at self-determination by the American Colonization Society. The Wrights begin their section by fleeing the whip and by its close, they are then the ones who wield it. With each new section, the novel uncovers fresh hope and resonating heartbreak, all based on historical fact.
In Dream Country, Shannon Gibney spins a riveting tale of the nightmarish spiral of death and exile connecting America and Africa, and of how one determined young dreamer tries to break free and gain control of her destiny.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    September 11, 2018

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780525638483
      • File size: 257763 KB
      • Duration: 08:57:00

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 900
    • Text Difficulty: 4-5

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from October 1, 2018
      This expansive tale, composed of interwoven stories, features members of a family tree that spans five generations and two continents, united in their sense of displacement and longing for a homeland where they can thrive. Alternating between the United States and Liberia, Gibney (See No Color) captures moments of wrenching decision-making in her characters’ lives. The opening story, set in 2008 in a Minnesota community roiled by ethnic tensions between Liberians and African-Americans, features drug-dealing teenager Kollie, whose parents return him to Liberia to learn to “be a good boy there again.” In the second story, set in 1926 Liberia, 18-year-old Togor flees brutal Congo soldiers. The third story follows Yasmin and her family as they move from 1827 Norfolk, Va., to Monrovia, Liberia, to escape slavery and establish a home. The final stories circle back to Kollie’s immediate family—concluding with a chapter devoted to his queer younger sister, Angel, in 2018 Minneapolis. With riveting, lyrical prose, Gibney’s accomplished novel explores universal themes of home, family, power struggles, and endurance while demonstrating the liberating power of storytelling. Ages 14–up.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Bahni Turpin moves easily between the accents and emotions, times and places of five linked stories, beginning with that of Kollie Flomo in 2008. The 17-year-old Liberian refugee has undiagnosed PTSD that results in confusion, anger, and eventually his return to reform school in Monrovia. From there, the stories shift abruptly and without apparent reason. In 1926, Togar runs from colonialists and militia; in 1826, Yasmine Wright, a freed slave, returns to Liberia to gain greater control of her destiny. Then the hero changes to Kollie's father and his failed dreams of revolution. Finally, Angela, Kollie's sister, writes in 2018, giving greater context to these histories, each an unwritten ancestral tale she imagines. Turpin honors the fast pace and lyrical power of each while unifying the themes of trauma, disconnection, dreams, and endurance. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:900
  • Text Difficulty:4-5

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