I received this book through the Library Thing Early Reviewer program. The author writes a collection of true stories about refugees from Syria and Iraq and the places they live now. Each story centers around an object they chose to keep that ties them to their home: a dress, seeds, a musical instrument, a pharmacy.

Many of the stories go into detail about the violence and terror they had to endure: Whole towns of tens of thousands of people leaving in one night, the conditions of refugee camps, the unwelcome treatment by Europeans.

As each year we see millions more people leaving their homes either forced by conflict or natural disasters, these stories are crucial. The stories Sadaña tells makes the reader understand that in all of our communities we have neighbors who have been forced from their homes to survive. We all need to be welcoming, recognize their stories of loss and the talents and gifts they bring to us.

“I hope this book makes clear that the people we call “refugees” are artists, historians, musicians, chefs, mother and fathers, children and siblings, and those on the front line of heritage preservation.” ( )

What We Remember Will Be Saved: A Story of Refugees and the Things They Carry was enlightening, saddening, and shed much needed light on what it is like to be a refugee, and what is truely important! The individual stories spoke volumes and allowed me to connect to the plight of refugee's in general. I appreciated the positive side of this enormous issue shown through the lens of things saved, and things lost. ( )

Saldana spent several years in the Middle East and Europe, befriending and talking with refugees from Iraq and Syria. This book focuses on 5 of those individuals and their stories. Rather than just a re-telling of the horrors they witnessed and the struggle to find safety, this is a richly textured book about fear, courage, and heartbreak, as well as a fascinating and eye-opening book about the various cultures and religions that flourished in what we now tend to just think of as an amorphous war zone.

It took me longer than usual to get through this book, because I could only read it in pieces, as the stories were intense and the language very florid at times. They were also a bit repetitive at times, though that is perhaps understandable given the similarities among some of the stories. That said, it's an important work, and one that I am glad I read and hope more people will seek out.*

4.25 stars

"It can be easy enough to see the so-called 'refugee crisis' as a story that is primarily about other people's lives. On Lesvos, I finally understood how much it is about all of us. It is about our own unwillingness to see refugees and migrants as our neighbors, our friends -- or even as ourselves, for it was increasingly obvious to me that any of us could be refugees in other circumstances. It is about our refusal to admit that the ways in which we welcome refugees and migrants can contribute to their mental health outcomes, and the ways in which we reject them can contribute to their isolation and despair. It is about our willingness to exile to islands those people we would rather not confront with our own eyes, even if it meant leaving children out in the cold." ( )

I was so grateful to receive this book as an early reviewers edition, as I had felt the need to learn more about the current refugee crisis. Stephanie Saldaña travels across nine countries to carefully document the lives of six refugees as they are forced to leave their homes and countries. She focuses mainly on those fleeing Syria and Iraq. As the title suggests, what we remember will be saved. Here each of the people she writes about preserve their language, their history, and their stories in their own way. One woman saved memories of her city in a dress that she embroidered. Another, a man and musician preserved his cultural heritage through his music. Other members of the same community who ended up in different countries chose to connect weekly to speak in their dialect via video conferencing, so as to preserve their native language.

What We Remember Will Be Saved is a very moving and at times heart wrenching book that speaks of hope in the face of hopelessness and beauty in the face of the most dire and difficult circumstances. I highly recommend this book. It is thought provoking, challenging, inspiring, devastating, sad, and still, beautiful. ( )

The author traveled to nine countries as she followed the journeys of half a dozen people who had to flee Iraq and Syria due to war. The resulting book is organized around the six individuals and what they saved: unexpected, practical, sentimental, needed. As a priest says “I didn’t even bring my liturgical clothes with me…only my passport and my computer. You don’t think about what you can bring when you escape your city at four in the morning.” One family from Baghdad saved a dress, a “shal” of many colors with their history embroidered onto it. Another person brought only his phone—but it contained hundreds of photos, documenting a place now destroyed. The author has dual passports, speaks Arabic, and has lived in the Middle East for many years. She clearly loves and mourns what has been lost; the book is a testament to courage and heartbreak and memory.