A Review of Yara Zgheib’s “No Land to Light On”
The Land of the Free?
The year 2017 was not a good year — especially if you were an immigrant to the United States from the Middle East. That year was the year that Donald Trump became President, and, almost as immediately as soon as he’d taken his Oath of Office, issued an Executive Order banning people coming into the States from a series of Middle Eastern countries, including Syria. Refugee claims were left unprocessed for a time. It was a terrible, truly dark period of American history that must never be forgotten, and into this fray comes Yara Zgheib’s sophomore novel No Land to Light On, which is about what happens when a refugee leaves the States for a period to bury his father but returns only to find that his visa is no longer accepted. This is truly a deeply unsettling book, and it works as a thriller (even if it is more of a literary read). If you’re the type of person who likes to read books to relax and escape life, this one probably isn’t for you; however, I would still recommend that you read it because it’s about an important subject. (Never mind the fact that Syria and refugees have seemingly been buried in the news by COVID-19 these past two years.)
At its heart, No Land to Light On is also a love story. It concerns a married, young Syrian couple living in the U.S. named Hadi and Sama. Sama is pregnant with her first child, and Hadi, as noted, must leave the country on personal business. However, when he tries to return, he is immediately deported back to Jordan — where he flew in from — and this presents a bit of a problem because A) his visa for Jordan is only valid for a month and B) if he’s kicked out of Jordan, he will probably have to return to Syria — where he has already been imprisoned in the past. Chances are, if he must go back to Syria, he will be imprisoned again or killed. Meanwhile, Sama’s child (which also belongs to Hadi) is born prematurely and is fighting for survival on its own. The novel is told in the “present-day” of 2017 and in flashbacks. We learn why Sama has left the country, but Hadi’s history is left a little murky — as though he doesn’t have a story to be told as the potential “enemy of the state” that he’s viewed as.
No Land to Light On is a relatively quick read as author Zgheib tells the story breathlessly, as though the issue of the 2017 travel ban is so important that one cannot stop to rest as the story is being told. There are few pauses in this book, which works as an asset and a liability. It’s a particularly tough read because you want things to work out for these young lovers, but there is absolutely no guarantee that things will. While America likes to bill itself as “the land of the free,” the truth is — under Donald Trump’s guidance (and Trump is never mentioned by name in this book) — the country is no longer a refuge for those who wish to escape persecution in their home countries. Zgheib posits that it might have been almost better if the refugees had never left for the United States, offering that there were other, more freer, countries of the world to find living quarters in. In some cases, it might have been even better as an outcome if these immigrants had never left their war-torn regions, for, at the very least, they would be closer to family — assuming they hadn’t raised the ire of the authorities. For that, No Land to Light On is a relentlessly brave book. It has important things to say about the refugee crisis and is so important that I wish that all of those Make America Great Again types would read this and learn just how unfairly they treat and judge others.
However, no book is perfect, and it turns out that No Land to Light On, despite its crucial subject matter, is deeply flawed in places. There’s text interspersed throughout the novel about the migratory pattern of birds (Sama’s area of expertise) that doesn’t add much to the book — and, at times, I wasn’t sure what the point of these interjections was or what they had to do with the events between Hadi and Sama. There is also the frequent use of Arabic in the text, but there is no explanation for what certain words mean. I get that this is done for authenticity’s sake, but for the non-Middle Eastern reader, this becomes problematic to a point because we don’t know what characters are referring to — limiting the impact of the novel. Also, and not to spoil things, the ending of the book is left open to interpretation, with no concrete resolution. However, I think this is done to say that the problems with the travel ban have never really gone away, so I view this as a mixed criticism. Finally, there isn’t a lot of backstories to these characters aside from when they met and how their romance developed. We do learn why both characters left Syria, but Hadi’s story as a prisoner is lightly touched upon only at the start of the novel and we never really see a depiction of events concerning the death of his father.
Despite these reservations that make No Land to Light On a mixed bag, I must hammer home the point that it is a book that still should be read. This is an important and somewhat topical subject matter, even in the pandemic era we’re in, and it will further people’s understanding of how troubling the Executive Order issued by Trump really was/is. As the novel points out, this wasn’t simply a matter of sending people back to their homeland — this was a matter of potential life and death, that the U.S. might have been implicit in the brutal treatment of American citizens and legal refugees through the ban. This is a subject that should be talked about and not swept under the rug, even when there’s the problem of a virus that’s out there that’s currently taking up all the oxygen in the room. Even though this novel comes across as being rushed and out of breath, it is a sterling reminder of the problems of prejudice. Every human being should put aside their biases and read this. We all need the reminder that some things in life just aren’t fair, and we need to get involved to fix these issues of social justice. No Land to Light On might be just the book we need to shine a light on some of those injustices. It is recommended reading, despite being extremely fast-paced to the point of collapsing on itself.
Yara Zgheib’s No Land to Light On was published by Simon & Schuster / Atria Books on January 4, 2022. I received an advance electronic copy of the book from the publisher in return for an honest review.
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Get in touch: zacharyhoule@rogers.com
