Cart
Free Shipping in the UK
Proud to be B-Corp

Dream Country Shannon Gibney

Dream Country By Shannon Gibney

Dream Country by Shannon Gibney


Condition - Good
Out of stock

Summary

Spanning two centuries and two continents, Dream Country is the story of five generations of young people caught in a spiral of death and exile between Liberia and the United States--

Dream Country Summary

Dream Country by Shannon Gibney

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.

Dream Country Reviews

Dream Country is gut wrenching and incredible.--Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes This story, both sprawling and intimate by turns, is a miracle of construction, and Gibney fits its diasporic pieces the way a master should--with a keen eye, an open heart, a courageous spirit, and a sharp, sharp needle. This novel is a remarkable achievement.--Kelly Barnhill, New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Newbery Medal In Dream Country, Shannon Gibney has masterfully woven together the histories of America and Africa through the multigenerational journeys of young people in search of home and self. Beautifully epic, timely, and outstanding in its breadth and scope, this story truly conveys what it means to be African American.--Ibi Zoboi, author of American Street, National Book Award Finalist A necessary reckoning.--Kirkus Reviews, starred Gibney blesses the reader with a marvelous literary tapestry of family, sacrifice, and dreams examining the lingering effects of slavery and racism in both the U.S. and Liberia. This powerful novel demonstrates how nonlinear history can be, ways the present is a consequence of the past, and that, though traumatized people can sometimes hurt others when trying to heal themselves, there's nevertheless strength in hope that can keep us moving forward.--Booklist, starred [H]ighlights the inconsistencies between the beliefs a country projects to the world at large and the realities experienced by immigrants.... An excellent choice.--SLJ, starred [A]n illumination of how humans end up treating each other cruelly and how they resist.--The Horn Book Shannon Gibney has taken history and imagination and gelled them into a time machine. Here is tragedy and survival, struggle and love, rendered with precision and an empathy born of a writer who has experienced the 'dream-loop' of history. Sometimes a story can't promise healing, or neat closure. Sometimes a story, even a magical one like this, is the necessary reopening of a wound. --Bao Phi, award winning author of A Different Pond and Thousand Star Hotel Dream Country is a gift of storytelling, of culture, and of understanding for an America that needs this book desperately. Through stories woven of manhood and humanity, of growing up and growing into oneself, Gibney shows us how the worlds between us grow wider even as our world grows smaller. She takes us through time and space to find the heart of an imperfect home.--Kao Kalia Yang, award winning author of The Latehomecomer Fans of Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing will eagerly embrace this outstanding intergenerational family saga by Shannon Gibney. Skipping across 200 years of history, the characters in DREAM COUNTRY encounter danger, trauma, and the unwavering desire to find a better life for themselves and their children. This is a must read for 2018 and will have readers of all ages talking and remembering these characters.--Pamela Klinger-Horn, Excelsior Bay Books

About Shannon Gibney

Shannon Gibney is an author and university professor. Her novel See No Color, drawn from her life as a transracial adoptee, won the Minnesota Book Award and was hailed by Kirkus as an exceptionally accomplished debut and by Publishers Weekly as an unflinching look at the complexities of racial identity. Her essay Fear of a Black Mother appears in the anthology A Good Time for the Truth. She lives with her two Liberian-American children in Minneapolis, Minnesota. www.shannongibney.com and @gibneyshannon

Additional information

CIN0735231672G
9780735231672
0735231672
Dream Country by Shannon Gibney
Used - Good
Hardback
Dutton Books for Young Readers
20180911
368
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Dream Country