Currently In my bookbag: the Seers by Sulaiman Addonia
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I’m about three quarters through The Seers Sulaiman Addonia , and I’m finding it completely gripping. The story follows Hannah, a homeless Eritrean refugee, as she navigates her first weeks in London. What’s striking so far is how the novel moves fluidly between Hannah’s present-day reality and the deeper layers of her past—especially through her mother’s diary, which contains a haunting story set in Keren, Eritrea, during World War II. This connection between personal and historical trauma keeps weaving in and out of the narrative, making it feel like history is constantly alive in the now.
One of the most fascinating aspects is how Sulaiman Addonia challenges traditional refugee narratives. The characters are not defined by their refugee status alone. Hannah and those she encounters are free-spirited, gender-fluid, and androgynous, which adds so much complexity to the story. The novel doesn’t shy away from the messy, intimate parts of their lives, especially their sexual and emotional identities. There’s this deep insistence that these aspects of their lives are just as vital as the larger story of displacement and survival.
I’m also struck by the novel’s structure it is one continuous paragraph!!! it has this stream-of-consciousness style that pulls you in and doesn’t let go. It mirrors Hannah’s own wandering, both physically through London’s streets and mentally through her memories and her mother’s past. It’s intense, and honestly, it’s hard to put down because it feels like I’m walking alongside Hannah, experiencing her struggles and moments of self-discovery in real-time.
There’s a lot about intergenerational pain and the lingering effects of colonial trauma that’s starting to unfold, and I’m eager to see where the novel takes this. So far, it’s a powerful meditation on identity and the ways bureaucratic asylum systems can try to stifle the full scope of a person’s humanity—but it’s also about resisting that, about holding onto the erotic, the intimate, and the personal as a form of survival. I’m excited to see how these threads come together as I keep reading!
One of the most fascinating aspects is how Sulaiman Addonia challenges traditional refugee narratives. The characters are not defined by their refugee status alone. Hannah and those she encounters are free-spirited, gender-fluid, and androgynous, which adds so much complexity to the story. The novel doesn’t shy away from the messy, intimate parts of their lives, especially their sexual and emotional identities. There’s this deep insistence that these aspects of their lives are just as vital as the larger story of displacement and survival.
I’m also struck by the novel’s structure it is one continuous paragraph!!! it has this stream-of-consciousness style that pulls you in and doesn’t let go. It mirrors Hannah’s own wandering, both physically through London’s streets and mentally through her memories and her mother’s past. It’s intense, and honestly, it’s hard to put down because it feels like I’m walking alongside Hannah, experiencing her struggles and moments of self-discovery in real-time.
There’s a lot about intergenerational pain and the lingering effects of colonial trauma that’s starting to unfold, and I’m eager to see where the novel takes this. So far, it’s a powerful meditation on identity and the ways bureaucratic asylum systems can try to stifle the full scope of a person’s humanity—but it’s also about resisting that, about holding onto the erotic, the intimate, and the personal as a form of survival. I’m excited to see how these threads come together as I keep reading!