Audiobook Sample
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- Title: Refugee
- Author: Alan Gratz
- Narrator: Assaf Cohen, Kyla Garcia, Michael Goldstrom
- Length: 07:37:40
- Version: Abridged
- Release Date: 25/07/2017
- Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
- Genre: Kids, Action & Adventure, Historical, Kids, Action & Adventure, Historical, Kids, Action & Adventure, Historical
- ISBN13: 9.78E+12
The moment the first notes of the Refugee audiobook reached my ears, I was transported back to a moonlit night in the Moroccan desert, where a Berber storyteller wove tales of displacement and resilience that echoed across generations. Alan Gratz’s masterpiece, brought to life by the extraordinary vocal talents of Assaf Cohen, Kyla Garcia, and Michael Goldstrom, carries that same timeless quality – stories that feel both urgently contemporary and eternally human.
As someone who’s spent years documenting migration stories from Syrian refugee camps to Cuban diaspora communities, I can attest to the profound authenticity Gratz achieves in these interwoven narratives. The audiobook’s structure – alternating between 1930s Germany, 1990s Cuba, and present-day Syria – mirrors the way stories often come to us in fragments around campfires and kitchen tables, each voice adding another layer to our understanding of what it means to seek refuge.
The narration team delivers a masterclass in vocal storytelling. Assaf Cohen’s portrayal of Josef carries the weight of European Jewish history in every carefully measured phrase, while Kyla Garcia’s Isabel bubbles with the musicality and rhythm of Cuban Spanish that reminded me of the street vendors in Miami’s Little Havana. Michael Goldstrom’s Mahmoud captures that particular blend of teenage bravado and vulnerability I’ve witnessed in young Syrian men navigating unfamiliar European cities. Their performances don’t just read the text – they breathe life into it, with pauses that speak volumes and emotional inflections that feel earned rather than theatrical.
What struck me most profoundly was how the audiobook medium enhances Gratz’s themes of connection across time and space. Listening to these stories unfold in sequence, I found myself noticing echoes – the similar sound of waves against a ship’s hull and a rubber raft, the universal tremor in a parent’s voice when comforting a frightened child. These auditory connections, which might slip by in print, become profound moments of realization in the audio format.
The production quality deserves special mention. The subtle use of ambient sounds – distant gunfire in Mahmoud’s story, lapping water in Isabel’s, the creak of ship timbers in Josef’s – creates an immersive experience without ever overwhelming the narration. It’s a delicate balance that reminded me of those perfect evenings in Oaxaca where the chirping crickets and crackling fire became part of the storytelling without distracting from the narrator’s voice.
Gratz doesn’t shy away from difficult truths – the audiobook’s most powerful moments come when the narrators allow silence to linger after particularly harrowing passages. There’s a sequence where Josef witnesses a suicide attempt aboard the St. Louis that left me parked on a Colorado roadside, unable to drive until I’d processed what I’d heard. These moments of emotional honesty are where the audiobook format truly shines, forcing us to sit with discomfort rather than turning the page too quickly.
For listeners familiar with my travel writing, you’ll understand why I particularly appreciated how Gratz and the narrators capture the sensory details of displacement – the taste of stale bread in a lifeboat, the smell of fuel mixed with seawater, the particular ache of feet that have walked too far in ill-fitting shoes. These are the details that transform statistics into human experiences, and the narrators deliver them with perfect restraint.
If I have any critique, it’s that the audio format occasionally makes the timeline jumps slightly confusing until the new narrator’s voice establishes which story we’re following. However, this minor challenge becomes a strength by the book’s conclusion, when the connections between narratives become clear in a way that feels particularly satisfying when heard rather than read.
For those considering this audiobook for younger listeners: my 12-year-old niece and I listened together during a road trip through New Mexico, and the experience sparked conversations about her Syrian classmate’s journey that continued long after we’d arrived home. Gratz’s prose, combined with these narrators’ skillful delivery, makes complex historical and political realities accessible without ever talking down to young audiences.
In an era where refugee stories are often reduced to headlines or political talking points, this audiobook does what the best travel literature accomplishes – it transports us into lives radically different from our own while revealing our shared humanity. The final chapters, where the three narratives converge in unexpected ways, had me weeping in a roadside diner outside Santa Fe, much to the confusion of the waitstaff.
As someone who’s spent a lifetime chasing stories across continents, I can say with certainty: this is what audio storytelling was meant to be. Not just a book you hear, but an experience that enters through your ears and takes root in your heart.
With stories to tell and roads yet to travel,
Marcus Rivera
