Lewistown, Maine had been a relatively thriving small town. But then the mill closed and people started to leave. Residents wondered if the streets would ever be full of shops and neighbors again. Slowly, the town started to fill with new residents, until 1/6 of the town's population was made up of Muslim refugees. Cynthia Anderson looks at the ways the town came together and split apart across racial and religious lines by examining the experiences of people from a Congolese refugee applying to college in the US to members of an anti-Islamic group. What can one town teach us about the way we treat immigrants and the things we hold most dear?

Anderson's goal in writing Home Now is a laudable one. She saw all the ways that her life and her family were like those of the refugees she interviewed, and she integrates a good deal of that into her book. But I often felt like it lacked a direction. Anderson could recount stories from long-time residents and refugees who just arrived this week for many years to come, and the conclusion would be the same--it is difficult to live in community with other people and all too easy to blame our difficulties on others. But if you are looking for an interesting glimpse into the ways we can find space for everyone's culture and traditions within one city's limits, this might be a good read for you.

Home Now:
How 6000 Refugees Transformed An American Town
By Cynthia Anderson
PublicAffairs October 2019
336 pages
Read via Netgalley

This was a wonderful book - thoroughly enjoyed it. Anderson did an exemplary job of presenting a sensitive topic in a human and sensitive way without being saccharine or disingenuous. I was particularly impressed that her ability to humanize extended even into her fair and objective presentation of those opposed her subjects. This was a refreshing read, positive and encouraging. I wish that these were the stories that were told (and heard!) more often.

Journalist Cynthia Anderson’s Home Now follows the experiences of Somali immigrants who moor themselves to the community of Lewiston, Maine in the early 2000s to present. Anderson is an insider, having grown up in Lewiston. Historically, Lewiston was an industrial stronghold owing to the paper mill industry; however, post-industrial changes rendered the community virtually obsolete by the 1980s. Enter the Somali refugees by the early 2000s to kick start the community. Timing led to a tinderbox of relationships between Somalis, other African immigrants like Congolese, and the native Mainers as this was just following 9/11. Nevertheless, Somalis have made Lewiston a thriving community once again argues Anderson.

In a traditional chronological narrative structure, this book follows a cohort of Somali main characters who are predominantly women at different phase of their life including Nasafari, a teenage on the threshold of adulthood and graduation from Lewiston High School; Jamilo, a young single mother who has already endured much hardship in both a genital mutilation procedure in Somalia and two failed marriages one of which is arranged; and Fatuma, a 30-something immigrant activist, wife, and mother of eight. The journalistic writing style makes for an interesting story; however it may have been improved by thematic chapters (e.g. on Ramadan and its impact) rather than a pure chronological (time-oriented) chapter approach. The voices of Somali women are impactful but greater gender analysis might strengthened the overall work.

I am fascinated by people's stories. I think Anderson did a lovely job portraying people's experiences in a way that builds understanding and empathy for readers. It is easy to only think one understands from how stereotypes and mainstream understandings perpetuate certain ideas, it is enlightening to read a book that tries to truly delve into the everyday life, work, and struggles that people face as they try to navigate their lives.

I worked with Somalian refugees in Cleveland, before they continued their journey to Columbus, so I've found their plight interesting to read about. They aren't the only refugees I've had contact through the years and often look up info on how their communities are getting along. I hadn't heard about the Lewiston refugees and thought the book would be an interesting study of the Somalian refugees there. I get first hand info about our Columbus refugees from people who work to help them get established in their new communities. Home Now was a pretty good account, it could have used a bit more info, but overall, it gives insight into the community and it's people and relationships between the town and the refugees. Lite read, but informative.

Lewiston Maine was a dying town a once lovely town to grow up in had taken a downward turn stores closing a feeling of failure.Then Somali immigrants came to town& it started to thrive again they brought nlife Hope commerce to the town.The author introduces us to these brave immigrants who have become her friends.This is a wonderful intimate look at the life of immigrants in America their struggles people’s reaction to them.This is a wonderful read an informative read perfect important in today’s political climate.Highly recommend this book.#netgalley#persusboojs.

A fascinating look at a working class town on the edge of collapse that gets a huge influx of immigrants. We get the see the effects through the lens of a very diverse group of people. It was great to see such an in-depth look at a segment of the population that is often overlooked or generalized about.

I absolutely loved “Home Now,” and not only because it was a thorough and personal look at the challenges and triumphs of the primarily Muslim African refugee community that has helped reshape Lewiston, Maine (which even as a New Englander I had never learned about until now). What has really stuck out to me is how by telling the story of these particular women, men and their families of this specific New England community, Cynthia Anderson tells a modern variation of a story that has been repeated again and again and again throughout the country’s history. It’s the story of those who come from afar, work hard to overcome a myriad of obstacles to start over and make fresh lives for themselves, clash against those who view them as inherently too different to ever fit in, work to resolve conflict maintaining their identities while simultaneously adjusting accordingly to their new context, and as they adjust they in turn end up changing their new home and eventually make their new communities more diverse, more vibrant, and stronger than they were before. It is nothing less than the story of the immigrant in America, and by telling one specific community’s present day version of it, Cynthia Johnson does a great service to us in an unfortunate age where there are far too many who continue to wrongfully fear the current generation of newcomers coming to start anew.