This strikes a great balance between personal narrative and a mosaic of voices to tell a larger stories. The individual stories chosen give a decently side range of experiences of Syrian refugees, internal and external to Syria. People ended up all over and there has been some obvious effort made to include a wide range of voices in many geographic locations. Even so, a few geographies dominated so that there were periods that felt somewhat repetitive.

The only criticism is that the framing of the narratives is somewhat lacking. Pearlman started each section, but her words were mere summaries and did not add to the discussion in any way. There is a delicate balance here, and erring on the side of letting the Syrian voices speak is the safest choice.

But Pearlman (and/or her research assistants) DID frame the narrative. The focus on home was not limited to a geographic construct, but geography dominated the discussion anyway. Time merely functioned as something that passed / distance from being in Syria. But one major factor of time felt unexplored, likely related to lines of questioning?, but also possibly reflected in the choice of voices represented. That is how aging plays into these stories. The fact that individuals changed life stages as part of that time passing was barely explored. This contributes to the universality of experience in many of the narratives. Some speak of "being a kid" or having children of their own. Many speak of their grandparents. It also frames the discussion in silent ways. The vast majority of the interviewees seem to be of a certain age - in their 20s at most when they fled Syria. This is even when the discussion is about a family group with different ages represented. This isn't bad, but seems accidental rather than a mindful selection and discussion. (It sometimes felt like witnessing someone working with a less than stellar therapist

I don't rate other people's experiences, so my review will focus on the writing of the book.

I love how Pearlman organized the testimonies into sections and provided her own commentary to give context as the beginning of each section. Likewise, the footnotes helped me make sense of places, people, and events I was familiar with without interrupting the speaker's flow. I also loved hearing from a cast of people. The variety of their backgrounds, experiences, and goals made the book richer. Overall, definitely recommend.

I loved this vignette style, it made for such a quick read without sacrificing the emotional impact. I appreciated the historical footnotes throughout, but would have preferred the intro to give a more in depth overview of the history instead of focusing on why the author decided to write the book.

As I read through the struggles and victories of the various women and men interviewed for "The Home I worked to Make," I developed an increasing appreciation or what Wendy Pearlman has done here. The Syrian Civil War unfortunately has seemed to slip off the international consciousness, as have those affected by it - and the consciousness of many in turn, such as myself. However, Pearlman has given these displaced Syrians a place to have their stories heard and voices amplified, even if the war is no longer gracing the pages of any newspapers or sites with any frequency - and given me a valuable reminder that just because I'm not reading about them in the Times regularly doesn't mean that their lives aren't continuing on. I've also appreciated the many thoughtful and often-poignant reflections shared here - it's honestly given me quit a lot to think about about the nature of home.

Overall, just a genuinely helpful reminder of a read that's given me quite a lot to mentally chew upon - and definitely an excellent work to add to the shelves of my workplace.