Racially-prejudiced, Dubious, Potential Ornithologists,

I asked when I will return to rockin’ the suburbs. I thought that seeing a troglodyte might put things in perspective; I didn’t.

Guillemots and razorbills were unusually close to the shore, I paused to watch them fish and the terns plunge through the waves that sloshed against the erosion defences. In this mood, terns, guillemots and razorbills weren’t good enough for me, I wanted to see gannets.

I was asked how I know which books to read. It’s simple; unless I’m choosing a book because of a specific connection (a favourite author or subject). I always judge books by their covers – my attention will always be drawn to books on which the title and the author’s name are written in a classier font. The cover of Harbor by Lorraine Adams attracted me, it also says “Winner of the LA Times Book Prize”, but that meant little to me, I don’t know if that’s an important award, it might just be a fake title - awards only mean something to those who need them. My Latest Novel haven’t slapped a big sticker on every copy of their album saying “Nominated for The Bellyaches Music Prize 2006”.

Harbor concerns the life of Aziz Arkoun, an Algerian who illegally enters the USA as a stowaway on an oil tanker. He’s initially taken in by a Muslim family but they soon try to rid themselves of him when they learn that he is Algerian. Aziz finds his cousin, Rafik, and moves into his one-bedroom flat alongside several other Algerians and Rafik’s American girlfriend. Aziz is later joined by a brother and some other close friends from his hometown. Their lives are going well until it emerges that Rafik is involved with stolen goods, but these shady dealings cause the police and FBI to mark the Algerian household as a terrorist cell.

This book is sometimes tough to read but it is definitely rewarding. I admire its completeness; Lorraine Adams even-handedly explores the attitudes towards immigrants, through a range of characters representing a wide cross-section of people immigrants are likely to encounter. Refreshingly, Adams does not blatantly ask for sympathy for Aziz and his compatriots, their naivety, flaws and errors of the protagonists in their attempt to integrate into a new country is documented in a way that is quite unusual and that other authors might shy away from doing.