By Larissa Page
Despite Elamin Abdelmahmoud being a culture journalist for Buzzfeed and part of CBC programming such as the Pop Chat and Party Lines podcasts, I was not familiar with him before receiving this memoir to read. The description pulled me in though, specifically because I love a memoir that gives me an education into a different type of life than I’ve lived, as well as giving me insight into a person’s growth and experiences. Son of Elsewhere gave me all those things and more. I was a little unsure at first whether I’d be as drawn in to the memoir-in-essays style of writing but I absolutely was.
Abdelmahmoud was born and raised in Sudan before immigrating to Canada with his family when he was a preteen. They decided to settle in Kingston, Ontario, which he claims in the opening of this book to be the whitest city in Canada, which means he had to come to terms with his Blackness (skin colour wasn’t something he’d considered about himself before then). This memoir explores how he adapted to Canadian life as a Black person, as an immigrant who initially spoke no English, and as a Muslim, and how he grew into an adult who was both Sudanese and Canadian.
He uses his essays to tell us about different parts of his life, not in chronological order, along with some history and background on different parts of Sudanese culture and the immigrant experience. The stories from his life are funny and also heartbreaking; some involve longing and some love. I felt the full range of emotions while reading this memoir and I didn’t have any trouble picking the book back up and continuing my journey through it.
I personally found I related to the stories much more than I expected to. I am not Black, I am not an immigrant, and English is my only language—but I was a preteen in Canada at the same time as Elamin, which means we shared experiences with the things that were popular at the time. I found this so interesting, seeing the parts of my experiences and his that are similar even though our life stories are so vastly different.
Abdelmahmoud’s writing is funny; I chuckled at his stories multiple times. His writing is also full of emotion. When reading about his mother, his love for his wife, and his longing for his family he left behind in Sudan, I often had tears in my eyes. The stories he writes are real and meaningful and important to share. They are accessible for people who share the same types of experiences, and more importantly, those who don’t.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.