[Review] Dear Pakistan (Beyond Borders #1) - Rosanne Hawke

Summary: Jaime Richards has spent most of her life in Pakistan and returning to Australia seems like another planet compared to the country she has left behind. Here in Australia, boys try to kiss her, men wear shorts and everyone says 'cool' all the time. How will she ever know the right things to say or do or wear? After all, this is meant to be her own culture.

This is a story of living beyond borders, and discovering the gift of adapting to new cultures, especially one’s own. (Pub Date: Jun 1, 2016)


Review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley.

This story about reverse culture shock rang so real, I had to go back to the summary and make sure it was really fiction.

Jamie is still in high school when her family decides to leave Pakistan and move back to Australia so she and her siblings could continue their education. Even though she is supposed to be home, she feels like an alien, and as if she has lost her identity.

The story is narrated in first person and has few parts initially in a diary form—where Jamie changed the greeting for "Dear Pakistan—and then as a story inside the story, a kind of a what-if in case she had remained in Pakistan. I didn't like those parts for most of the book but it gradually caught me.

I haven't experienced anything close to Jamie but even I could relate to her situation. The author knew to put in words the feeling of not knowing where home is, and having lived through something though less intense I could identify word by word.

On the other hand, I still had a problem with Jamie. I have no idea how she was able to make so many friends when I couldn't feel any charisma on her part. I really wanted to like her, as I understood so well her feelings and even agreed with most of her choices, but it never happened.

The other flaw in the book was that it never engaged me. It did have a great conflict, it felt real but I didn't feel entertained. It was a very short story and easy to read, so this isn't a big loss. Still, had it been a longer book, I might have never remembered to finish it.

Even though this is the part of a series, the conclusion was more than satisfying, so I believe it can be read as a standalone. Still, I do feel curious about the next one in the series, as it brings again Jamie as the main character.

I believe it is the perfect pick for a younger public, middle-grade level. Moreover, the different point of view on Pakistan was very enriching, and would make for a heated discussion in a group, when compared to what one would usually think of the country and its costumes.

Rating: 3 out of 5