It's a novel from a Belgian author. A quite small novel, just over a hundred pages, but it's sharp as a chef's knife.
The story revolves around migrants, sans-papiers, who are awaiting the decision of the government to be able to stay in Belgium or not. Most of them have been taken into custody on their way to the United Kingdom, plucked from freighter or boat. Most of them have a bleak perspective and know they will be send back from the horrors they fled.
The novel is filled to the brim with cynicism and a dark wit, which illustrates how meek the treatment of asylum seekers actually is. It shines a spotlight on why both groups don't mix and match very well and that it's mostly because of misunderstanding.
Because it's a fairly short book it didn't quite pull me in. But due to its subject is appalling and bleak and in more than a few anecdotes I felt the fear they must have felt to have abandoned their home country. It has not been their choice to come here, circumstances have forced them to try and start a new life in a country that doesn't understand them.
The novel has been written in 2011, but with the problematic situation is Syria the novel's topic stays very up to date. It's a peek into a world no one wants to enter.
