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About
Amsterdam Airport, 1998. Samir Karim steps off a plane from Vietnam, flushes his fake passport down the toilet, and requests asylum. Fleeing Iraq to avoid conscription into Saddam Hussein's army, he has spent seven years anonymously wandering through Asia. Now, safely in the heart of Europe, he is sent to an asylum center and assigned a bed in a shared dorm-where he will spend the next nine years. As he navigates his way around the absurdities of Dutch bureaucracy, Samir tries his best to get along with his 500 new housemates. Told with compassion and a unique sense of humor, this is an inspiring tale of survival, a close-up view of the hidden world of refugees and human smugglers, and a sobering reflection of our times.
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Reviews
"Two Blankets, Three Sheets is an interesting, rich novel on fear, insecurity, arbitrariness and hopelessness."
GUUS BAUER, author of Bird Boy
"This is an unnerving, ironical book about how lives are grinded down by endlessly stretched procedures."
Leeuwarder Courant
"Al Galidi writes this novel based on his own experiences, but he manages to cover that up so well with his fluent writing style, a sense of humor and an absence of resentment. A real feat in his case. The lighthearted way in which he writes about tragic experiences makes this a very impactful book."
KRISTIEN HEMMERECHTS, author of The Woman Who Fed the Dogs