ralentina reviewed Alfabet/Alphabet by Sadiqa de Meijer
On finding home in a new language
4 stars
I think of this book as the companion to Fifty Sounds, in that they are both memoirs and reflection on language. If Fifty Sounds is about learning a new one and feeling alien in a far-away place that doesn't ever quite become familiar, A/A is about the feeling of nostalgia, the ways one remains attached to their mother tongue and childhood home, and reworks them in new ways that fit new places, new languages, new skills. De Meijer manages to talk about being multilingual without coming across as pretentious or self-congratulatory, or plain boring. Perhaps by virtue of being of Afghan-Punjabi-Kenyan descent she also manages to describe her love for the Netherlands in a way that doesn't feel claustrophobic or reactionary.