100 pages • 3 hours read
Atia AbawiA Land of Permanent Goodbyes
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Epigraph-Chapter 5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Epigraph Summary
A quote from children’s television show personality Fred Rogers, serves as the book’s epigraph. Mr. Rogers remembers his mother’s response to scary things on the news: “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
Prologue Summary
The book opens with a short prologue that introduces the book’s omniscient narrator: Destiny. Usually an abstract concept that refers to the unavoidable fate mapped out for a person, in this instance, Destiny has a voice, speaking in first person. Destiny will serve as the narrator.
Destiny addresses the reader: “You were born to die. In that I have no say” (1). Destiny highlights the weaknesses of the human heart, which detract from the achievements of the human mind:
Your chest is a vault for your jealousy, prejudices and regrets—emotions that you once released through sharp tongues and bare hands. Until your tongues and hands were replaced with swords and poisons-and now bullets and bombs (2).
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary
Destiny opens the first chapter, introducing Tareq, the young boy that the book will follow: “I like Tareq. I always have. The night the fair-haired boy came into the world, I swear I saw the moon smile” (7).
