The Last Nomad
CW: war, discussion of rape, female genital mutilation, abuse (physical, mental, and emotional)
The Last Nomad is a memoir by Shugri Said Salh. Shugri grew up as a nomad raised by her grandmother in the Somali desert prior to the Somali Civil War. She recounts momentous occasions from her childhood, her struggles after her mother’s death, her family’s separation as the fled the Somali Civil War, and her adjustments to life in Canada, followed by her experiences raising children today in the United States with circumstances she had never imagined.
Shugri tackles difficult subjects with honesty and a tone unique to one who has occupied two such opposite worlds. She discusses growing up in a society that places such pride on virginity yet has young girls consistently threatened by rape. The most moving transition for me was her views on female genital mutilation (FGM). As a child she underwent the traumatic mutilation but at time it was a great honor for her. After fleeing the civil war, moving to North America, and having a daughter of her own, she explains how her thoughts shifted. She doesn’t shy away from explaining the honor she once felt in FGM, but now views her survival following this trauma as a breaking of chains for her daughters and other women that will follow.
Shugri’s strength is beautiful. She underwent so much trauma with a consistent will to survive, to do better, and be better than what she witnessed. Though her memoir is filled with trials, it’s also infused with love, humor, and happy memories. It was a difficult read at times, but such an eye-opening experience into growing up in a country I know so little about.
I highly recommend this for anyone interested in memoirs, cross-cultural experiences, and women in the middle east. Even if memoirs are not your usual read, I still urge you to pick this up. Shugri writes with such honesty, humor, and personality, that it did not feel like the slog that nonfiction can occasionally be.
The Last Nomad can currently be preordered here through Bookshop.org and will be for sale August 3!
Thank you to Shugri Said Salh and Algonquin Books for gifting me a copy of The Last Nomad in exchange for an honest review.
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