Home Is Not a Country: Part 3

by Safia Elhillo
In this novel in verse, a teen struggles with feelings of disconnection from both her family's homeland and her suburban American life.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
15 words 196 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. vibrant
    vigorous and animated
    i want to watch my mother’s youth her dancer’s
    walk her life vibrant with friendship & parties
  2. troupe
    an organization of performers and associated personnel
    my mother in a newspaper clipping whose caption reads
    founder of local dance troupe banat al-nima describes dance
    as her connection to a lost home
  3. lull
    make calm or still
    when i met you i had a father or at least i had the dream
    of one to lull me every night to sleep
  4. sheepish
    showing a sense of shame
    & when i reach for the memory of our argument it’s like
    trying to remember a dream like trying to carry water
    in a cupped palm all of it trickling slowly away i...
    you...i...i can't really remember
    i blurt out sheepish
  5. tragic
    very sad, especially involving grief or death or destruction
    though this morning while i make yet another
    tragic sandwich my mother appears her face
    determined & sets something neatly wrapped
    in paper towels on the counter before me
  6. grim
    filled with melancholy and despondency
    i can’t keep imagining
    my daughter at school eating that plastic here she
    casts a grim look at the neon slices of cheese
    in their individual sleeves
  7. haggle
    wrangle, as over a price or terms of an agreement
    at the bigala my mother haggles with the shopkeeper
  8. grizzled
    having gray or partially gray hair
    & the laugh softens his grizzled face as he wraps the lamb
    up for my mother & hands it to her consider it a gift
  9. contorted
    twisted, especially as in pain or struggle
    when the teacher turns i shove him in his
    good shoulder liar you’re never going to learn
    any arabic & he looks over face contorted
    in pretend heartbreak
  10. engrossed
    giving or marked by complete attention to
    Jazz
    sits between me & mama fatheya on the couch
    both of them engrossed in the same cooking show
  11. rouse
    cause to be agitated or excited
    jazzy rouses mama fatheya with her perfect arabic
  12. extract
    remove, usually with some force or effort
    she turns to me & grins i hear you're some kind
    of nostalgia monster so i come bearing an offering
    & from the pocket of her jacket she extracts
    an unlabeled tape
  13. kindred
    similar in quality or character
    there's an amazing cover
    of this sayed khalifa song on here that i love
    & we are instantly kindred
  14. scrawl
    poor handwriting
    in the far corner an arabic workbook splayed
    on the floor filled with earnest cursive scrawls
  15. buoyant
    characterized by liveliness and lightheartedness
    i turn to the mirror & twirl like the girl in the photograph
    like aisha before me & midspin i catch her standing
    in the doorway the beautiful girl who became my mother
    her face buoyant & alive
Created on Wed Oct 06 10:25:00 EDT 2021 (updated Wed Oct 13 10:35:35 EDT 2021)

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