Refugee by Alan Gratz

The novel is told from the third person point of view of three young adults - Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud in that order. The story is broken into different perspectives from each of them and moves forward in time from the start of each of their stories. Gratz tells the reader which point of view he is telling by writing the heading of each new perspective the child’s name at the beginning.

Gratz uses this style of point of view to show the unique perspective of each character while also demonstrating that no matter which country or time period the character hails from, their experience is similar. Gratz tells the novel from the third person perspective to show the other voices and perspectives in the story, and to show a more objective analysis of the situation. Since war situations can so often be dismissed as just one person’s experience, or just one bad story, using the third person perspective adds a universality to the character that would not exist otherwise. The three different points of view, though vastly different in perspective, religions, country of origin, and decade, all experience similar treatment as refugees.

Finally, Gratz tailors the point of view for each different character in order to show that character’s evolution in the story, and reinforce the key themes of becoming an adult. For Mahmoud, his point of view is first about remaining invisible to the bullies, then later as a refugee realizing he needed to become visible to the rest of the world, and confront the bullies and those ignoring him and his family. For Isabel, she is worried about her family, her father’s future, and her music. As a musician she hears the world through the music, and whether or not she has felt the clave. For Josef, his point of view centers around the question of what would a man do, and becoming a man. All three of these points of view help reinforce the theme of becoming an adult, and all three points of view are sympathetic to the average age of the young adult reader.