East vs West

“There were no tears, no screaming about where he’d gone to, no panicked pinching and twisting of the arm or ear. It was fine. Ben was fine. » (comparing to Syrian family dynamics)” p37

“I was already turning to head back down to my park, wondering what it must be like to live in such a safe world.” p37

"I imagine his sermons must be relaxing to hear.”
“Back home the Friday sermons were litanies of abuse, the imams shouting across rooftops as though in competition with or opposition to each other. They'd scream about the evils of modernity, the immorality of women, the dangers of idleness. On and on and on until you wondered if they said anything at all during the week, or if they just saved it all up for the Friday explosion.”" p51

". But I mustn’t think of it as home. It’s not home. This is"p67

“Matt stops her, and they share a few words. He tries to take the bags off her hands, and she resists—three times by my count, just like Arabs do—before finally relenting with a smile. »p70

“He is only a kid after all—though, back home, they would be merciless, even with a child. That’s not how it’s supposed to work here. A civilized country like Britain would put him in counseling or anger management or give him a social worker, surely. »p181