The story is set sometime after the September 11 attacks in an unnamed Middle Eastern country , where Younis , a 15-year-old local boy survives an errant U.S. military operation . An international relief agency relocates him to Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania where he 's raised by a foster family with the new name of " Jonas " and where he struggles to assimilate . After savagely beating another student who had been bullying him , he is mandated to visit a councilor , who attempts to help him confront his traumatic past . He receives a scholarship and enrolls at the University of Pittsburgh , where he meets and falls in love with Shakri , a beautiful pre-med student from India . He also begins hanging around with a hard-partying group of exchange students and drinking to the point of blackout . Eventually , he is put in contact with Rose , the mother of a soldier , Christopher , who participated in the attack that killed his family , and who has been missing ever since . Jonas tries to help Rose come to terms with the loss of her son by describing for her the last hours of his life . But he 's awash in conflicting emotions and changes parts of the story , " adding and subtracting , substituting what should have been said for what he fails to remember accurately . " As these memories surface , Jonas become more and more unstable , drinking to the point of blackout and acting abusively toward Shakri , in scenes that are reminiscence of returning soldiers ' experiences with Posttraumatic stress disorder . Eventually , Jonas honors the memory of Chris by mailing to Rose a journal that Chris kept while he was deployed . When the package arrives , she is out in her garden planting a new tree ( " thinking that she is being overly optimistic , planting a tree at her age " ) which represents life after years of mourning
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
The Book of Jonas