ibbyyyyy's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

5.0


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emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.0


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hollyd19's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

5.0

It’s always hard to review a memoir, but this one particularly so. In The Last Girl, Nadia Murad recounts her experience of living through ISIS’s takeover of her Yazidi community, the mass execution of most of the men, and the enslavement of the women to be sabaya (sex slaves) for the militants. 

Murad’s writing is clear & deliberate, detailing her trauma in hopes of raising awareness & bringing justice to bear on ISIS for their war crimes. She reminisces on her youth, growing up poor but with a loving mother, large family, and a very tight-knit religious minority community. Against this backdrop, the ISIS takeover & genocide is utterly devastating to read. 

Murad mentions that she struggles to extend forgiveness to those who were not a part of ISIS but did not actively combat the new order. She candidly engages with the strain of balancing compassion against feeling abandoned. Even the family that ultimately aided her escape is not fawned over in the text. Murad acknowledges that while she is grateful, she wishes that dissenters had chosen to be more actively engaged with rescues and resistance. I admired her honesty and bravery. 

Ultimately, this book is remarkable, haunting, courageous, and important. I strongly recommend you pick it up. 

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