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Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'
The Morning They Came for Us: Dispatches from Syria by Janine di Giovanni
1 review
annemaries_shelves's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
I read this all in one evening because I wasn't sure if I could pick it up the next morning. And I'm grateful I did - it was an all-consuming reading experience, and I'm still processing everything I read the next day.
The Morning They Came for Us is primarily objective reporting of events that the (Western, non-Syrian) journalist either experienced or her interviewees experienced, and the surrounding contemporary events/context. Every once in a while, the author brings up previous war reporting experiences she's had - notably the Bosnian war - and tidbits about how war journalists/foreign correspondents handle the logistics of these trips. I appreciated the (brief) acknowledgement that she, and other journalists have a new unique privilege of temporarily living in and experiencing a war zone but they're (usually) able to leave. These elements - the more personal/subjective pieces - will not be for every reader's personal preference. But much like personal accounts of war that she includes, I think it adds an additional layer of humanity to the narrative.
The personal accounts, though, are really fucking hard to read. Especially Nada, Shaheeneez, and Hussein - who all were kidnapped/taken, tortured, raped, and brutalized for months. Besides the very graphic details of their experiences, what really hurt was reading about their feelings of betrayal - betrayal from their fellow Syrians, from humanity, and how now they feel separate from other humans. A common thread throughout the book is "This isn't my Syria" - many of those interviewed in the early days couldn't believe that people of their own country would do this to each other - that it must be solely foreigners responsible. As the war progressed, the rise of divisions across religion, ethnic groups, and other ideologies demonstrated how effective separatism and fear is to any regime or group fighting for control and power.
Despite the sense of war's inevitability that pervades this book, what really struck me was how much the rest of the world failed Syria and continues to fail Syria. At the time of publication, the civil war had been going on for 5+ years - at this time of this review, the war is still going on 11+ years later. "The Book of the Dead is not yet finished" (pg 172).
The Morning They Came for Us is primarily objective reporting of events that the (Western, non-Syrian) journalist either experienced or her interviewees experienced, and the surrounding contemporary events/context. Every once in a while, the author brings up previous war reporting experiences she's had - notably the Bosnian war - and tidbits about how war journalists/foreign correspondents handle the logistics of these trips. I appreciated the (brief) acknowledgement that she, and other journalists have a new unique privilege of temporarily living in and experiencing a war zone but they're (usually) able to leave. These elements - the more personal/subjective pieces - will not be for every reader's personal preference. But much like personal accounts of war that she includes, I think it adds an additional layer of humanity to the narrative.
The personal accounts, though, are really fucking hard to read. Especially Nada, Shaheeneez, and Hussein - who all were kidnapped/taken, tortured, raped, and brutalized for months. Besides the very graphic details of their experiences, what really hurt was reading about their feelings of betrayal - betrayal from their fellow Syrians, from humanity, and how now they feel separate from other humans. A common thread throughout the book is "This isn't my Syria" - many of those interviewed in the early days couldn't believe that people of their own country would do this to each other - that it must be solely foreigners responsible. As the war progressed, the rise of divisions across religion, ethnic groups, and other ideologies demonstrated how effective separatism and fear is to any regime or group fighting for control and power.
Despite the sense of war's inevitability that pervades this book, what really struck me was how much the rest of the world failed Syria and continues to fail Syria. At the time of publication, the civil war had been going on for 5+ years - at this time of this review, the war is still going on 11+ years later. "The Book of the Dead is not yet finished" (pg 172).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail