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bexlrose's review against another edition
5.0
A first hand account of the horrors happening in Syria at the hands of Daesh and an all-controlling regime. I am so shocked. I thought I was well-informed but I was not. The truth of living in this hell is so much more Owellian than I ever expected. It's not just a physical war-zone, it's a psychological one too. It is almost akin to people being beheaded for thought-crimes.
Please read this book, it's the most important book you'll read this year. An upsetting, harrowing and gut-wrenching 5 stars, with my thanks to Samer for risking everything to write it.
Please read this book, it's the most important book you'll read this year. An upsetting, harrowing and gut-wrenching 5 stars, with my thanks to Samer for risking everything to write it.
ellathelibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
4.5. A really small aesthetic point - although I loved the illustrations, the darker pages made reading difficult.
kafka_on_the_shore's review against another edition
4.0
A deeply moving personal account of life in war torn syria where regime forces are competing with daesh in cruelty....
howtobebooks's review against another edition
5.0
An important book for our age given the horrific situation currently in Syria. Samer's experiences are harrowing, and dehumanising, to the point it reflects how much we take the issue for granted and how much we have turned off watching the terror unfold. It's gruesome, and terrifying, but that's expected given the topic. Hats off to the author for providing this piece to the world.
lauraxbakker's review against another edition
4.0
Een kort, maar indrukwekkend dagboek dat is bij gehouden door een jongeman in Syrië. Ik heb er kippenvel van.
eviereads124's review against another edition
4.0
The Raqqa Diaries is the product of contact between the BBC and a small activist group from Syria. The book tells the story of “Samer”, one of the members of the activist group. The diarist’s father is killed and mother badly injured during an airstrike, he is sentenced to 40 lashes for speaking out against a beheading, he sees a woman stoned to death. It shows how every aspect of life is impacted – from the spiralling costs of food to dictating the acceptable length of trousers. This is a raw and profoundly brutal book, but so so important to read - I think when you hear stories from Syria they’re often so unbelievable they’re hard to comprehend that they’re actually real and happening right now, but this book does make you face the reality of the situation a lot more starkly.
megsreadsbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
hellsbell's review against another edition
5.0
my full review can be found at HellyReads
I thought this was amazing and should be a must read book for people interested in current affairs, politics or the middle east.
I thought this was amazing and should be a must read book for people interested in current affairs, politics or the middle east.
hasseltkoffie's review against another edition
5.0
The marketplace was hit. There were huge explosions, and body parts everywhere. It was a Russian air strike supposedly targeting terrorists.
Isn’t the terrorism we suffer on the ground enough? Now you bring it from the skies as well.
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The fact that the world is standing idly by, just watching what is happening, does not surprise anyone here any more. Everyone I meet, whether it is a child or an old person who has witnessed many horrors, pins their hopes on our own revolutionaries. The outside world has not answered our calls.
Some countries do worse than just stand by. They have given the regime help in killing its people. They continue to do this while thousands of families live out in the open with nothing to protect them from the rain, the sun and the bombs.
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Many people here tell me they wish they were already dead. Many are hoping to cross into Turkey, but the border is completely closed. It’s hopeless. Many have been maimed by the regime’s war machine. Some are missing limbs. These injuries have a dramatic impact on them and those who care for them. Every single person here has lived with horror. Yet instead of weeping or cursing, they all try to help each other.
Isn’t the terrorism we suffer on the ground enough? Now you bring it from the skies as well.
---
The fact that the world is standing idly by, just watching what is happening, does not surprise anyone here any more. Everyone I meet, whether it is a child or an old person who has witnessed many horrors, pins their hopes on our own revolutionaries. The outside world has not answered our calls.
Some countries do worse than just stand by. They have given the regime help in killing its people. They continue to do this while thousands of families live out in the open with nothing to protect them from the rain, the sun and the bombs.
---
Many people here tell me they wish they were already dead. Many are hoping to cross into Turkey, but the border is completely closed. It’s hopeless. Many have been maimed by the regime’s war machine. Some are missing limbs. These injuries have a dramatic impact on them and those who care for them. Every single person here has lived with horror. Yet instead of weeping or cursing, they all try to help each other.