Sunday 24 September 2017

REVIEW: FRACTURED LANDS - HOW THE ARAB WORLD CAME APART BY SCOTT ANDERSON

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Another important book from the Arab world that everyone should read.


After reading synopsis and preface of the book I was convinced, although doubting viability of such an endeavor, that what I am going to read is a kind of reportage with elements of comparative study of  4+ Arab countries, on basis of direct experience of six local people. And although Scott Anderson tends to form assumptions about the causes of ruptures in the subject Arab countries: "...lack of intrinsic sense of national identity, joined to a form of government that supplanted the traditional organizing principle of society...," these rather stem from a thorough knowledge of the region's intricacies and are here not to be proved but to bring clarity into the complexities of the region's current status.

Much of the book had first been published in a special issue of The New York Times Magazine on 14th August 2016. And it is precisely what I was craving for while reading this book - impressive, page-size journalistic photographs.

In the book Anderson relates stories of six people: the matriarch of a dissident Egyptian family, a Libyan Air Force cadet with divided loyalties, a Kurdish physician from a prominent warrior clan, a Syrian university student caught in civil war, an Iraqi activist for women's rights, and an Iraqi day laborer turned ISIS soldier. I think that there is nothing more telling than a firsthand recount of situation in place. More so in a war or fight against oppression. And although it is also true that these circumstances may in certain cases lead to a self-righteous advocacy of one's own stance, Anderson treats these pitfalls of human perception with detachment of a skilled war reporter and observer.

After reading The Morning They Came for Us: Dispatches from Syria by Janine Di Giovanni, I thought I was prepared and knew what to expect from this kind of books. However, reading Fractured Lands, my second book from war-torn Arab countries, I came to realize that there's no general group of hardships (to use the softest term to describe it), no general group of acts that can be called atrocities. There is each hardship, each atrocity standing on its own, devastating, hitting unexpectedly making you grasp for your breath while you are reading about it in the calmness and safety of your home. But that's the pure truth and today's world, flooded with false information needs to know the truth and therefore to have more books like the Anderson's and Di Giovanni's.


In terms of set up of the book, I found a bit disturbing that the stories of the six people did not form six standalone parts but were rather scattered across time-periods. Due to lack of time I read this book in the span of 2 weeks and I found it a bit difficult to remember where a story of one of the persons previously ended when Anderson picked it up again in a next time-period/part. I understand that this arrangement had been done on purpose, to emphasize concurrency of the stories but personally I've found it a bit tricky at times to follow through.

Provided that I am not that well oriented in the succession of events in Arab countries I was also missing some kind of a timeline of the most important turning points. And although these were mentioned in the text quite comprehensively I think that a basic timeline would help a reader to clearly place each single story within a larger picture.

But these are rather minor adjustments that did not change the fact that this is an important book I would recommend to everyone and therefore I gave it 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.


Last but not least, I would like to thank Penguin Random House for sending me Fractured Lands upon my request. It makes an important part of my slowly growing collection of books on Arab world and I will most probably go for rereading it soon or later due to valuable information about Arab countries it contains.

Friday 1 September 2017

SEPTEMBER 2017 TBR: ARAB WORLD

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...with one exception


Slovensky
Zoznam kníh, ktoré by som chcela v septembri čítať, je zameraný na arabské krajiny Blízkeho východu a Afriky. Hoci, je tu aj jedna výnimka. Knihy, ktoré vyšli aj v slovenskom preklade, sú opísané aj mojim komentárom v slovenčine.

English
My September 2017 TBR has a regional focus on Arab countries of Middle East and Africa. Though, there's one exception.



Slovensky
Jedinou výnimkou na mojom septembrovom zozname kníh o arabských krajinách severnej Afriky a Blízkeho východu je kniha Svetlany Alexijevič: Vojna nemá ženskú tvár. Kniha je autentickým opisom Veľkej vlasteneckej vojny z pohľadu žien - vojačiek, zdravotníčok, na fronte a v okupovaných oblastiach - ktoré zažili jej hrôzy.

English
The only exception on my September TBR list of books about Arabic countries of the Middle East and North Africa is the Slovak translation of The Unwomanly Face of the War by Svetlana Alexievich. This reportage book recounts stories of women - soldiers and nurses, on the front lines and in the occupied territories - who experienced the horrors of the World War II.


In the forefront of my September Arab World TBR stands Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart by Scott Anderson, which I requested and was kindly sent for review by Penguin Random House.
In his reportage book Scott Anderson examines causes of ruptures in countries of Middle East and North Africa through the eyes and experience of six people: the matriarch of a dissident Egyptian family; a Libyan Air Force cadet with divided loyalties; a Kurdish physician from a prominent warrior clan; a Syrian university student caught in civil war; an Iraqi activist for women's rights; and an Iraqi day laborer-turned-ISIS fighter.


Slovensky
V slovenskom preklade tiež vyšla kniha Denníky z Rakky: Útek z "islamského štátu", ktorú som si v anglickom originály kúpila ešte v apríli a som rada, že sa ju konečne chystám začať čítať. Autorom knihy je 24-ročný Sýrčan, vystupujúci pod pseudonymom Samer, ktorý prežil hrôzy počas okupácie mesta Raqqa takzvaným Islamským štátom, a rozhodol sa o nich podať svedectvo a to aj napriek hrozbe trestu smrti. Okrem nesmierneho prínosu samotného svedectva a odvahy autora, je prínosom aj forma, ktorou je kniha spracovaná. Príbeh je doplnený ilustráciami v štýle urban art, ktoré robia knihu prístupnejšou a adresnejšou pre súčasnú spoločnosť.

English
I purchased The Raqqa Diaries: Escape from 'Islamic State' some time ago and I am glad that I am finally about to read it. The author of the book is a 24-year-old Syrian with pseudonym Samer, who survived horrors during occupation of Raqqa by the so called Islamic State and decided to testify even under the threat of death penalty. Besides the enormous contribution of the testimony and courage of the author, the asset of the book lies also in the form it was put together. The story is accompanied by urban art illustrations, which makes it even more accessible and designed for contemporary society.


Exit West by Mohsin Hamid was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize 2017. Some say it is a love story and some say it is nothing like that. And though, it certainly begins with a love story of a young couple, it is most of all a kind of magical realism planted into today's troubled world of a Middle Eastern country on a brink of civil war. And when the war erupts mysterious doors into faraway countries begin to appear for people to flee into safety.


Khomeini, Sade and Me by Abnousse Shalmani is a fiction with elements of a memoir, originally written in French. Shalmani was born in Iran but she refused to conform to Islamic rules for women. However, when her family emigrates to France she finds rules connected with religion being no less restrictive. I suppose this being a personal story of a woman and her attitude towards rules imposed by religion, formed under the influence of Islamic law and streams in French society.