The Sirens of Baghdad
Article summary
The third novel in Yasmina Khadra's bestselling trilogy about Islamic fundamentalism has the most compelling backdrop of any of his novels: Iraq in the wake of the American invasion.
A young Iraqi student, unable to attend college because of the war, sees American soldiers leave a trail of humiliation and grief in his small village. Bent on revenge, he flees to the chaotic streets of Baghdad where insurgents soon realize they can make use of his anger. Eventually he is groomed for a secret terrorist mission meant to dwarf the attacks of September 11th, only to find himself struggling with moral qualms. The Sirens of Baghdad is a powerful look at the effects of violence on ordinary people, showing what can turn a decent human being into a weapon, and how the good in human nature can resist.
Customer's review
Powerful, Frightening and Enlightening
I read this book in French, having bought it in Europe, where it is prominently displayed in bookshops. I found it to be a frighteningly realistic portrayal of the life of ordinary Iraqis since the beginning of U.S. military involvement in Iraq. It really helps illuminate how anti-American feeling has been generated, through the description of the transformation of an ordinary man into a terrorist.
What struck me most of all about the book was the multiplicity of voices. These include the fanatical, militant terrorists who wish to assert Middle Eastern supremacy while destroying the West; the Bedouin woman who has left her village to become a doctor in Baghdad, and supports most of her relatives financially; her brother, who rejects her when he discovers she is living, unmarried, with a man; and the hero's friend, who tries to turn him away from the path leading to terrorism by reminding him that not all of the West is anti-Islamic, as exemplified by the popular demonstrations across the world in support of the Iraqis when the U.S. had announced its decision to invade. This is a truly excellent book that deserves to be read by everyone.
"A Thousand Times More Awesome Than the Attacks of September 11"
Yasmin Khadra (a female pseudonym for Mohammed Moulessehoul) in his novel THE SIRENS OF BAGHDAD takes the reader inside the head of a young unnamed first-person narrator who has been recruited for a secret mission, the nature of which he himself does not know when the story begins when he has just arrived in Beirut to carry out the mission: "All I know is, what's been planned will be the greatest operation ever carried out on enemy territory, a thousand times more awesome than the attacks of September 11. . . ." The rest of this chilling novel covers the events in this young man's life that get him to this appointment with destiny.
The narrator was a humanities student who had to leave the University of Baghdad when the American forces invaded Iraq and return to his home in the remote village of Kafr Karam. Gentle and nonviolent by nature, he lives a relatively quiet life with his sisters and aging parents. "I had nothing to complain about in my parents' house. I could be satisfied with little. I lived on the roof, in a remodeled laundry room." Although he had no television, he listened to a "tinny radio." Then three events occur that make the narrator willing to do anything to get vengence against the American soldiers whom one character describes as shooting first and verifying later. He witnesses the killing of a retarded youth about his age by American soldiers at a checkpoint when he starts running away. The Americans mistakenly believe he might be carrying explosives. Then an American plane drops a missle on a wedding party. Finally soldiers break into the home of the narrator's family looking for terrorists and commit an atrocity that "a Westerner can't undertand," as the family is disgraced.
The young narrator returns to Baghdad, a man on a monomaniacal mission, where he encounters more violence and ignorance from all sides, betrayal and where his views clash with that of his friend Omar who tells him: "No one owns the truth." Although certainly most Westerners will disagree vehemently with most of the young narrator's conclusions, this novel is instructive as to the hopelessness and rage that can blind someone who has experienced what the narrator has and turn him into an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist.
To call this novel unsettling would be a gross understatement. It is frightening beyond measure. We have to ask ourselves (without revealing more of the plot) if the narrator's mission is possible. We can no longer call novels like this science fiction. It should be read with another finely-written, nuanced novel, THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST.
Good Read!!
a sensitive book that shows that good does prevail! Takes you into the mind of a suicide bomber/attacker... the author does try to portray views of both sides of the war... ending could have been a little more detailed..
A Major Disappointment: But Don't Cancel My Subscription!
For the past few years I have been one of the biggest advocates for the works of Yasmina Khadra, especially the 'Swallows of Kabul,' which I found to be one of the most poetically powerful works of modern prose that I have ever read. I waited with such anticipation the 'Sirens of Baghdad,' hoping that it would serve as his defining opus.
But first, let me make it perfectly clear, I am not an advocate of George W. Bush's preemptive strategy that got us into Iraq. Yet I do take exception with Mr. Khadra's singular characterization of the tragedies of that war as being a manifestation of arrogant American imperialists ravaging a proud, noble Iraqi people; the analogy a la Graham Greene's renderings in 'The Quiet American' is a little shaky in this case. Could it not be said that a preponderance of the bloody violence in Iraq is inspired by ancient Shia vs. Sunni rivalries? This consideration, however, does not even remotely factor into the abyss of which he paints. Beyond that, while it had its moments of magic, I found much of the the book strung together with a series of clichés I associate with writers far below his caliber.
I regreted having to make these negative remarks, because I have found Mr. Khadra to be very gracious in responding to my inquiries. I truly hope that his next book will indeed live up to all of the notoriety---which he deserves---of his being France's best novelists since Albert Camus.
Amazing story
This book was a very well written book. The story is a great one because throughout this war the media rarely talks about what the Iragis are feeling or why they fight. All though this book gives just one primary viewpoint (i.e. Iragi against U.S.) it still allows you to understand why Iragis are fighting period whether it be against each other or the U.S. through smaller passages. It is a great read, I didn't want to put it down. It is intoxicating with its descriptions of Iragi life. Everyone should read this if they want to feel as if they understand in total this war. It will not be for everyone and the book itself does not pick sides but merely explains how Iraqis feel.
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