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alloftheolives's review against another edition
3.0
this book was amazing and it felt so real. glad a friend recommended me this! 3.5
candelibri's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
I was only 4 years old when the Bosnian war ended and it wasn’t a topic that was broadly covered in many school curriculums. This was both a beautiful yet heart wrenching and devastating account of the author’s experiences of surviving a genocide.
scmiller's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Genocide, Grief, and War
Moderate: Hate crime and Rape
reemareads's review against another edition
4.0
I randomly started reading this, when I just wanted to read something that wasn't on my TBR. Absolutely loved it's. It's heartbreaking. It's about Bosnian Muslims, war, survival and a miracle cat!!!
kjurewicz's review against another edition
4.0
Very well-written! Normally, I’m not a fan of non-fiction, but this read more like a novel (which was probably the intention to appeal to YA readers). My grandmother is from Croatia and speaks about how hard it was living there during times of war (though she survived a much earlier conflict), so I really connected to this story on a personal level. Amra, the protagonist, is so strong and inspiring despite all of the horrors she encountered. At the same time, she was still relatable as a teenage girl. And of course, including Maci just tied everything together. I would definitely use this book if I was teaching a world lit or social justice class - I think my students would connect to and enjoy it.
laura_mcgovern's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
graceh6068's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
qboyle_13's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
theliteratureladies's review against another edition
5.0
The Cat I Never Named by Amra Sabic El-Rayes is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year. I’m still processing my thoughts, and it has taken me four separate attempts to write this review. Let me preface: I am a big cat lover, so the title caught my attention. The cover art is beautiful with the calico kitty draped on the girl’s shoulder, and I knew I had to check it out. Then, I read the excerpt and learned it was a true story of surviving ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian War in the 1990s. It was a piece of history I didn’t know much about coupled with a cat featurette… So basically, it was 100% up my alley. And I devoured it.
The Cat I Never Named is an exceptional memoir that reads like a fast-paced novel. Amra was a teenager living in Bosnia when Serbian tanks rolled in and the genocide of Bosnian Muslims began. Amra tells of her survival with her family for four years in the city of Bihac, completely cut off from the rest of the world, fighting starvation, bombings, snipers, illness, harsh winters… and the little stray cat that helped them through all of it.
This book kind of wrecked me, if I’m honest. I was thinking about it even when I wasn’t reading it. Let me try to offer some of the reasons I found this book entirely exceptional:
Amra and her family are inspiring. Their devotion to one another is moving. Their desire to do good and see the good in others even in the worst of times is admirable. They strive to be honest, diligent, hard working people, and to be friends to those around them. Amra is intelligent and pursues knowledge and her education even in the midst of the war. It is ultimately one of the things that saves her life and brings her to the United States at the end of the war. I was grieving with her when she grieved and rejoicing with her when she had a brief moment of joy, love, or happiness.
The writing is phenomenal. Amra is gifted at storytelling and incredibly smart indeed. She phrased things in ways that made everything clear and easy to understand, painted vivid pictures, and truly brought her circumstances and experience to life. She debated hard questions and dealt with difficult topics. She experienced horrific things firsthand and doesn’t shy away from what that was like. Her writing style is easy to read but also artistic, mature, and elegant. I really enjoyed her style and the novel-like flow of the memoir.
Now, I know I’m a cat person, but the storyline with the stray (Maci)… It got to me. It just did. I feel like Amra completely encapsulated the wonderful (at times quirky) qualities of cats and what makes them special to people. The way she described Maci and her actions (even her movements) were perfect. I could picture her clearly and was reminded of my own kitty. It was heartwarming to say the very least the way Maci involved herself with Amra’s family and provided joy and comfort in the darkest days of their lives. At first, I thought this would be a rather superficial piece of the story, but it ended up being a very weighty and important piece of Amra’s life during the war. It was really beautiful.
The history/historical aspect was so interesting. Dark moments in history are gripping to me; I think this is largely because I just can’t wrap my head around how people can do these things to other people. There is so much evil in the world. And I truly believe we must learn from history in an attempt to not repeat the same mistakes again! So learning about the Bosnian War and the genocide of the Bosnian Muslims was another reason I enjoyed the book, and I found myself trying to learn more about it after reading it.
Basically, I liked everything about this book; and I feel like I haven’t scratched the surface of why I loved it so much. I cannot recommend it enough. Haunting, sobering, inspiring, interesting, heart-warming and heart-wrenching both, The Cat I Never Named is a must-read. I am grateful to the author for sharing her and Maci’s story with us.
www.theliteratureladies.com
The Cat I Never Named is an exceptional memoir that reads like a fast-paced novel. Amra was a teenager living in Bosnia when Serbian tanks rolled in and the genocide of Bosnian Muslims began. Amra tells of her survival with her family for four years in the city of Bihac, completely cut off from the rest of the world, fighting starvation, bombings, snipers, illness, harsh winters… and the little stray cat that helped them through all of it.
This book kind of wrecked me, if I’m honest. I was thinking about it even when I wasn’t reading it. Let me try to offer some of the reasons I found this book entirely exceptional:
Amra and her family are inspiring. Their devotion to one another is moving. Their desire to do good and see the good in others even in the worst of times is admirable. They strive to be honest, diligent, hard working people, and to be friends to those around them. Amra is intelligent and pursues knowledge and her education even in the midst of the war. It is ultimately one of the things that saves her life and brings her to the United States at the end of the war. I was grieving with her when she grieved and rejoicing with her when she had a brief moment of joy, love, or happiness.
The writing is phenomenal. Amra is gifted at storytelling and incredibly smart indeed. She phrased things in ways that made everything clear and easy to understand, painted vivid pictures, and truly brought her circumstances and experience to life. She debated hard questions and dealt with difficult topics. She experienced horrific things firsthand and doesn’t shy away from what that was like. Her writing style is easy to read but also artistic, mature, and elegant. I really enjoyed her style and the novel-like flow of the memoir.
Now, I know I’m a cat person, but the storyline with the stray (Maci)… It got to me. It just did. I feel like Amra completely encapsulated the wonderful (at times quirky) qualities of cats and what makes them special to people. The way she described Maci and her actions (even her movements) were perfect. I could picture her clearly and was reminded of my own kitty. It was heartwarming to say the very least the way Maci involved herself with Amra’s family and provided joy and comfort in the darkest days of their lives. At first, I thought this would be a rather superficial piece of the story, but it ended up being a very weighty and important piece of Amra’s life during the war. It was really beautiful.
The history/historical aspect was so interesting. Dark moments in history are gripping to me; I think this is largely because I just can’t wrap my head around how people can do these things to other people. There is so much evil in the world. And I truly believe we must learn from history in an attempt to not repeat the same mistakes again! So learning about the Bosnian War and the genocide of the Bosnian Muslims was another reason I enjoyed the book, and I found myself trying to learn more about it after reading it.
Basically, I liked everything about this book; and I feel like I haven’t scratched the surface of why I loved it so much. I cannot recommend it enough. Haunting, sobering, inspiring, interesting, heart-warming and heart-wrenching both, The Cat I Never Named is a must-read. I am grateful to the author for sharing her and Maci’s story with us.
www.theliteratureladies.com