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itsnikhat's review
3.0
Rating: 3.5
I’m a bit unsure about how I feel about this book. It is a collection of the Yazidi women who were caught by the Daesh as their villages were taken over by them. Every transcribed interview is harrowing on its own. I was left feeling nauseated by the details that the women shared. Each woman has a similar story and yet you don’t get used to reading it. The Beekeeper of Sinjar, Abdullah, starts a network to help captives — men, women, and children — escape from the Daesh. The author is in contact with Abdullah, and many of the stories we read are through him. In the middle of the book, we also learn about the author’s links with Iraq and her memories of it before the war changed it.
The reason why I’m unsure about this is because of the narration. There was something very off with it that left me disconnected with the people. This book felt more like a draft than a published work. I wish there was some sort of connectivity, or the way manner of the stories which Abdullah shared was different. We see the author break into poetry, disconnect from the interviews to her personal experiences throughout the book and that left me with a lack of interest with the story. However, I absolutely believe that these stories need to be told, the plights of they people suffering/who suffered under the Daesh need to b highlighted but I wish it had been done in a different format.
Despite my off feelings about the way the book is written, I recommend you read the book anyway if only to be aware and hear the Yazidis and remember them.
I’m a bit unsure about how I feel about this book. It is a collection of the Yazidi women who were caught by the Daesh as their villages were taken over by them. Every transcribed interview is harrowing on its own. I was left feeling nauseated by the details that the women shared. Each woman has a similar story and yet you don’t get used to reading it. The Beekeeper of Sinjar, Abdullah, starts a network to help captives — men, women, and children — escape from the Daesh. The author is in contact with Abdullah, and many of the stories we read are through him. In the middle of the book, we also learn about the author’s links with Iraq and her memories of it before the war changed it.
The reason why I’m unsure about this is because of the narration. There was something very off with it that left me disconnected with the people. This book felt more like a draft than a published work. I wish there was some sort of connectivity, or the way manner of the stories which Abdullah shared was different. We see the author break into poetry, disconnect from the interviews to her personal experiences throughout the book and that left me with a lack of interest with the story. However, I absolutely believe that these stories need to be told, the plights of they people suffering/who suffered under the Daesh need to b highlighted but I wish it had been done in a different format.
Despite my off feelings about the way the book is written, I recommend you read the book anyway if only to be aware and hear the Yazidis and remember them.
anjana's review
4.0
I started this book almost one year ago, but when I was not able to read it in one sitting, I postponed the entire thing till it disappeared into my reading pile. Finally, in an effort to clean up my to-read list, I started paying attention to those I have had with me a while.
I give all this up in the very beginning not to claim that it is not a good book, but to indicate that it is a hard one to read in one sitting. All the harm that happens to the individual women is almost an iteration of a particular combination of horrors. It does not help to know that this cycle probably continues for someone or the other now.
The author lives in the US and is put into contact with a former (and hopefully later as well) beekeeper who is helping rescue women from the Daesh. The fates of the Yazidis seem to be dire and the hardships just escalating. The author introduces poetry in between with her own reflections that provide some space between visiting the next rescued woman and or family. I had to put it down in between to be able to pick it up again. It did serve as an eye-opener to the never-ending loop of terror many people must be living into this day. There is hope since our team of dedicated smugglers smuggle out the kidnapped women, risking their own lives in the process. I will not forget the content in a hurry.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.
I give all this up in the very beginning not to claim that it is not a good book, but to indicate that it is a hard one to read in one sitting. All the harm that happens to the individual women is almost an iteration of a particular combination of horrors. It does not help to know that this cycle probably continues for someone or the other now.
The author lives in the US and is put into contact with a former (and hopefully later as well) beekeeper who is helping rescue women from the Daesh. The fates of the Yazidis seem to be dire and the hardships just escalating. The author introduces poetry in between with her own reflections that provide some space between visiting the next rescued woman and or family. I had to put it down in between to be able to pick it up again. It did serve as an eye-opener to the never-ending loop of terror many people must be living into this day. There is hope since our team of dedicated smugglers smuggle out the kidnapped women, risking their own lives in the process. I will not forget the content in a hurry.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.
readingwithk's review against another edition
4.0
(3.5 stars) I finally finished a book! It’s a miracle!
Firstly, the power of the stories told in this book is heartbreaking and necessary. I’m blown away by the people in this book and those that were able to make it happen.
I think this is an important read to fully understand the threat of ISIS and how this terrorist group has destroyed the lives of people in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria.
The only problem I had with this book was its structure. I felt like it could have been organized a bit better, as the jumping in tone really threw me off at some points.
Also, while I enjoyed Mikhail’s poetry, I thought the pieces could have been incorporated more effectively.
That being said, this is an important book. These stories need to be told.
Firstly, the power of the stories told in this book is heartbreaking and necessary. I’m blown away by the people in this book and those that were able to make it happen.
I think this is an important read to fully understand the threat of ISIS and how this terrorist group has destroyed the lives of people in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria.
The only problem I had with this book was its structure. I felt like it could have been organized a bit better, as the jumping in tone really threw me off at some points.
Also, while I enjoyed Mikhail’s poetry, I thought the pieces could have been incorporated more effectively.
That being said, this is an important book. These stories need to be told.
meeshreads's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a fast read, if you can stomach reading about the horrific things so many people have lived through to tell these tales.
surabhichatrapathy's review
5.0
The Beekeeper of Sinjar is a non fiction account of the small, private efforts of rescuing women captured by ISIL in Iraq.
We learn of most of the stories through telephonic conversations held between the writer Dunya Mikhail and the rescue mission operative Abdullah Sheram. Who was formerly a beekeeper in the border area of Sinjar.
The book attacks you with the absolute violence ISIL inflicted upon Christians and more so Yazidis.
It also shows you the humanity, compassion that many others possessed, redeeming humanity here and there.
We learn a lot about Yazidi culture, which was personally interesting for me.
The first half of the book soley focuses on the rescue stories coming in from the borders of Iraq , Syria and Turkey.
In the second half Dunya beings to tell us of her own story as a political refugee in the states. Bits of her very poignant and measured poetry appear in timely places making the whole book a lot more heavy and heart breaking.
We learn of most of the stories through telephonic conversations held between the writer Dunya Mikhail and the rescue mission operative Abdullah Sheram. Who was formerly a beekeeper in the border area of Sinjar.
The book attacks you with the absolute violence ISIL inflicted upon Christians and more so Yazidis.
It also shows you the humanity, compassion that many others possessed, redeeming humanity here and there.
We learn a lot about Yazidi culture, which was personally interesting for me.
The first half of the book soley focuses on the rescue stories coming in from the borders of Iraq , Syria and Turkey.
In the second half Dunya beings to tell us of her own story as a political refugee in the states. Bits of her very poignant and measured poetry appear in timely places making the whole book a lot more heavy and heart breaking.
writerrhiannon's review against another edition
5.0
If you don't read a single other book that I ever recommend, please read this one! .
After reading The Beekeeper by Dunya Mikail (March 27, 2018 from New Direction), I now have a deeper insight into the atrocities that are happening in Syria. While it is devastating and heart breaking, this is a necessary read to become informed of what is happening to entire families and communities. The war in Syria has left more than 400,000 people dead or missing and left 1.5 million people with permanent disabilities. In the midst of this massive genocide, there are stories of escape.
After reading The Beekeeper by Dunya Mikail (March 27, 2018 from New Direction), I now have a deeper insight into the atrocities that are happening in Syria. While it is devastating and heart breaking, this is a necessary read to become informed of what is happening to entire families and communities. The war in Syria has left more than 400,000 people dead or missing and left 1.5 million people with permanent disabilities. In the midst of this massive genocide, there are stories of escape.
peek_a_book_xo's review
5.0
The Beekeeper of Sinjar tells the true stories of the Iraqi women who managed to escape ISIS. Since 2014, Yazidi people have been persecuted by IS, and are killed and enslaved. Amidst the terror, a once local beekeeper then turned saviour, Abdullah Shrem, used his local knowledge of Sinjar to help save and smuggle women to safety through an intricate network of helpers, smugglers and transporters. Journalist Dunya Mikhail eloquently brings together these stories from various viewpoints, including her own, Abdullah’s, and the women’s who escaped.
I read this book over the summer and it was the most harrowing book I have ever read. For me, this book must be read by all. The accounts will stick with me forever, and will always remind me of my situation and how lucky I am to be in it. It is not a light read, but this does not mean it shouldn’t be read.
Even if one person reads this book as a result of this post, then I’d be so grateful and astounded. Please let me know if you do!
I read this book over the summer and it was the most harrowing book I have ever read. For me, this book must be read by all. The accounts will stick with me forever, and will always remind me of my situation and how lucky I am to be in it. It is not a light read, but this does not mean it shouldn’t be read.
Even if one person reads this book as a result of this post, then I’d be so grateful and astounded. Please let me know if you do!
nietzschesghost's review against another edition
5.0
Dunya Mikhail is an Iraqi-Assyrian poet who is now based in the United States but was born in Iraq and graduated with a BA from the University of Baghdad some years later. She has worked as a journalist and a translator for "The Baghdad Observer", a prominent Iraqi newspaper before being questioned by Saddam Hussein's government and facing increasing threats and harassment from the Iraqi authorities for her writings. As a result of this, and to be able to carry-on enjoying her chosen profession, she fled Iraq via Jordan, eventually settling in America. Mikhail both speaks and writes in Arabic, Assyrian and English. Most of her previous work is classified as poetry including "The War Works Hard" which won PEN's Trnslation Fund Award, was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize and was named one of the best books of 2005 by the New York Public Library. In 2001, she was awarded the United Nations Human Rights Award for Freedom of Writing.
Wow, and I really mean wow! This is a powerful book. Although the topic is upsetting and opens your eyes up to the cruelty in our world, it was a story that needed to be told and I am so appreciative that Mikhail was the one who chose to do this. Her writing is exquisite. Maybe the most exquisite I have ever come across. If you can read this and keep from becoming an emotional wreck, you are very skilled (or maybe just cold). We are all familiar with the ghastly images and stories of the horrendous things going on in wartorn Syria and most of us probably believe that pictures get the message across better than any other method of communication. That is not the case here, this book not only completely overpowers the television accounts but tells the stories of these women, men, and children in a compassionate and detailed way.
The plight of the Yazidi people makes for uncomfortable but neccessary reading. I feel everyone should be acquiring a copy as the message of hope rather than hopelessness is such an important one. Even if the odds seemed stacked against them these people had hope that endured many lifetimes of heartache and pain. Abdullah, The eponymous beekeeper, used his knowledge of the local terrain in order to smuggle Yazidi women to safety, keeping hope alive for those still missing as well as their relatives. This book goes some way to highlighting what they went through but I don't believe we could truly know or even begin to understand the true unimaginable horror of their experiences.
I am positive that this was as difficult to write as it was for us to read, especially with the authors proximity to the people and the location. As I have made an effort to delve deeper into poetry in the past few years, now that I know the beauty with which Mikhail writes I will be swiftly purchasing and reading "The War Works Hard" as an opening into her wider work and will go from there.
Many thanks to Serpent's Tail for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
Wow, and I really mean wow! This is a powerful book. Although the topic is upsetting and opens your eyes up to the cruelty in our world, it was a story that needed to be told and I am so appreciative that Mikhail was the one who chose to do this. Her writing is exquisite. Maybe the most exquisite I have ever come across. If you can read this and keep from becoming an emotional wreck, you are very skilled (or maybe just cold). We are all familiar with the ghastly images and stories of the horrendous things going on in wartorn Syria and most of us probably believe that pictures get the message across better than any other method of communication. That is not the case here, this book not only completely overpowers the television accounts but tells the stories of these women, men, and children in a compassionate and detailed way.
The plight of the Yazidi people makes for uncomfortable but neccessary reading. I feel everyone should be acquiring a copy as the message of hope rather than hopelessness is such an important one. Even if the odds seemed stacked against them these people had hope that endured many lifetimes of heartache and pain. Abdullah, The eponymous beekeeper, used his knowledge of the local terrain in order to smuggle Yazidi women to safety, keeping hope alive for those still missing as well as their relatives. This book goes some way to highlighting what they went through but I don't believe we could truly know or even begin to understand the true unimaginable horror of their experiences.
I am positive that this was as difficult to write as it was for us to read, especially with the authors proximity to the people and the location. As I have made an effort to delve deeper into poetry in the past few years, now that I know the beauty with which Mikhail writes I will be swiftly purchasing and reading "The War Works Hard" as an opening into her wider work and will go from there.
Many thanks to Serpent's Tail for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.