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Reviews tagging 'Blood'
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer
2 reviews
tiernanhunter's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
tense
slow-paced
3.5
As many others have said, this book is hard to rate.
I might have been interested in the story it tells, had I expected to read it. But I didn't.
I expected a story about Abdel Kader Haidara and his journey to save his country's precious history via the smuggling of thousands of priceless manuscripts. Sure, I anticipated some amount of context to be provided about Al Qaeda in Mali. What I did not anticipate, was a book almost entirely about Al Qaeda in Mali.
I now know way more than I would like to about Mokhtar Belmokhtar, Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, and Iyad Ag Ghaly. I know far less than I would like to know about Abdel Kader Haidara and his fellow librarians.
Overall, the writing was wonderful and the story was riveting. But it just wasn't the story I expected, and because of that, it was difficult to truly enjoy or immerse myself. I kept drifting my focus while waiting to hear about Haidara and his library again. When he returned, he had my full attention. But it wandered otherwise.
Also, due to not really anticipating this content, I was particularly unprepared for the level of detail with which the violence perpetrated by Al Qaeda was described. Intensely thorough descriptions of stonings, limb amputations (described by both viewers and those experiencing it themselves in particularly grisly detail), executions, mutilations, kidnappings, bombings, torture, imprisonments, as well as "standard" murder abounded in this book. Not knowing what I signed up for, they came as quite a shock. Not that I think this book needed specific trigger warnings (although it might), but accurate advertising would have gone a long way to prepare me for the contents before I got to them.
If I had gone into this book anticipating a history of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its influence on the experience of modern day Malians, I would have given this book five stars. The librarian content would have been a nice bonus. However, I didn't go in expecting that, and was instead constantly confused and distracted looking for the book I thought I was reading.
I might have been interested in the story it tells, had I expected to read it. But I didn't.
I expected a story about Abdel Kader Haidara and his journey to save his country's precious history via the smuggling of thousands of priceless manuscripts. Sure, I anticipated some amount of context to be provided about Al Qaeda in Mali. What I did not anticipate, was a book almost entirely about Al Qaeda in Mali.
I now know way more than I would like to about Mokhtar Belmokhtar, Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, and Iyad Ag Ghaly. I know far less than I would like to know about Abdel Kader Haidara and his fellow librarians.
Overall, the writing was wonderful and the story was riveting. But it just wasn't the story I expected, and because of that, it was difficult to truly enjoy or immerse myself. I kept drifting my focus while waiting to hear about Haidara and his library again. When he returned, he had my full attention. But it wandered otherwise.
Also, due to not really anticipating this content, I was particularly unprepared for the level of detail with which the violence perpetrated by Al Qaeda was described. Intensely thorough descriptions of stonings, limb amputations (described by both viewers and those experiencing it themselves in particularly grisly detail), executions, mutilations, kidnappings, bombings, torture, imprisonments, as well as "standard" murder abounded in this book. Not knowing what I signed up for, they came as quite a shock. Not that I think this book needed specific trigger warnings (although it might), but accurate advertising would have gone a long way to prepare me for the contents before I got to them.
If I had gone into this book anticipating a history of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its influence on the experience of modern day Malians, I would have given this book five stars. The librarian content would have been a nice bonus. However, I didn't go in expecting that, and was instead constantly confused and distracted looking for the book I thought I was reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Gun violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Violence, War, Kidnapping, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Grief, Hate crime, Racism, Drug use, Body horror, Confinement, Slavery, Blood, and Cursing
Minor: Alcohol and Animal death
mscalls's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Torture, Trafficking, Xenophobia, and Violence
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