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virginiaduan's review against another edition
4.0
This was a hard book to read. First of all, I hate reading sad books full of suffering - particularly if it is true. Second, throughout the entire book until Salbi's journey to the US, I felt a constant dread as I read about her life. I trust that is just a small taste of her constant fear while growing up in the shadow of Saddam Hussein. Third, I read far too much about rape and war and horrendous suffering. I do not know why I am still astonished at the evil that goes on in this world and how truly oblivious I am to most of it. I am grateful and ashamed.
I am glad to have read this book - if only to bear witness to Salbi's story. I never realized just how similar Salbi's privileged childhood in Iraq resembled life in the US. I always assumed that Iraq has always been backwards and war-torn. How arrogant and stupid that view seems to me now. (Not that I am an expert by any means on Iraq now.)
It pains me to have read this and to now hold these stories within me. But I also witnessed beauty and the triumph of Salbi, her healing, and the shining love of Salbi's mother and father and brothers.
Once again, I am grateful that my life is so easy and good and full of joy. I pray that my children and I will never experience the depth of pain and suffering that Salbi and her people have.
I am glad to have read this book - if only to bear witness to Salbi's story. I never realized just how similar Salbi's privileged childhood in Iraq resembled life in the US. I always assumed that Iraq has always been backwards and war-torn. How arrogant and stupid that view seems to me now. (Not that I am an expert by any means on Iraq now.)
It pains me to have read this and to now hold these stories within me. But I also witnessed beauty and the triumph of Salbi, her healing, and the shining love of Salbi's mother and father and brothers.
Once again, I am grateful that my life is so easy and good and full of joy. I pray that my children and I will never experience the depth of pain and suffering that Salbi and her people have.
zreader's review against another edition
3.0
Salbi’s story of growing up in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was tough to read, but also tough to put down.
She shares her life story of growing up in his shadow, as the book’s title explains. It wasn’t a story of growing up around Hussein, but a story about Salbi and her time both in and outside Iraq.
Hussein was able to completely manipulate an entire country through the use of terror. His power came from fear. More than half of the book is the story of adults being so scared that they forget how to make their own decisions.
Because of her family’s proximity to Hussein, they had to make themselves available to him whenever he called on them and live the life he wanted them to live.
This story does a great job of letting us live the life of an affluent family in Iraq at that time.
However, Salbi explains her family’s relationship with Hussein as, somehow, different than any other affluent family that was in his inner circle. She says that, to everyone else in the country, she was an outsider because her family was “Friends of Saddam.” Within Hussein’s inner circle, she considered her family outsiders, as well. While she may believe that is true, I find it hard to believe that the people her family spent the most time with saw them as outsiders.
Understandably, she seems to have trouble coping with her relationship with Hussein. She goes back and forth when she talks about how she felt. She describes knowing two different versions of Saddam Hussein. She makes comments about hating him as a child and young adult but also tells stories about how she had fun with him or while in his company. So I wonder if her recollection of hatred is real, or only hindsight.
In all, an excellent book with a story that helped me view the world from a different perspective.
She shares her life story of growing up in his shadow, as the book’s title explains. It wasn’t a story of growing up around Hussein, but a story about Salbi and her time both in and outside Iraq.
Hussein was able to completely manipulate an entire country through the use of terror. His power came from fear. More than half of the book is the story of adults being so scared that they forget how to make their own decisions.
Because of her family’s proximity to Hussein, they had to make themselves available to him whenever he called on them and live the life he wanted them to live.
This story does a great job of letting us live the life of an affluent family in Iraq at that time.
However, Salbi explains her family’s relationship with Hussein as, somehow, different than any other affluent family that was in his inner circle. She says that, to everyone else in the country, she was an outsider because her family was “Friends of Saddam.” Within Hussein’s inner circle, she considered her family outsiders, as well. While she may believe that is true, I find it hard to believe that the people her family spent the most time with saw them as outsiders.
Understandably, she seems to have trouble coping with her relationship with Hussein. She goes back and forth when she talks about how she felt. She describes knowing two different versions of Saddam Hussein. She makes comments about hating him as a child and young adult but also tells stories about how she had fun with him or while in his company. So I wonder if her recollection of hatred is real, or only hindsight.
In all, an excellent book with a story that helped me view the world from a different perspective.
zanthems's review
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
An intense, intimate portrait of life in Sadam Hussein’s inner circle. It’s a heavy story, but also an illuminating one.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
arisbookcorner's review against another edition
4.0
IQ "Later, we began setting up a few programs to help them transition back into society, including support groups that would help replace the social networks they had lost and allow them to discuss larger issues like women's role in war, economy, politics and society. These 'invisible refugees,' as I came to call them, didn't fit the stereotype of refugees starving in tatters. Basic traits and hygiene habits don't change, even if lives do. I knew that from my own experience. I never changed the way I spoke or put on lipstick or carried myself when I lost almost everything I had. Why did so many people assume that all refugees look and act alike, as if their culture and upbringing had just been stolen from them along with their material possessions? Just because they wore clean dresses or spoke well didn't mean these women didn't need help. Sometimes putting on lipstick or a clean dress meant that a woman was resisting giving up that last hope that every shred of her old life was gone." 221
I didn't expect this book to make me as emotional as it did (while on a plane no less). I didn't know anything about Iraq pre U.S. invasion so my mind was blown on almost every page. Zainab's story is excruciating and deeply moving, her resilience awe inspiring.
I didn't expect this book to make me as emotional as it did (while on a plane no less). I didn't know anything about Iraq pre U.S. invasion so my mind was blown on almost every page. Zainab's story is excruciating and deeply moving, her resilience awe inspiring.
caito's review
5.0
An absolutely amazing read. Zainab was my graduation speaker at Columbia and she is such an inspiring woman. She is changing the world one woman at a time. Check out her fabulous organization Women for Women International.
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