In amongst the trauma and heartbreak it manages to be uplifting and life affirming
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The Blurb:
Sami’s childhood is much like any other - an innocent blend of family and school, of friends and relations and pets (including stray cats and dogs, and the turtle he keeps on the roof).
But growing up in one of the largest cities in Syria, with his country at war with itself, means that nothing is really normal. And Sami’s hopes for a better future are ripped away when he is conscripted into the military and forced to train as a map maker.
Sami may be shielded from the worst horrors of the war, but it will still be impossible to avoid his own nightmare…
Inspired by extraordinary true events, The Stray Cats of Homs is the story of a young man who will do anything to keep the dream of home alive, even in the face of unimaginable devastation. Tender, wild and unbearably raw, it is a novel which will stay with you forever.
The Review:
Oooffffft. One of those books that you finish and set down, blinking, looking around you, wondering if you're the same person you were when you picked it up.
It's impossible not to hear 'Syria' and think of nightly newsreels of a war-torn country which make it very hard not to become desensitized to the situation. We forget the individual stories that make up this conflict; the young men forced into military service, communities divided, families torn apart. This book brings all that home and more.
This is not a story about a family that fled the civil unrest, it's about a young man that feels such an affinity with his homeland that he decides to stick it out and stay, no matter what. It's hard enough to think of the huge exodus out of these bombed cities, and the displaced civilians because of it, let alone those who choose to stay. Amongst the rubble and the daily dangers from both sides.
There was no room in their lives for the suggestive or ambiguous any more. That was one of the biggest casualties of the war: the grey area. There was warmth and cold, being full and being hungry, friends and enemies – but in between, nothing of any real importance. And then there was life and death.
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This story tells the real human consequences of the conflict in Syria and it manages to convey the complexities of the situation without getting too into the political details. At times, it delivers an utter punch to the heart, but in amongst the trauma and heartbreak it manages to be uplifting and life affirming- focussing on the real strength and endurance of the human spirit.
This book will leave you thinking about what your home means to you and what you would be willing to do to maintain your freedom of staying in the place you have lived all your life. That this is largely based on a true story (with identities change to protect Sami) makes it all the more poignant. This is not easy reading, but it is necessary reading.
"One day, I'm going to give you a book," she said, " And that book will contain your story".
Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for this preview copy in return for an honest review.