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We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria
LONG-LISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL
Reminiscent of the work of Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich, an astonishing collection of intimate wartime testimonies and poetic fragments from a cross-section of Syrians whose lives have been transformed by revolution, war, and flight.
Against the backdrop of the wave of demonstrations known as the Arab Spring, in 2011 hundreds of thousands of Syrians took to the streets demanding freedom, democracy and human rights. The government’s ferocious response, and the refusal of the demonstrators to back down, sparked a brutal civil war that over the past five years has escalated into the worst humanitarian catastrophe of our times.
Yet despite all the reporting, the video, and the wrenching photography, the stories of ordinary Syrians remain unheard, while the stories told about them have been distorted by broad brush dread and political expediency. This fierce and poignant collection changes that. Based on interviews with hundreds of displaced Syrians conducted over four years across the Middle East and Europe, We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled is a breathtaking mosaic of first-hand testimonials from the frontlines. Some of the testimonies are several pages long, eloquent narratives that could stand alone as short stories; others are only a few sentences, poetic and aphoristic. Together, they cohere into an unforgettable chronicle that is not only a testament to the power of storytelling but to the strength of those who face darkness with hope, courage, and moral conviction.
Reminiscent of the work of Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich, an astonishing collection of intimate wartime testimonies and poetic fragments from a cross-section of Syrians whose lives have been transformed by revolution, war, and flight.
Against the backdrop of the wave of demonstrations known as the Arab Spring, in 2011 hundreds of thousands of Syrians took to the streets demanding freedom, democracy and human rights. The government’s ferocious response, and the refusal of the demonstrators to back down, sparked a brutal civil war that over the past five years has escalated into the worst humanitarian catastrophe of our times.
Yet despite all the reporting, the video, and the wrenching photography, the stories of ordinary Syrians remain unheard, while the stories told about them have been distorted by broad brush dread and political expediency. This fierce and poignant collection changes that. Based on interviews with hundreds of displaced Syrians conducted over four years across the Middle East and Europe, We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled is a breathtaking mosaic of first-hand testimonials from the frontlines. Some of the testimonies are several pages long, eloquent narratives that could stand alone as short stories; others are only a few sentences, poetic and aphoristic. Together, they cohere into an unforgettable chronicle that is not only a testament to the power of storytelling but to the strength of those who face darkness with hope, courage, and moral conviction.
352 pages, ebook
First published June 6, 2017
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8979 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 699 reviews
April 29, 2018
This book can be difficult to read, but it's so powerful. Pearlman interviewed over 300 Syrian refugees over four years and compiles their stories in this book. If you want to better understand the conflict in Syria, this book is excellent.
(Note: I interviewed Pearlman about this book and you can check it out here: )
(Note: I interviewed Pearlman about this book and you can check it out here: )
June 7, 2020
Educational, heartbreaking and filled to the brink with humanity.
May 26, 2017
This is a set of one hundred or so vignettes narrated by Syrians, talking about their own experiences before, during and after the Syrian Revolution. Syria was a country of 22 million people and anyone who lived through these incredible events will have personal stories like these, which are by their nature extraordinary. While it is not anything that will be shocking to people who have followed the uprising over the past few years, these vignettes provide a beautifully humanizing picture of a conflict that is often reduced to political wrangling, atrocities and statistics in the news.
The stories are arranged in a manner which provides a chronology to the events, and that along with the fulsome introduction makes this book a vital education for the uninitiated. Many of the stories are of devastation, horror, frustration. But many others are also about hope, beauty and the transcendent desire of human beings to live with freedom and dignity. When beautiful stories and insights emerge out of such devastation, they are really something to cherish, and there are many of those here.
I'm increasingly convinced that everyone in the world needs to understand the Syrian conflict in all its complexity. It is the largest war and refugee exodus since World War II and the six-year long crisis has radically reshaped the politics of the entire world. This book deserves to be spread far and wide, and it is guaranteed to touch the emotions that are often necessary to galvanize positive action.
The stories are arranged in a manner which provides a chronology to the events, and that along with the fulsome introduction makes this book a vital education for the uninitiated. Many of the stories are of devastation, horror, frustration. But many others are also about hope, beauty and the transcendent desire of human beings to live with freedom and dignity. When beautiful stories and insights emerge out of such devastation, they are really something to cherish, and there are many of those here.
I'm increasingly convinced that everyone in the world needs to understand the Syrian conflict in all its complexity. It is the largest war and refugee exodus since World War II and the six-year long crisis has radically reshaped the politics of the entire world. This book deserves to be spread far and wide, and it is guaranteed to touch the emotions that are often necessary to galvanize positive action.
January 30, 2022
For years the people of Syria had been silent to the atrocities, distrust, terror, corruption, chaos, humiliations, and human rights abuses of both Hafez al-Hassad, who ruled from 1971 to 2000, and then his son, Bashar al-Assad, who became president after his father’s death. “We weren’t allowed to have a political party or a newspaper...� “Don’t talk, the walls have ears.� Fear permeated through the population and the country. In 2011 inspired by the Arab Spring, massive demonstrations and uprisings erupted throughout Syria against the regime resulting in a civil war. The government fought back brutally. These are the voices of the people describing the protests, the fight, the brutalities, the beatings, the imprisonment, the deaths, the flight, the adjustments, and their feelings of disbelief, hopelessness, sadness, despair, pain, horror, fear, hope, and courage. “This is how the revolution exploded� and “we entered a road of no return.� “People couldn’t believe their eyes.� “No longer were their voices silenced.� “The idea of being able to speak was captivating.� “And I told myself that I would never again let anyone steal my voice.� Over 570,000 people have died, 7.6 million residents have been internally displaced, and there are more than five million refugees. This book is a compilation of first-hand interviews of refugees conducted over four years. Do you want to know about Syria during these times and what ordinary Syrians think? Read this unforgettable and heart wrenching book.
April 27, 2018
Today, the word "refugee" is used in a horrible way. It's something either to be pitied or blamed for everything. Overpopulation? It's the refugees. Rents going up? It's the refugees. Crime? It's the refugees. If you label people refugees, they remain refugees for the rest of their lives. For that reason, the organization I work with here doesn't use this word. Instead, we say "newcomers." After a while, they are no longer newcomers - just members of society.Occasionally I read a book that explains a political situation better than any history book possibly could do. First (forever and always) was Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam ed by Bernard Edelman. The second is this one.(p272)
When you talk to people who have lived through something, or you read their letters, or their personal accounts, you learn more about a situation or an event, and the circumstances surrounding it more than any other way, unless, maybe, you lived through it yourself.
Pearlman, a political science professor at Northwestern University, spent a great deal of time traveling, observing, and talking with people throughout the Middle East. This book in particular gives voice to the many voiceless Syrians who lived through the violence that took place in Syria in 2011-2012. It's an incredible collection of voices covering a lot of different life experiences (before, during, and after the revolution) - doctors, teachers, FSA fighters, engineers, mothers, students, artists. The point is that this happened to everyone, not the rich, not the poor, not the men, not the women. Everyone.
Often a difficult book to read (in particular the detailed descriptions of tortures that many of the people Pearlman talked to experienced), it's also an incredibly important book to read, even now in 2018 when just recently Syrians suffered a violent chemical attack.
While I would have liked to have seen even more voices of Syrian women, I think Pearlman did an alright job at portraying a wide variety of voices to help show a wide perspective of the events.
We were a huge gathering of more than one hundred thousand people. People came from all over the Damascus suburbs: from Douma, Harasta, Zamalka, Kafr Batna... I remember we crossed a bridge and it trembled underneath our feet because we were so many people.Just a word: I highly recommend reading the Introduction in the beginning, before delving into the rest of the book. I know people are all anti-Introductions because of spoilers, but unless you know every single detail of the history of the political issues in Syria, you will appreciate reading it before you get into the personal accounts because it details so much that is, sadly, not as commonly known by many of us.(p86)
Tl;dr... Talk less, listen more.
Many people aren't happy with the refugees coming to their country. Maybe we came illegally, but every other door was shut in our faces. What do they expect us to do? Isn't it enough our government destroyed us and we lost everything? We would prefer to stay in our country. If you don't want refugees, help us make peace.(p273)
June 6, 2017
This book should be required reading for everyone.
December 25, 2024
This is not your father’s Syria. It is worse if that is possible.
I consider myself up to date on the Middle East and its� countries.
But I knew so much less of Syria than I previously thought I knew.
This brilliant writer/editor, immersed in many of the Arab countries for decades, offered a compendium of present-day Syria and its� neighbors and told the story through Syrian eyes.
The writer’s voice is silent. We learn from the people she has interviewed.
What we hear are voices from many different lands, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, and on and on.
Individual voices of regular pedestrians, unaffiliated from any government role.
The sentiments, the observations come from women, children, and men, many unaffiliated with the current regime but all involved in a madras of niche spiritual groups whose purposes are difficult to discern even for its� members.
Hope. But much of the population consists of secular civilians with or without religious beliefs. I was unaware of this.
Assad’s daddy was a bad man. Bashar, his second son and the one who leads (?) this country, even with a Doctor of Education from England, is a piece of ____.
The voices we read can be heard. They come from boys and girls, young adults and old, Syrian, or Christian or other Arab factions (there are surprisingly many). Assad is Alawite.
Ach, and the violence of the armies and their legitimized henchmen. Such demonstrations of savagery, cruelty, and destructiveness I admit I have not read of before. Ways to maim or to prolong pain and suffering, with intent, is beyond much of what I have read or seen.
The hate between the factions of Islam, and between Islam and Christianity, is horrible. It makes one ashamed to be a human.
The helplessness. The hopelessness. The shame. The waste of human productivity in the arts, in love, in building, is the new normal.
Survival is their daily job. Although, ironically, many are not thrilled with this earth, which makes this tragedy even more sinister.
This story is not just upsetting for the people still there but also for the ones in the camps in Syria, Turkey, USA, France, Germany, et.al. There are so many camps around the world with refugees.
Millions of refugees. With nothing left but tough guys in the military gear of their affiliated governments acting as judges and juries and babysitters of these impoverished, famished, thirsty, fragile beings who have been stripped of their dignity.
If there is anyone out there who believes hate is not percolating within the chests of the younger generation of women and men, wait.
There is nothing positive going on in this part of the world.
Wendy, I think, is the name of the lady who cobbled and darned these stories for us, is a treasure. You created a brilliant illustration, nay, a diorama of daily life there.
When I am hurting, in pain, from words in a book, I believe I have landed on something unique and necessary.
Highly recommended because we should know rather than speak.
I must, somehow, help some of the survivors of this lost civilization. We all must.
(Apologies for all the tech issues with this e-book. I do not know if all the quotes I shared were eliminated or not)
I consider myself up to date on the Middle East and its� countries.
But I knew so much less of Syria than I previously thought I knew.
This brilliant writer/editor, immersed in many of the Arab countries for decades, offered a compendium of present-day Syria and its� neighbors and told the story through Syrian eyes.
The writer’s voice is silent. We learn from the people she has interviewed.
What we hear are voices from many different lands, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, and on and on.
Individual voices of regular pedestrians, unaffiliated from any government role.
The sentiments, the observations come from women, children, and men, many unaffiliated with the current regime but all involved in a madras of niche spiritual groups whose purposes are difficult to discern even for its� members.
Hope. But much of the population consists of secular civilians with or without religious beliefs. I was unaware of this.
Assad’s daddy was a bad man. Bashar, his second son and the one who leads (?) this country, even with a Doctor of Education from England, is a piece of ____.
The voices we read can be heard. They come from boys and girls, young adults and old, Syrian, or Christian or other Arab factions (there are surprisingly many). Assad is Alawite.
Ach, and the violence of the armies and their legitimized henchmen. Such demonstrations of savagery, cruelty, and destructiveness I admit I have not read of before. Ways to maim or to prolong pain and suffering, with intent, is beyond much of what I have read or seen.
The hate between the factions of Islam, and between Islam and Christianity, is horrible. It makes one ashamed to be a human.
The helplessness. The hopelessness. The shame. The waste of human productivity in the arts, in love, in building, is the new normal.
Survival is their daily job. Although, ironically, many are not thrilled with this earth, which makes this tragedy even more sinister.
This story is not just upsetting for the people still there but also for the ones in the camps in Syria, Turkey, USA, France, Germany, et.al. There are so many camps around the world with refugees.
Millions of refugees. With nothing left but tough guys in the military gear of their affiliated governments acting as judges and juries and babysitters of these impoverished, famished, thirsty, fragile beings who have been stripped of their dignity.
If there is anyone out there who believes hate is not percolating within the chests of the younger generation of women and men, wait.
There is nothing positive going on in this part of the world.
Wendy, I think, is the name of the lady who cobbled and darned these stories for us, is a treasure. You created a brilliant illustration, nay, a diorama of daily life there.
When I am hurting, in pain, from words in a book, I believe I have landed on something unique and necessary.
Highly recommended because we should know rather than speak.
I must, somehow, help some of the survivors of this lost civilization. We all must.
(Apologies for all the tech issues with this e-book. I do not know if all the quotes I shared were eliminated or not)
May 2, 2019
This was both one of the hardest and one of the most important books I read in years, if not in my life.
June 10, 2021
Há bastante tempo que desejava ler algo sobre a guerra civil na Síria. Ao longo da última década vimos refugiados chegarem à Europa, alguns deles por meios de grande perigosidade � atravessando o Mediterrâneo em barcas de madeira �, daí a curiosidade natural de saber como se chega a este estado � o de colocar em perigo a vida dos próprios filhos. Passados 10 anos sobre a guerra, a escolha de obras é grande, desde trabalhos académicos de fundo que explicam o conflito desde a génese do próprio país, a romances históricos a puxar à lágrima, existe de tudo um pouco. A obra de Wendy Pearlman, “We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria� (2017), surgiu-me em várias listas na rede, tendo folheado várias, senti que era por aqui que queria aproximar-me do conflito. Contudo, se estranhei a falta de traduções, está apenas editada em inglês e turco, mais ainda me incomodou quando acabei de ler, dado o relevo da experiência sentida em toda a sua leitura. Pearlman criou uma obra intemporal, que não fala apenas da Síria, mas do ser humano, da sua fragilidade e relação com o território, por meio da experiência direta de quem viveu naquele lugar, em cada um dos momentos relatados. Nesse sentido, é uma obra obrigatória para quem quer perceber melhor o que aconteceu na Síria, mas também para quem desejar entrar um pouco mais adentro nas complexidades da relação entre a vivência e violência humanas e a construção civilizacional.
[imagem]
A versão em audiolivro é ainda mais intensa, dado o bom trabalho de dramatização da vozes
O livro de Pearlman segue um modelo hoje conhecido como o modelo de Svetlana Alexievich, por ter recebido o nobel em 2015, que assenta na construção de obras escritas a partir de relatos e testemunhos diretos de pessoas, as chamadas “vozes�. Pearlman é uma professora americana, com mais de 20 anos de trabalho em política do Médio Oriente, especialmente os seus movimentos sociais, refugiados e migrações. Este livro poderia ser fruto de um projeto de investigação, a recolha de testemunhos para análise posterior qualitativa da situação das pessoas que fugiram do país. Mas Pearlman optou por construir um livro para o grande público, seguindo a ideia das vozes, e assim a partir de centenas de relatos que conseguiu obter a partir de pessoas espalhadas pelo globo, construiu uma teia evolutiva dos factos da guerra. Cada capítulo representa um momento histórico da guerra, tendo nós como referência essencial os estados emocionais e visões da realidade oferecidas pelas pessoas entrevistadas. O modo como Pearlman desenhou a progressão do contar dos eventos ajuda numa primeira parte a compreender alguns porquês, depois progride para a discussão cada vez mais detalhada do campo de batalha no país, iniciando depois num crescendo o contar das fugas. Deste modo, Pearlman consegue produzir em nós um impacto emocional que vai aumentando com os relatos, cada vez mais brutais e desesperados, e nos obrigam a repensar não apenas o que se passou, e ainda passa, na Síria, mas no mundo em que vivemos.
[imagem]
Fotografias retiradas do The Guardian
Julgo que aquilo a que acedemos por meio destas “vozes� não seria possível aceder de mais forma nenhuma. Mesmo no jogo de 2017, "Bury my Love", em que somos colocados na pele de um refugiado sírio que tenta chegar à Europa, e que gera forte empatia, não se consegue chegar nem perto da emocionalidade destas vozes. Já o tinha sentido com Svetlana, mas aqui voltou a repetir-se a ideia de que o sentir da experiência interior é algo que pode apenas ser relatado na primeira-pessoa, tudo o resto é já mera interpretação, acesso em segunda-mão. Não quero dizer com isto que temos maior acesso à verdade, por aí julgo que temos até um acesso menor, já que inevitavelmente o relatos estão condicionados pela visão pessoal e subjetiva de cada voz. Mas em termos da experiência efetiva, da vivência sentida, estes relatos são insubstituíveis. E se aqui nos dão acesso ao mais desumano que podemos imaginar, incluindo mesmo aquilo que conhecemos hoje sobre os campos de concentração da Segunda Grande Guerra, a forma como tudo se estrutura e constrói produz em nós uma experiência quase-direta, ganhando enorme intensidade, tornando o objeto de relato, pela sua acuidade, belo. Estas pessoas dão-nos a ver o pior daquilo que somos capazes, e por meio delas e do trabalho de Pearlman, conseguimos ir além na compreensão do ser-humano e da nossa presença neste planeta.
[imagem]
Rapaz sírio num campo de refugiados, na Grécia, mostrando os seus desenhos. À esquerda, escreveu "Europa, a terra da paz e do amor", e à direita, "Síria, a terra dos monstros".
Enquanto lia, acabei pensando muito na geografia da Síria, comparando a mesma com Portugal, pensando nas fronteiras da Síria � Israel, Líbano, Iraque, Turquia e Jordânia � e na pouca paz que conheceu aquele território ao longo dos últimos milénios. Ao contrário, Portugal tem apenas fronteira com Espanha, do lado do oceano, é tudo tão distante e de difícil acesso, que pouca interação por ali surge. Deste modo, não será por mero acaso toda a paz que conhecemos por aqui ao longo dos últimos mil anos.
Publicado no VI:
[imagem]
A versão em audiolivro é ainda mais intensa, dado o bom trabalho de dramatização da vozes
O livro de Pearlman segue um modelo hoje conhecido como o modelo de Svetlana Alexievich, por ter recebido o nobel em 2015, que assenta na construção de obras escritas a partir de relatos e testemunhos diretos de pessoas, as chamadas “vozes�. Pearlman é uma professora americana, com mais de 20 anos de trabalho em política do Médio Oriente, especialmente os seus movimentos sociais, refugiados e migrações. Este livro poderia ser fruto de um projeto de investigação, a recolha de testemunhos para análise posterior qualitativa da situação das pessoas que fugiram do país. Mas Pearlman optou por construir um livro para o grande público, seguindo a ideia das vozes, e assim a partir de centenas de relatos que conseguiu obter a partir de pessoas espalhadas pelo globo, construiu uma teia evolutiva dos factos da guerra. Cada capítulo representa um momento histórico da guerra, tendo nós como referência essencial os estados emocionais e visões da realidade oferecidas pelas pessoas entrevistadas. O modo como Pearlman desenhou a progressão do contar dos eventos ajuda numa primeira parte a compreender alguns porquês, depois progride para a discussão cada vez mais detalhada do campo de batalha no país, iniciando depois num crescendo o contar das fugas. Deste modo, Pearlman consegue produzir em nós um impacto emocional que vai aumentando com os relatos, cada vez mais brutais e desesperados, e nos obrigam a repensar não apenas o que se passou, e ainda passa, na Síria, mas no mundo em que vivemos.
[imagem]
Fotografias retiradas do The Guardian
Julgo que aquilo a que acedemos por meio destas “vozes� não seria possível aceder de mais forma nenhuma. Mesmo no jogo de 2017, "Bury my Love", em que somos colocados na pele de um refugiado sírio que tenta chegar à Europa, e que gera forte empatia, não se consegue chegar nem perto da emocionalidade destas vozes. Já o tinha sentido com Svetlana, mas aqui voltou a repetir-se a ideia de que o sentir da experiência interior é algo que pode apenas ser relatado na primeira-pessoa, tudo o resto é já mera interpretação, acesso em segunda-mão. Não quero dizer com isto que temos maior acesso à verdade, por aí julgo que temos até um acesso menor, já que inevitavelmente o relatos estão condicionados pela visão pessoal e subjetiva de cada voz. Mas em termos da experiência efetiva, da vivência sentida, estes relatos são insubstituíveis. E se aqui nos dão acesso ao mais desumano que podemos imaginar, incluindo mesmo aquilo que conhecemos hoje sobre os campos de concentração da Segunda Grande Guerra, a forma como tudo se estrutura e constrói produz em nós uma experiência quase-direta, ganhando enorme intensidade, tornando o objeto de relato, pela sua acuidade, belo. Estas pessoas dão-nos a ver o pior daquilo que somos capazes, e por meio delas e do trabalho de Pearlman, conseguimos ir além na compreensão do ser-humano e da nossa presença neste planeta.
[imagem]
Rapaz sírio num campo de refugiados, na Grécia, mostrando os seus desenhos. À esquerda, escreveu "Europa, a terra da paz e do amor", e à direita, "Síria, a terra dos monstros".
Enquanto lia, acabei pensando muito na geografia da Síria, comparando a mesma com Portugal, pensando nas fronteiras da Síria � Israel, Líbano, Iraque, Turquia e Jordânia � e na pouca paz que conheceu aquele território ao longo dos últimos milénios. Ao contrário, Portugal tem apenas fronteira com Espanha, do lado do oceano, é tudo tão distante e de difícil acesso, que pouca interação por ali surge. Deste modo, não será por mero acaso toda a paz que conhecemos por aqui ao longo dos últimos mil anos.
Publicado no VI:
March 31, 2019
Many times I heard or saw comments on Facebook with Faith in Humanity restored. What does that have to do with a book about Syria? I will tell you what I think it has to do with it. I think it is shallow. There, one word, covering all that I think about. "Busdriver helping mom with pram into the bus." Yes? You could have done that as well? Even I have to admit that l like to read them, that it brings little smiles to my face but then when a read a book like this, my smile disappears again for a bit.
I don't want to say it's bad to enjoy the little things in life, such as the twitter messages of faith in Humanity restored. But it would be nice if we all took a step like that if we were all trying to change the faith in Humanity. I have wanted to write for so long about things I see on Social Media that make me wonder: why? Why do you do this? Hate messages spread so easily and to be honest, 90% of the time they are not even right. And the reason why I needed to read this book was to understand things so much better and I am already trying to see the world from a more neutral angle, not just me, but the world. Yet I wanted to read this book to get a better understanding. I will never understand completely what it feels like and I am also not saying that I want that. But the hypocritical comments of Facebook need to tone down. I do have to admit that in the last years I do not bump into these posts as much, maybe Facebook changed, maybe I am just "there" less to see them. Which can be pretty accurate as I deleted the app on my phone to just hang out with the real world some more and to not look at all the predisposed posts.
Facebook or other platforms on social media make it so easy to immediately give an opinion and I agree that is okay, after all, we (especially in The Netherlands) have freedom of speech. Why not use it? Because even if we have an opinion, I do support very badly, to state facts over your opinions. Form an opinion over the right facts. You see when I had my internship for the Council of Refugee, there was this immigrant crisis and the hate spreading on Facebook, let's say it in Facebook style: It was cry-able. Blaming the Syrians that there were no houses for the Dutch, blaming them as if they were criminals. The news totally jumping into that. So to read the other point of view, the one that should matter the most, it's cry-able in a different way. It hurts me to realize what people had to go through and I wasn't even there. It's sadness and I wasn't even there. These people had to go through so much while someone in the Western world, someone in Europe, is sitting on his or her ass, complaining on Facebook. Well excuse you, imagine what it is to leave everything behind while you just want to stay home.
This writing is what made it best, different voices, chained together in a unison voice because it’s the same. It’s one country, it’s their home. It would be nice if this could be their home too. We speak about Democracy in my country as if it is a bad thing, surely not all but a big part does. That the European Union is a bad thing. I would like for all those people that think that, to come with a solution, what’s better than Democracy? Would we like a dictator? Someone that uses every other way to keep the reign for our country and to just do whatever he or she thinks it’s best? Just watching innocent people die or get tortured? I think democracy might not be bad, might need an upgrade every now or then but that still makes it democracy. And if you do not blame democracy but the European Union in general, try to come up with a solution yourself for the immigrant crisis. Because people are still out there, waiting for the procedure to start, normally it would be 8 days now it might be closer to one and a half year.
Is it so much to ask, to look outside your own box, outside your own house, province, state and see with open eyes what is going on? You don’t have to come up with a solution, you just take that one step and become your own Faith in Humanity restored.
I don't want to say it's bad to enjoy the little things in life, such as the twitter messages of faith in Humanity restored. But it would be nice if we all took a step like that if we were all trying to change the faith in Humanity. I have wanted to write for so long about things I see on Social Media that make me wonder: why? Why do you do this? Hate messages spread so easily and to be honest, 90% of the time they are not even right. And the reason why I needed to read this book was to understand things so much better and I am already trying to see the world from a more neutral angle, not just me, but the world. Yet I wanted to read this book to get a better understanding. I will never understand completely what it feels like and I am also not saying that I want that. But the hypocritical comments of Facebook need to tone down. I do have to admit that in the last years I do not bump into these posts as much, maybe Facebook changed, maybe I am just "there" less to see them. Which can be pretty accurate as I deleted the app on my phone to just hang out with the real world some more and to not look at all the predisposed posts.
Facebook or other platforms on social media make it so easy to immediately give an opinion and I agree that is okay, after all, we (especially in The Netherlands) have freedom of speech. Why not use it? Because even if we have an opinion, I do support very badly, to state facts over your opinions. Form an opinion over the right facts. You see when I had my internship for the Council of Refugee, there was this immigrant crisis and the hate spreading on Facebook, let's say it in Facebook style: It was cry-able. Blaming the Syrians that there were no houses for the Dutch, blaming them as if they were criminals. The news totally jumping into that. So to read the other point of view, the one that should matter the most, it's cry-able in a different way. It hurts me to realize what people had to go through and I wasn't even there. It's sadness and I wasn't even there. These people had to go through so much while someone in the Western world, someone in Europe, is sitting on his or her ass, complaining on Facebook. Well excuse you, imagine what it is to leave everything behind while you just want to stay home.
This writing is what made it best, different voices, chained together in a unison voice because it’s the same. It’s one country, it’s their home. It would be nice if this could be their home too. We speak about Democracy in my country as if it is a bad thing, surely not all but a big part does. That the European Union is a bad thing. I would like for all those people that think that, to come with a solution, what’s better than Democracy? Would we like a dictator? Someone that uses every other way to keep the reign for our country and to just do whatever he or she thinks it’s best? Just watching innocent people die or get tortured? I think democracy might not be bad, might need an upgrade every now or then but that still makes it democracy. And if you do not blame democracy but the European Union in general, try to come up with a solution yourself for the immigrant crisis. Because people are still out there, waiting for the procedure to start, normally it would be 8 days now it might be closer to one and a half year.
Is it so much to ask, to look outside your own box, outside your own house, province, state and see with open eyes what is going on? You don’t have to come up with a solution, you just take that one step and become your own Faith in Humanity restored.
July 12, 2017
Wow. If you've been near me the past few days, I've undoubtedly talked to you about this piece.
Wendy Pearlman collected the interviews from hundreds of Syrian refugees. Under eight headings like "Hope Dissappointed" and "Living War", Pearlman extracts pieces -sentences, paragraphs, pages - and groups different interview messages together. What you get is a clear vision of the who/what/why of Syria.
I was struck over and over again by how similar their lives seemed - school, work, shopping, eating, weddings, birthdays - as if it could easily have been me born in Syria, trying to protect my family and get them to safety. The need for safety and security is universal.
Wendy Pearlman collected the interviews from hundreds of Syrian refugees. Under eight headings like "Hope Dissappointed" and "Living War", Pearlman extracts pieces -sentences, paragraphs, pages - and groups different interview messages together. What you get is a clear vision of the who/what/why of Syria.
I was struck over and over again by how similar their lives seemed - school, work, shopping, eating, weddings, birthdays - as if it could easily have been me born in Syria, trying to protect my family and get them to safety. The need for safety and security is universal.
December 28, 2018
This is very good. I've been reading about and watching this slow and then sudden tragedy. This book was a really wonderful inside view of the people affected by the catastrophe in Syria. The portion about the revolution itself was truly awe-inspiring--what people will sacrifice to achieve freedom is astounding.
My one slight criticism is that I wish that Pearlman had not translated every single utterance into English. Like "God is Great." She could have left a few Allah Akbar's in there. We know what that is.
My one slight criticism is that I wish that Pearlman had not translated every single utterance into English. Like "God is Great." She could have left a few Allah Akbar's in there. We know what that is.
September 19, 2018
I've been trying to follow the developments in Syria for some time, but have not had a clear understanding of what exactly started the war and how it all evolved to the current state. This book did an outstanding job of explaining the history, the oppression, the revolution, the war, and the refugee crisis. The book consists of interviews with ordinary Syrians and their stories are so powerful, moving, and heartbreaking. Strongly recommend!
May 29, 2021
Göç Okumaları grubumuz için başlangıç kitabı olarak seçmiştik bu kitabı, çok doğru bir karar olduğunu görebiliyorum şimdi. Müthiş bir kronolojik özet ile Suriye tarihini özetleyen Pearlman, neden onları dinlemediğimizi soruyor ve bunu temsiliyet hakkı doğrultusunda irdeliyor.
Bu paragraf tüm kitabı özetliyor: Tüm dünyadan politikacı ve yorumcular, Suriyelilerden acınacak mağdurlar, korunacak bedenler, suçlanacak radikaller, korkulacak veya engellenecek tehditler olarak bahsediyor. Suriyelileri küresel bir problem olarak ele alan sözler kasırgasının içinde, gerçek Suriyelileri birer insan olarak dinleme şansını bulmak zor oluyor.
İşte bu sebeple, yirmi senesini onları dinlemek için veriyor Pearlman, çok kıymetli zamanlar geçiriyor ve tüm yaşananları onlardan dinliyor. Öyle de aktarıyor, kitap boyu birbirinden çok farklı insan hikayeleri okuyoruz. Kitap düzeni ayrıca çok emek gerektiriyor. Olaylar, kronolojik şekilde bireylerin yaşadıklarından aktarılmaya çalışıyor. Esad'ın yaptıklarını duyuyoruz, peki bu yapılanlar, insanlar için ne demek, nelere sebep oluyor, nelerini feda ediyorlar, bunları konuşabiliyor muyuz? :') Dinlemek lazım, çok fazla dinlemek ve alan açmak gerek, beraber olmak için.
Kendisini de dinleyelim:
Bu paragraf tüm kitabı özetliyor: Tüm dünyadan politikacı ve yorumcular, Suriyelilerden acınacak mağdurlar, korunacak bedenler, suçlanacak radikaller, korkulacak veya engellenecek tehditler olarak bahsediyor. Suriyelileri küresel bir problem olarak ele alan sözler kasırgasının içinde, gerçek Suriyelileri birer insan olarak dinleme şansını bulmak zor oluyor.
İşte bu sebeple, yirmi senesini onları dinlemek için veriyor Pearlman, çok kıymetli zamanlar geçiriyor ve tüm yaşananları onlardan dinliyor. Öyle de aktarıyor, kitap boyu birbirinden çok farklı insan hikayeleri okuyoruz. Kitap düzeni ayrıca çok emek gerektiriyor. Olaylar, kronolojik şekilde bireylerin yaşadıklarından aktarılmaya çalışıyor. Esad'ın yaptıklarını duyuyoruz, peki bu yapılanlar, insanlar için ne demek, nelere sebep oluyor, nelerini feda ediyorlar, bunları konuşabiliyor muyuz? :') Dinlemek lazım, çok fazla dinlemek ve alan açmak gerek, beraber olmak için.
Kendisini de dinleyelim:
February 17, 2019
We Crossed A Bridge and It Trembled is one of those books that I will recommend over and over again. Wendy Pearlman did an outstanding job of putting together a collection of stories that represent Syria and give actual Syrians a voice. This is so different from most books I've read on the topic as it is comprised of primary, not secondary sources. We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled brings reminds us of the human element of the conflict that is so often lost in news reports that contain only statistics and not human stories.
From the first story, I knew this book would have a huge impact on me. "A Syrian citizen is only a number. Dreaming is not allowed." Those two sentences, from Fadi (Hama), are the first of many powerful reflections on life leading up to the war and during the war. While I will never truly be able to comprehend the anger, frustration, and fear that so many Syrians have felt, these stories help me understand those feelings a little bit more.
I am in awe of the work that Wendy Pearlman put into writing this book. She conducted interviews in Arabic, divided the book into eight themes (Authoritarianism, Hope Disappointed, Revolution, Crackdown, Militarization, Living War, Flight, and Reflections) that represent Syria's path towards civil war and the effects of the war. Pearlman talked to people from all over Syria, from all walks of life, and from all view points. Pearlman's effort to give Syrians a voice gave this book so much legitimacy.
We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled is so important in a time when so many refugees, especially those from the Middle East, are demonized. Pearlman's stories show that Syrians have hopes for their country and are willing to risk so much to give future Syrians a better country.
From the first story, I knew this book would have a huge impact on me. "A Syrian citizen is only a number. Dreaming is not allowed." Those two sentences, from Fadi (Hama), are the first of many powerful reflections on life leading up to the war and during the war. While I will never truly be able to comprehend the anger, frustration, and fear that so many Syrians have felt, these stories help me understand those feelings a little bit more.
I am in awe of the work that Wendy Pearlman put into writing this book. She conducted interviews in Arabic, divided the book into eight themes (Authoritarianism, Hope Disappointed, Revolution, Crackdown, Militarization, Living War, Flight, and Reflections) that represent Syria's path towards civil war and the effects of the war. Pearlman talked to people from all over Syria, from all walks of life, and from all view points. Pearlman's effort to give Syrians a voice gave this book so much legitimacy.
We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled is so important in a time when so many refugees, especially those from the Middle East, are demonized. Pearlman's stories show that Syrians have hopes for their country and are willing to risk so much to give future Syrians a better country.
August 4, 2017
This book is heartbreaking. I believe this is an important global novel that should be read by all. To hear the voices of Syrians through the translations of Wendy Pearlman brings their tragedy to a place where I can connect. We have so much turmoil and hate in this world that I'm ashamed to say I become numb to a lot of it. But this book has helped me to open my eyes and my heart to Syrians who have been scattered across the globe. We have to stand with them. Read this book if you care about the future of humanity and our global conscience. Hell, read this book if you're a person with a heart.
October 22, 2019
"Today, the word 'refugee' is used in a horrible way. It's something either to be pitied or blamed for everything. Overpopulation? It's the refugees. Rents going up? It's the refugees. Crime? It's the refugees. If you label people refugees, they remain refugees for the rest of their lives. For that reason, the organization I work with here doesn't use this word. Instead we say 'newcomers.' After a while they are no longer newcomers--just members of society.
As Middle Easterners, we're trying to show people who we really are. I'm not an angel and I'm not the devil. But I will do my duty. I didn't come here to take anything away from you. I want to work with you.
Many people aren't happy with the refugees coming to their country. Maybe we came illegally, but every door was shut in our faces. What do they expect us to do? Isn't it enough our government destroyed us and we lost everything? We would prefer to stay in our country. If you don't want refugees, help us make peace with Syria."
"Once while I was waiting for an appointment in one of the state agencies here I met a journalist. She told me, 'The most important thing is now that you're safe.' I told her, 'But we haven't come looking for safety. We're not afraid of death.' And it's true. We don't have a problem with death. Our problem is life without dignity. If we'd known what was in store for us, we would have never come. But we did come, and now we just can't return. There is no way back."
"We said goodbye to our country. I was not going to return until it become a homeland for me again. What is a homeland? It's not rocks or trees. It's the humans who build the land. It is where you feel safe."
"We know that freedom has a price. Democracy has a price. But maybe we paid a price that is higher than freedom and higher than democracy. There is always a price for freedom. But not this much."
"... I'm not saying that the conscience of the international community is asleep. I'm saying that conscience doesn't exist at all."
"I'm not crying over the loss of the houses. The is point is that I have nowhere to go back to."
"Syrian society has been shattered because families have been shattered. Bring any family together today and you'll find four or five empty chairs ... So I imagine this man who loses his kids--the thing that defines his future. I completely understand if he turns into a monster. But even a monster has hope. He hopes that somebody he'll go back to bring a normal human being."
"Those who are dying are the poorest. You can't lessen their suffering, so you at least want to return to Syria and suffer with them. No one, not even the refugees, can celebrate mere survival. If I make a purpose out of simply surviving, does that mean that my mother died for no reason? That my friends died for no reason?"
"... But not of that matters anymore. If I died this second, I wouldn't care. Because I've reached a point in my life where I hate everything. I am disgusted by humanity. We're basically the living dead. Sometimes I joke to Munir that someone should gather all of us Syrians in one place and kill us so we can be done with this whole thing already. Then we'll all go to heaven and leave Bashar al-Asad to rule over an empty country."
"Our dreams have changed in stages. Our dream before the revolution was different than during the revolution, and it's different now. We've accepted the fact that we need to make our dreams smaller if that's what it takes to keep dreaming."
As Middle Easterners, we're trying to show people who we really are. I'm not an angel and I'm not the devil. But I will do my duty. I didn't come here to take anything away from you. I want to work with you.
Many people aren't happy with the refugees coming to their country. Maybe we came illegally, but every door was shut in our faces. What do they expect us to do? Isn't it enough our government destroyed us and we lost everything? We would prefer to stay in our country. If you don't want refugees, help us make peace with Syria."
"Once while I was waiting for an appointment in one of the state agencies here I met a journalist. She told me, 'The most important thing is now that you're safe.' I told her, 'But we haven't come looking for safety. We're not afraid of death.' And it's true. We don't have a problem with death. Our problem is life without dignity. If we'd known what was in store for us, we would have never come. But we did come, and now we just can't return. There is no way back."
"We said goodbye to our country. I was not going to return until it become a homeland for me again. What is a homeland? It's not rocks or trees. It's the humans who build the land. It is where you feel safe."
"We know that freedom has a price. Democracy has a price. But maybe we paid a price that is higher than freedom and higher than democracy. There is always a price for freedom. But not this much."
"... I'm not saying that the conscience of the international community is asleep. I'm saying that conscience doesn't exist at all."
"I'm not crying over the loss of the houses. The is point is that I have nowhere to go back to."
"Syrian society has been shattered because families have been shattered. Bring any family together today and you'll find four or five empty chairs ... So I imagine this man who loses his kids--the thing that defines his future. I completely understand if he turns into a monster. But even a monster has hope. He hopes that somebody he'll go back to bring a normal human being."
"Those who are dying are the poorest. You can't lessen their suffering, so you at least want to return to Syria and suffer with them. No one, not even the refugees, can celebrate mere survival. If I make a purpose out of simply surviving, does that mean that my mother died for no reason? That my friends died for no reason?"
"... But not of that matters anymore. If I died this second, I wouldn't care. Because I've reached a point in my life where I hate everything. I am disgusted by humanity. We're basically the living dead. Sometimes I joke to Munir that someone should gather all of us Syrians in one place and kill us so we can be done with this whole thing already. Then we'll all go to heaven and leave Bashar al-Asad to rule over an empty country."
"Our dreams have changed in stages. Our dream before the revolution was different than during the revolution, and it's different now. We've accepted the fact that we need to make our dreams smaller if that's what it takes to keep dreaming."
June 17, 2018
What can I say about
We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria
when it has rendered me so speechless?
I know I will sound ignorant when I say this, or like I live inside of a nice little bubble that blocks out everything that is ugly in this world, but I had no real idea what all has been going on in Syria for the last several years. Did I know things were bad? Of course I did, but my eyes were closed to the extent and longevity of the suffering occurring within the Syrian borders... My eyes have now been opened and open they stayed, late into the night last night: staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep after reading about so much despair. My eyes are open and I selfishly wish I could unsee. I'm so sad and so angry and I don't know what to say.
We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled is comprised of the testimonies of the three-hundred Syrian refugees Wendy Pearlman interviewed over the course of four years, on two different continents. The stories of these ordinary people-- mothers, fathers, daughters, sons--told of extraordinary pain and together formed a complete narrative of a war torn nation. Pearlman divided the book into eight sections that take the reader through the devolution of Syria under the dictatorship of President Bashar Assad. These Syrian voices, belonging to doctors, teachers, engineers, students, soldiers; paint a vivid picture of the hunger for revolution that led to political protests and the collusion of power that eventually ignited Syria into a civil war, thereby fueling the emergence of ISIS and causing the eventual mass exodus of Syrian refugees across Asia and Europe, where their plight continues.
This should be required reading for all of humanity.
"A lot of people were opposed to the way things were, but no one protested. You just adapted to the oppression and rotted along with it. And then--in one second, in one shout, in one voice--you blow it up. You defy it and stand in front of death. You have an inheritance, and after thirty years, you slam it on the ground and shatter it." --Cherin, a mother from Aleppo
"I was in a demonstration. Others were shouting and I joined them. I started to whisper, Freedom. And after that I started to hear myself repeating, Freedom, freedom, freedom. And then I started shouting, freedom! My voice mingled with other voices. When I heard my voice I started shaking and crying. I felt like I was flying. I thought to myself 'This is the first time I have ever heard my own voice.' I thought, 'This is the first time I have a soul and I am not afraid of death or being arrested or anything else.' I wanted to feel this freedom for ever. And I told myself I would never let anyone steal my voice again. --Rima, a writer from Suwayda
"This is when we lost our humanity. I'd open my phone and look at my contacts and only one or two were still alive. They told us, 'If someone dies, don't delete his number. Just change his name to Martyr'. That way, if you got a text from that number, you knew that someone else had gotten hold of the phone and might be using it to entrap you.
So I'd open my contact list and it was all Martyr, Martyr, Martyr." --Amin, a physical therapist from Aleppo
How do you get these voices out of your head and heart? The answer is simple: You don't.
I know I will sound ignorant when I say this, or like I live inside of a nice little bubble that blocks out everything that is ugly in this world, but I had no real idea what all has been going on in Syria for the last several years. Did I know things were bad? Of course I did, but my eyes were closed to the extent and longevity of the suffering occurring within the Syrian borders... My eyes have now been opened and open they stayed, late into the night last night: staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep after reading about so much despair. My eyes are open and I selfishly wish I could unsee. I'm so sad and so angry and I don't know what to say.
We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled is comprised of the testimonies of the three-hundred Syrian refugees Wendy Pearlman interviewed over the course of four years, on two different continents. The stories of these ordinary people-- mothers, fathers, daughters, sons--told of extraordinary pain and together formed a complete narrative of a war torn nation. Pearlman divided the book into eight sections that take the reader through the devolution of Syria under the dictatorship of President Bashar Assad. These Syrian voices, belonging to doctors, teachers, engineers, students, soldiers; paint a vivid picture of the hunger for revolution that led to political protests and the collusion of power that eventually ignited Syria into a civil war, thereby fueling the emergence of ISIS and causing the eventual mass exodus of Syrian refugees across Asia and Europe, where their plight continues.
This should be required reading for all of humanity.
"A lot of people were opposed to the way things were, but no one protested. You just adapted to the oppression and rotted along with it. And then--in one second, in one shout, in one voice--you blow it up. You defy it and stand in front of death. You have an inheritance, and after thirty years, you slam it on the ground and shatter it." --Cherin, a mother from Aleppo
"I was in a demonstration. Others were shouting and I joined them. I started to whisper, Freedom. And after that I started to hear myself repeating, Freedom, freedom, freedom. And then I started shouting, freedom! My voice mingled with other voices. When I heard my voice I started shaking and crying. I felt like I was flying. I thought to myself 'This is the first time I have ever heard my own voice.' I thought, 'This is the first time I have a soul and I am not afraid of death or being arrested or anything else.' I wanted to feel this freedom for ever. And I told myself I would never let anyone steal my voice again. --Rima, a writer from Suwayda
"This is when we lost our humanity. I'd open my phone and look at my contacts and only one or two were still alive. They told us, 'If someone dies, don't delete his number. Just change his name to Martyr'. That way, if you got a text from that number, you knew that someone else had gotten hold of the phone and might be using it to entrap you.
So I'd open my contact list and it was all Martyr, Martyr, Martyr." --Amin, a physical therapist from Aleppo
How do you get these voices out of your head and heart? The answer is simple: You don't.
April 18, 2020
We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled is a collection of real life stories written by Syrians and their experiences in Syria. There are so many stories of what it's like to be under the regime and the sacrifices made to survive and leave their country.
I'm giving this book four stars at the moment but I might change it to three stars depending on how I fell later.
This book is really important and I think more people should be reading it. Hearing stories from Syrians and what they had to go through was heartbreaking and made me more aware than I think I would have ever been.
Despite this, I wasn't the biggest fan of the way this book was written. This book does tell the stories of Syrians, but each story is usually around a paragraph to 3 pages long. While I understand why this done, I just really wished these stories were longer. So many times when I was reading these stories I wanted to know so much more about these people's lives but they ended too quickly. I would've loved this so much more if we got more background on each person's story.
I'm giving this book four stars at the moment but I might change it to three stars depending on how I fell later.
This book is really important and I think more people should be reading it. Hearing stories from Syrians and what they had to go through was heartbreaking and made me more aware than I think I would have ever been.
Despite this, I wasn't the biggest fan of the way this book was written. This book does tell the stories of Syrians, but each story is usually around a paragraph to 3 pages long. While I understand why this done, I just really wished these stories were longer. So many times when I was reading these stories I wanted to know so much more about these people's lives but they ended too quickly. I would've loved this so much more if we got more background on each person's story.
March 12, 2020
This will be a short review as this is not my typical book and I am not sure how useful my thoughts on it will be. I choose to read this book as I am working on a novel right now that has a Syrian refugee as a main character. So this was the first of a couple of books and documentaries I read/watched in order to get a feeling for the conflict and the people. It taught first and foremost that even as a person who follows global political issues I didn't know 1% of what I thought I did. The author Wendy Pearlman is an academic from Northwestern university but she speaks the local languages and has years of studies in the middle east.
Drawn from interviews with over 300 refugees over a four year span this is a really great way to get a full picture of the conflict and history in the region. Pearlman of course not only had to earn the trust of the people she was interviewing she had to pick and assemble the best and most important stories. Then she had to format them into a solid story. All this was well done. It is clear and concise which is no minor task when you consider that it is one of the most confusing and hard to understand conflicts going on currently. Russia, Kurds, Assad, Isis, Americans, and various homegrown aspects of the conflict. Lots of information to put together and thankfully it is well done.
I wish every conflict had such an easy to digest history. It is helpful. One thing it gave me has increased compassion for the refugees and the terrible position Assad has put them in. It is amazing that that piece of shit is willing to put his whole region in misery just so he had held on to power. The opposite of a leader. Unbelievable that people in country continue to fight for him.
So yeah I learned many things and I hope it will be reflecting in the finished product of my book.
Drawn from interviews with over 300 refugees over a four year span this is a really great way to get a full picture of the conflict and history in the region. Pearlman of course not only had to earn the trust of the people she was interviewing she had to pick and assemble the best and most important stories. Then she had to format them into a solid story. All this was well done. It is clear and concise which is no minor task when you consider that it is one of the most confusing and hard to understand conflicts going on currently. Russia, Kurds, Assad, Isis, Americans, and various homegrown aspects of the conflict. Lots of information to put together and thankfully it is well done.
I wish every conflict had such an easy to digest history. It is helpful. One thing it gave me has increased compassion for the refugees and the terrible position Assad has put them in. It is amazing that that piece of shit is willing to put his whole region in misery just so he had held on to power. The opposite of a leader. Unbelievable that people in country continue to fight for him.
So yeah I learned many things and I hope it will be reflecting in the finished product of my book.
January 16, 2020
It feels strange to rate a book like this. Because I don’t want to be rating a person’s struggles, trauma, losses... but the way Wendy Pearlman put these fragments of people’s stories and thoughts, combined with the introduction, really helps for those even not deeply familiar with details of what has happened in Syria to understand what those ‘news events� mean for very real human beings.
If someone wants to try and understand what’s going on in Syria from the perspective of those who ultimately felt they had no choice but to flee their country and everything this once knew, I think this book will really help you to that. It can be hard at some points to process what you read is something that really happened. Not just that, but recently happened. But, I think especially because of that it’s important to know stories like those shared in this books pages.
If someone wants to try and understand what’s going on in Syria from the perspective of those who ultimately felt they had no choice but to flee their country and everything this once knew, I think this book will really help you to that. It can be hard at some points to process what you read is something that really happened. Not just that, but recently happened. But, I think especially because of that it’s important to know stories like those shared in this books pages.
July 17, 2017
If you wish to learn more about the Syrian conflict, you should start here. Wendy Pearlman wrote a remarkable book that highlighted and honored the personal stories and experiences of Syrians living in Assad's poisonous regime. Its an incredible assortment of first-hand testimonials from the front lines of the revolution. The storytelling is so powerful and raw that it often left me imagining what it would be like to live and fight through this devastating war. I made a promise to myself that I would continue to recommend this book every chance I get because I truly believe it should be read by all.
June 17, 2018
This is one of the most powerful books I've ever read--I immediately ordered my own copy to share and refer back to. The author speaks Arabic and has spent more than twenty years living in the Arab world. Likely, that played a huge part in allowing her to make her contributors feel comfortable enough to share their stories. The introduction, structure, and stories are amazingly put together. Everyone should read this book.
October 9, 2020
This was an incredible book that I cannot recommend others to read enough. As someone who's not nearly as informed as I should be, I had to do some reading and watching of documentaries for background but I believe that enhanced this book for me honestly.
This book is broken into sections that follow certain periods of time that are outlined at the beginning of the book. This lets you look back and read about it before reading that section which is how I strongly recommend reading this book.
Anyway, I could go on forever. This book is important and I recommend that everyone read it.
This book is broken into sections that follow certain periods of time that are outlined at the beginning of the book. This lets you look back and read about it before reading that section which is how I strongly recommend reading this book.
Anyway, I could go on forever. This book is important and I recommend that everyone read it.
April 2, 2023
Ok I had to read this for school but it was so interesting that I didn’t want to put it down. Told from the perspective of people the author came across about their time in Syria under the Assad regime. A very easy read (meaning it’s not boggled down with political verbiage like a lot of books), but there’s a lot of heavy stuff in here.
February 11, 2021
As someone who considers himself Left-wing and of democratic socialist persuasion, I was more than disappointed to see way too many progressives and prominent Leftists either ignore Syria's tragedy entirely for reasons of political convenience, or - much worse - actively support the party in Syria responsible for the vast majority of the deaths in the conflict, namely the Assad regime. Syria is the greatest human conflict since WWII and it's political reverberations and consequences have been felt, quite literally, on a global level.
Admittedly, it's not a very easy conflict to understand and it's varying and continually changing complexities have led many cynical people to reduce Syria to catchy one-liners like, "Syria's a western-backed regime change operation" or "Syria is a shia-sunni conflict that dates back to the time of the early Islamic conquests", etc. In fact, when discussions of Syria take place, particularly in Left-wing circles, what is given utmost primacy is not Syria or Syrians as such but rather geo-politics. Effectively, Syrians are completely stripped of their human agency as Zoon Politikons , and are merely pawns in a geo-political chessboard that, if a supposed "WWIII" is to be prevented, their lives are to be sacrificed and the status quo that they revolted against is to be preserved at all costs (Here's an example of this conservative nation-state fetishism masquerading as anti-imperialism on the website of DSA: )
What is missing from these debates is the opinions, perspectives and stories of Syrians themselves. They're the ones who lived, experienced and participated in the most extraordinary popular revolution the young 21st century has yet seen, and if any meaningful discussion is to take place about the nature of the Syrian conflict, as well as prospects for any future resolution they're the ones who should be driving the narrative - not the son of a former Bill Clinton advisor who doesn't speak Arabic, and does all his "journalism" from the comfort of his apartment in Brooklyn.
It is this that makes Wendy Pearlman's book so invaluable. Having traveled and studied in the Middle East for nearly 3 decades, she's achieved fluency in Arabic and has developed a network of friends and colleagues across the middle east that helped her get in touch with 100s of Syrian refugees. She has spent hours interviewing Syrian playwrights, engineers, doctors, lawyers, artists, filmmakers, poets, and has stitched together their stories for this book. They range from the truly depressing and heartbreaking to uplifting and beautiful.
My favorite stories are the ones where Syrians detail what it was like to demonstrate against the regime for the first time, to finally being able to express themselves in ways they never thought possible. During her first demonstration with her fellow countrymen, Rima, in very Nietzschean fashion, said "I have a soul for the first time". That collective human emancipation is very moving and I imagine it's what the French, Germans and Hungarians felt in 1848 during the Springtime of Peoples. Personally for me, the hardest pages to read were the stories of refugees who detailed their lives in Assad's prison camps, and the last chapter on reflections, where many Syrian refugees in Europe and Jordan who participated in the revolution and called for the overthrow of the regime, seeing the current state of their country, ask themselves "was it even all worth it?"...It can bring you tears.
I think this book is an excellent introduction for anyone new to the conflict, who might not be expressly political and could care less about governments and states but simply wants a human perspective on the Syrian revolution and its mutation into the worst catastrophe of our lifetime. What better source than the voices from those who were at its very center.
We are all in Mrs. Pearlman's debt.
Highest recommendation!
Admittedly, it's not a very easy conflict to understand and it's varying and continually changing complexities have led many cynical people to reduce Syria to catchy one-liners like, "Syria's a western-backed regime change operation" or "Syria is a shia-sunni conflict that dates back to the time of the early Islamic conquests", etc. In fact, when discussions of Syria take place, particularly in Left-wing circles, what is given utmost primacy is not Syria or Syrians as such but rather geo-politics. Effectively, Syrians are completely stripped of their human agency as Zoon Politikons , and are merely pawns in a geo-political chessboard that, if a supposed "WWIII" is to be prevented, their lives are to be sacrificed and the status quo that they revolted against is to be preserved at all costs (Here's an example of this conservative nation-state fetishism masquerading as anti-imperialism on the website of DSA: )
What is missing from these debates is the opinions, perspectives and stories of Syrians themselves. They're the ones who lived, experienced and participated in the most extraordinary popular revolution the young 21st century has yet seen, and if any meaningful discussion is to take place about the nature of the Syrian conflict, as well as prospects for any future resolution they're the ones who should be driving the narrative - not the son of a former Bill Clinton advisor who doesn't speak Arabic, and does all his "journalism" from the comfort of his apartment in Brooklyn.
It is this that makes Wendy Pearlman's book so invaluable. Having traveled and studied in the Middle East for nearly 3 decades, she's achieved fluency in Arabic and has developed a network of friends and colleagues across the middle east that helped her get in touch with 100s of Syrian refugees. She has spent hours interviewing Syrian playwrights, engineers, doctors, lawyers, artists, filmmakers, poets, and has stitched together their stories for this book. They range from the truly depressing and heartbreaking to uplifting and beautiful.
My favorite stories are the ones where Syrians detail what it was like to demonstrate against the regime for the first time, to finally being able to express themselves in ways they never thought possible. During her first demonstration with her fellow countrymen, Rima, in very Nietzschean fashion, said "I have a soul for the first time". That collective human emancipation is very moving and I imagine it's what the French, Germans and Hungarians felt in 1848 during the Springtime of Peoples. Personally for me, the hardest pages to read were the stories of refugees who detailed their lives in Assad's prison camps, and the last chapter on reflections, where many Syrian refugees in Europe and Jordan who participated in the revolution and called for the overthrow of the regime, seeing the current state of their country, ask themselves "was it even all worth it?"...It can bring you tears.
I think this book is an excellent introduction for anyone new to the conflict, who might not be expressly political and could care less about governments and states but simply wants a human perspective on the Syrian revolution and its mutation into the worst catastrophe of our lifetime. What better source than the voices from those who were at its very center.
We are all in Mrs. Pearlman's debt.
Highest recommendation!
April 26, 2020
"Many people aren't happy with the refugees coming to their country. Maybe we came illegally, but every other door was shut in our faces. What do they expect us to do? Isn't it enough our government destroyed us and we lost everything? We would prefer to stay in our country. If you don't want refugees, help us make peace."
The Syrian Civil War, which started in 2011, remains an ongoing conflict after nine bloody years. The current documented death count is 384,000 while the estimated count is 586,100. Estimated count of internally displaced Syrians is �7,600,000. The total number of registered refugees, according to UNHCR data updated last week, is 5,559, 229. I could go on stating more facts and figures but I don't think statistics can ever convey the absolute horror of the situation. Numbers have a tendency of making things impersonal, creating a sort of imperceptible between atrocities and their already far-off observers. Their sheer magnitude can even create disbelief, a reflexive questioning of their authenticity, and, ultimately, discomfort and denial. Then how must one engage with, and talk about, such a humanitarian crisis?
Wendy Pearlman shows one way of doing it. In the introduction to this book, she says, "I chose to reserve the text completely for the Syrians' own words; I was convinced that they provided not only personal anecdotes but also the analytical insight that could explain developments in their country without the need for my additional narration." This is allyship in action, a person from privilege providing a platform for other less privileged people to speak rather than appointing herself as their mouthpiece. She provides details about her research process, gives a brief summary of the Syrian Civil War, explains the structure of the book and how she went about editing the interviews and testimonies she had collated to fit a narrative sequence. Then she quietly retreats to the background, yielding the mike, as well as the stage, to the Syrians who now come forward and tell their own stories in the ways they see fit to a distant audience.
I would be lying if I said it is an easy book to read. The stories narrated are harrowing, full of horror and loss. There is mourning for the broken lives of a people, for the broken spirit of a country, for the devastated land of birth and belonging. A lot of different experiences are covered which narrate life in Syria before, during and after the revolution. The 87 or so total voices range from FSA fighters, artists, teachers, doctors, engineers, mothers, and students, punctuating the fact that how an entire nation came to its knees. There is the pain of torture, of imprisonment, of loss of family members, and of forced migration. And it is foolish to think that it ends there. The escape is just the precursor to a different, new kind of helplessness. It has been four years since the book's publication and of course, a lot of things have changed in the meantime. But a lot of things have also remained the same. And that is reason enough to be infuriated.
P. S. I think I would have appreciated more inclusion of female voices to make it more well-rounded. Besides that, it is necessary crucial essential reading that forces you to get into the shoes of Syrians and see the world from their eyes.
The Syrian Civil War, which started in 2011, remains an ongoing conflict after nine bloody years. The current documented death count is 384,000 while the estimated count is 586,100. Estimated count of internally displaced Syrians is �7,600,000. The total number of registered refugees, according to UNHCR data updated last week, is 5,559, 229. I could go on stating more facts and figures but I don't think statistics can ever convey the absolute horror of the situation. Numbers have a tendency of making things impersonal, creating a sort of imperceptible between atrocities and their already far-off observers. Their sheer magnitude can even create disbelief, a reflexive questioning of their authenticity, and, ultimately, discomfort and denial. Then how must one engage with, and talk about, such a humanitarian crisis?
Wendy Pearlman shows one way of doing it. In the introduction to this book, she says, "I chose to reserve the text completely for the Syrians' own words; I was convinced that they provided not only personal anecdotes but also the analytical insight that could explain developments in their country without the need for my additional narration." This is allyship in action, a person from privilege providing a platform for other less privileged people to speak rather than appointing herself as their mouthpiece. She provides details about her research process, gives a brief summary of the Syrian Civil War, explains the structure of the book and how she went about editing the interviews and testimonies she had collated to fit a narrative sequence. Then she quietly retreats to the background, yielding the mike, as well as the stage, to the Syrians who now come forward and tell their own stories in the ways they see fit to a distant audience.
I would be lying if I said it is an easy book to read. The stories narrated are harrowing, full of horror and loss. There is mourning for the broken lives of a people, for the broken spirit of a country, for the devastated land of birth and belonging. A lot of different experiences are covered which narrate life in Syria before, during and after the revolution. The 87 or so total voices range from FSA fighters, artists, teachers, doctors, engineers, mothers, and students, punctuating the fact that how an entire nation came to its knees. There is the pain of torture, of imprisonment, of loss of family members, and of forced migration. And it is foolish to think that it ends there. The escape is just the precursor to a different, new kind of helplessness. It has been four years since the book's publication and of course, a lot of things have changed in the meantime. But a lot of things have also remained the same. And that is reason enough to be infuriated.
P. S. I think I would have appreciated more inclusion of female voices to make it more well-rounded. Besides that, it is necessary crucial essential reading that forces you to get into the shoes of Syrians and see the world from their eyes.
August 29, 2018
Jelikoz mam rad goudu, parmezan a pizzu Quattro Formádzi, rozhodl jsem se precist si neco o zemi, kde sýr vymysleli. Ano, o Sýrii.
Dokonce jsem o ni slozil basnicku:
Na strome roste eidam,
no jo ten já si rád dám,
pak si dám jeste trochu brie,
nez prijde domu moje furie,
a to je ta nase Syrie,
Syrie syrova, domov muj.
Ale uz ke knize - Wendy Perlorodka udelala dost rozhovoru se Sýrama a to nejlepsi z nich naskladala do tyhle knihy, takze tak trochu Válka - the best of. Rozdeleny je to podle toho jak se situace vyvijela, takze prvni cast knihy je o zivote s Assadem, pak se jde demonstrovat, valka a utek. Ja jsem na takovyhle knizky dost alergickej, ale tahle do me spadla jako malina, protoze Wendy knihu poskladala z jednostrankovych prihod, ktere Sýráci rekli, takze se to cte velmi svizne a aspon uz konecne vim kdo a proti komu tam bojuje - dodnes jsem si pripadal jako moje stara na fotbale, ta taky jen vi, ze hrajou zeleni proti modrejm a rozhodci ma pistalu.
Kazdopadne, slusnej masakr. Za to ze Palivo aspon osmkrat nevericne zakroutil zhnusenou hlavou udeluje 8 internacionalnich hviezdicek z 10.
Dokonce jsem o ni slozil basnicku:
Na strome roste eidam,
no jo ten já si rád dám,
pak si dám jeste trochu brie,
nez prijde domu moje furie,
a to je ta nase Syrie,
Syrie syrova, domov muj.
Ale uz ke knize - Wendy Perlorodka udelala dost rozhovoru se Sýrama a to nejlepsi z nich naskladala do tyhle knihy, takze tak trochu Válka - the best of. Rozdeleny je to podle toho jak se situace vyvijela, takze prvni cast knihy je o zivote s Assadem, pak se jde demonstrovat, valka a utek. Ja jsem na takovyhle knizky dost alergickej, ale tahle do me spadla jako malina, protoze Wendy knihu poskladala z jednostrankovych prihod, ktere Sýráci rekli, takze se to cte velmi svizne a aspon uz konecne vim kdo a proti komu tam bojuje - dodnes jsem si pripadal jako moje stara na fotbale, ta taky jen vi, ze hrajou zeleni proti modrejm a rozhodci ma pistalu.
Kazdopadne, slusnej masakr. Za to ze Palivo aspon osmkrat nevericne zakroutil zhnusenou hlavou udeluje 8 internacionalnich hviezdicek z 10.
February 25, 2019
"And when those words are said, you and two hundred other people are ready to call out, “The people want the downfall of the regime!� Your voice gets louder and you feel intense feelings: You shudder and your body rises and everything you imagined just comes out. Tears come down. Tears of joy, because I broke the barrier . . . I am not afraid, I am a free being. Tears come down and your voice gets hoarse. Sadness and happiness and fear and courage . . . they’re all mixed together in that voice, and it comes out very strong." -Cherin (mother in Aleppo)
I am at a loss for words after reading the thoughts and experiences of many individuals forced to flee their beloved homeland of Syria. The writer/interviewer, Wendy Pearlman, automatically won me over with her credibility and willingness to get her hands dirty with the work it takes to truly listen and transcribe the voices of a scattered people. Her heart and sacrifice are felt in the depth of this collection of stories, and I'm truly thankful to have such a vulnerable, raw piece of work on the 40-year conflict.
"Mixing pride, guilt, sorrow, courage, and hope, their pained words challenge us to think about who we might be if faced with the same trials of revolution, war, and exile." -Wendy Pearlman
The quote above expresses the intense cycle of emotions that I felt while reading each individual’s story represented in this book. Pearlman has given us access into the hearts of so many people affected by the war in Syria. Because of this, expect your morals to be challenged, your opinions to change, and your heart to be awakened. I cannot praise Pearlman's work enough. It is a heartbreaking picture of our common humanity. I believe reading these narratives open the door to a new perspective that is invaluable for understanding our Syrian neighbors.
Although some of the accounts portray contradicting thoughts and feelings, this is part of the beauty and powerfulness of the narrative. Each individual's words are insight on how he/she processed (continue to process) his/her experience, and how he/she perceived the events that occurred. No two stories are the same and yet they combine to create a unified voice of resilience.
I am at a loss for words after reading the thoughts and experiences of many individuals forced to flee their beloved homeland of Syria. The writer/interviewer, Wendy Pearlman, automatically won me over with her credibility and willingness to get her hands dirty with the work it takes to truly listen and transcribe the voices of a scattered people. Her heart and sacrifice are felt in the depth of this collection of stories, and I'm truly thankful to have such a vulnerable, raw piece of work on the 40-year conflict.
"Mixing pride, guilt, sorrow, courage, and hope, their pained words challenge us to think about who we might be if faced with the same trials of revolution, war, and exile." -Wendy Pearlman
The quote above expresses the intense cycle of emotions that I felt while reading each individual’s story represented in this book. Pearlman has given us access into the hearts of so many people affected by the war in Syria. Because of this, expect your morals to be challenged, your opinions to change, and your heart to be awakened. I cannot praise Pearlman's work enough. It is a heartbreaking picture of our common humanity. I believe reading these narratives open the door to a new perspective that is invaluable for understanding our Syrian neighbors.
Although some of the accounts portray contradicting thoughts and feelings, this is part of the beauty and powerfulness of the narrative. Each individual's words are insight on how he/she processed (continue to process) his/her experience, and how he/she perceived the events that occurred. No two stories are the same and yet they combine to create a unified voice of resilience.
April 20, 2019
Book 3 of Life's Library (John Green's online communal book club). This is subtitled, "Voices from Syria". Pearlman is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern, and as a part of her study of the Middle East she began interviewing refugees, survivors and participants in the Syrian uprising from 2012 thru 2017. Instead of writing a scholarly treatise or a narritive non-fiction work on the conflict, she put together a very powerful curated collection of the real experiences of the people that experienced it first hand. She groups this interviews very well in different somewhat chronological areas. Starting with the beginning of the Bashar regime, Authoritarianism, to the militarization of the revolt; Militarization to the struggle to escape; Flight. It was a very powerful book, there was a lot about this area and time that I didn't know.
When the revolution began in Egypt, we were on Facebook giving Egyptians advice and sharing revolutionary songs. We flt like we were in Tahrir Square along with them. And then the first demonstration occurred in Daraa. In Aleppo, I heard about it and wrote a Facebook status in support. I didn't hit "enter" to share it; I was too scared. My fingers were on the keyboard. I told myself that it was shameful that I was sharing things to support revolution in Egypt, but when the same things were happening in my own country, I was too afraid to do anything. So I finally hit "enter." I went to bed sure that the regime's people were going to arrest me the next morning.
There was a man called Jaber and his mission was to go around and find ice from other people in the city (to store the bodies) He had a motorcycle and sometimes would travel long distances, searching for ice. And then Jaber was killed, and we couldn't find any ice for him.
I'm not saying that the conscience of the international community is asleep. I'm saying that conscience doesn't exist at all.
My son spent the first years of his life in Homs stuck inside because of the curfew and the bombing. He had no contact with anyone but his parents and grandparents. He was two years old when he saw another child for the first time. He went up to him and touched his eyes, because he thought that he was a doll.
9/10
S: 3/24/19 - 4/3/19 (11 Days)
When the revolution began in Egypt, we were on Facebook giving Egyptians advice and sharing revolutionary songs. We flt like we were in Tahrir Square along with them. And then the first demonstration occurred in Daraa. In Aleppo, I heard about it and wrote a Facebook status in support. I didn't hit "enter" to share it; I was too scared. My fingers were on the keyboard. I told myself that it was shameful that I was sharing things to support revolution in Egypt, but when the same things were happening in my own country, I was too afraid to do anything. So I finally hit "enter." I went to bed sure that the regime's people were going to arrest me the next morning.
There was a man called Jaber and his mission was to go around and find ice from other people in the city (to store the bodies) He had a motorcycle and sometimes would travel long distances, searching for ice. And then Jaber was killed, and we couldn't find any ice for him.
I'm not saying that the conscience of the international community is asleep. I'm saying that conscience doesn't exist at all.
My son spent the first years of his life in Homs stuck inside because of the curfew and the bombing. He had no contact with anyone but his parents and grandparents. He was two years old when he saw another child for the first time. He went up to him and touched his eyes, because he thought that he was a doll.
9/10
S: 3/24/19 - 4/3/19 (11 Days)
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