The Stray Cats of Homs in Around the World

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Jul 25, 2020 Andrea rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, fiction-foreign-locale, around-the-world-2020

4.5★ - a highlight of my reading year, so far.

This book was so much more than I expected. What I thought I was getting was a story of a person or family that fled the civil war in Syria, but what I got was a moving and incredibly thought-provoking story of a person who stayed. As someone who became guiltily inured to those almost nightly images on the TV news of a city under siege and a country on its knees, this story has really helped to sharpen my focus and improve my understanding. All the w 4.5★ - a highlight of my reading year, so far.

This book was so much more than I expected. What I thought I was getting was a story of a person or family that fled the civil war in Syria, but what I got was a moving and incredibly thought-provoking story of a person who stayed. As someone who became guiltily inured to those almost nightly images on the TV news of a city under siege and a country on its knees, this story has really helped to sharpen my focus and improve my understanding. All the way through I had to keep reminding myself that it was fiction, despite reading like a biography. But of course, I just hadn't read the blurb closely enough before starting, and the Author's Note at the end left me in no doubt that this did largely happen.

Sami's early life is so relatable - the youngest of 3 kids (until baby Malik comes along when Sami is about 12) - he's equally into his schoolwork and playing. He looks up to Ali and Hiba, his older siblings. He respects his parents, and loves his Grandpa Faris, the dapper family elder who lives in their sprawling family home. He has lots of friends, but his bestie is Muhammed, who stands by his side from childhood right through until the darkest days of the war. TV time is rationed and academic achievement is rewarded. Totally normal so far.

Entrepreneurial success during his university years is a double-edged sword for Sami. The success makes his life easier, but it also slows down his studies. So by the time he is finished, his military service is long overdue and when the regime catches up with him, he has no choice but to commence his 21-month stint in the army. And while he is there, the Arab Spring kicks off. With rebellion spreading in waves across the Arab world, it is only a matter of time before it reaches Syria, and even the tight control of al-Assad can't stop it.

That probably summarises the first half of the book. The rest is about what Sami and others in the rebel-controlled centre of Homs went through over the next few years. I doubt there would be reader who could finish this book and remain unaffected by Sami's story. In the days since I finished reading, I've gone back and looked at many of those images of Homs with a fresh appreciation of what happened and admiration for the resilience and humanity of people like Sami.

With thanks to NetGalley and Transworld Publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book. ...more

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Jan 04, 2022 Heather marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: own, heywood-hill

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