A book that pulls no punches
As someone who has seen reports from Syria and just wondered "WHY?" I had hoped for some kind of explanation from this book.
I got a no holds barred account of life as a fighter in the country. Joanna Palani is a Kurd whose family was given asylum in Denmark when she was a child. In some ways the account of her life as a female Kurd are almost a disturbing as the accounts of her fights.
Women are very much second class citizens with pretty much no rights and I can't begin to imagine how hard it must be to try and be accepted within the western world whilst behind closed doors most of your actions are being criticised by your own family.
You can almost imagine that it would be a relief to leave this kind of life behind but, by golly, choosing to be a fighter in Syria is extreme.
A someone who doesn't really understand the situation there, some political background would have been useful. The no compromise style of the book is pretty shocking though. When you have had so many colleagues literally killed in front of your eyes and cheated death repeatedly it's hard to imagine why you would want to carry on. You would need to be "fanatical" to carry on.
Joanna has been abused/abused her body so much it's hard to understand her willingness to continue as she did and I'm sure there's a lot more stuff beneath the surface than she reveals in this book. Equally as a woman with a price on her head it's hard to imagine what a "normal" future could look like for her.
I daresay I would have benefitted from some research into the Syrian conflict before reading this so that I could more easily understand the psyche that leads to a life lived this way. A fascinating look at the inside of this horrific war though!
I got a no holds barred account of life as a fighter in the country. Joanna Palani is a Kurd whose family was given asylum in Denmark when she was a child. In some ways the account of her life as a female Kurd are almost a disturbing as the accounts of her fights.
Women are very much second class citizens with pretty much no rights and I can't begin to imagine how hard it must be to try and be accepted within the western world whilst behind closed doors most of your actions are being criticised by your own family.
You can almost imagine that it would be a relief to leave this kind of life behind but, by golly, choosing to be a fighter in Syria is extreme.
A someone who doesn't really understand the situation there, some political background would have been useful. The no compromise style of the book is pretty shocking though. When you have had so many colleagues literally killed in front of your eyes and cheated death repeatedly it's hard to imagine why you would want to carry on. You would need to be "fanatical" to carry on.
Joanna has been abused/abused her body so much it's hard to understand her willingness to continue as she did and I'm sure there's a lot more stuff beneath the surface than she reveals in this book. Equally as a woman with a price on her head it's hard to imagine what a "normal" future could look like for her.
I daresay I would have benefitted from some research into the Syrian conflict before reading this so that I could more easily understand the psyche that leads to a life lived this way. A fascinating look at the inside of this horrific war though!