Rating: 7/10
I don't think that there is anything necessarily wrong with this book, it just wasn't for me. Bad pick on my part. Like, I thought this book was a thriller for some reason, it certainly isn't. It really isn't anything. Literary fiction maybe? Slice-of-life? Like, nothing happens in the entire book. I think I just misunderstood what the purpose of the book was when I chose to read it. I'm not really even sure what happened in the book. It felt like nothing, but mentally-ill, anxious nothing. As it turns out, I don't really care for books that have no action in them. Don't get me wrong though, there is very much value in this book, especially if you are interested in dynamics between the people and the government of Syria. Let's start with the summary.
Summary from Amazon:
"In her therapist's waiting room in Damascus, Suleima meets a strange and reticent man named Naseem, and they soon begin a tense affair. But when Naseem, a writer, flees Syria for Germany, he sends Suleima the unfinished manuscript of his novel. To Suleima's surprise, she and the novel's protagonist are uncannily similar. As she reads, Suleima's past overwhelms her and she has no idea what to trust--Naseem's pages, her own memory, or nothing at all?
Narrated in alternating chapters by Suleima and the mysterious woman portrayed in Naseem's novel, The Frightened Ones is a boundary-blurring, radical examination of the effects of oppression on one's sense of identity, the effects of collective trauma, and a moving window into life inside Assad's Syria."
Let me begin this review by stating that this book was incredibly well-written. Wannous' writing style is very poetic/metaphoric. It allows the reader to really sink into the visuals that are being described by the author. Like, there was no action in the book itself, but I found it to be a relatively quick read, because the way it was written was so engrossing. The look into the protagonist's all-encompassing anxiety was so astoundingly realistic. I don't know how Wannous was able to so well encapsulate the feeling of panic, but she did. Suleima's anxiety was able to walk a line of obsessive, while also feeling right. This is mostly because we also get a picture of life in modern-day Syria. The oppressive, restrictive regime that was pressing down throughout the story was enlightening. Reading about it from the perspective of an anxious Syrian protagonist made it feel all the more visceral. Much of her anxiety was imagined, but there was a large chunk that felt appropriate. The characters were in constant fear of being taken into custody for no reason, friends and family simply disappearing, being taken advantage of by officers, and even friends and family turning on one another simply because of their personal beliefs. If anything, I'm glad that I read the story because it was fascinating and horrifying to glimpse into life in Syria.
I don't have much bad to say about the book. The main things that I didn't like was that it was a little confusing just because of the way it was set up and that nothing really happened plot-wise. Sometimes the parts relating to Naseem's manuscript would drone on, and I would forget if I was reading Suleima's thoughts, or the manuscript. The Frightened Ones is really a book within a book, within a book. From what I could tell, the book was written by Wannous about a woman (Suleima) writing a book of her thoughts, that is about Naseem's book. It is kind of a confusing set up. I also didn't like that nothing really happened throughout the story. The description made it seem as though something might happen? Like, you don't get any real storyline for the majority of the book. There is also no romance subplot. I thought that if nothing, at least we would get the romance between Naseem and Suleima, but you really don't. You get glimpses into their toxic relationship and that's really all. To be fair, Naseem sucked so I don't really want to read a romantic plot with him as the love interest.
In all, it wasn't a bad book. There are plenty of people that will certainly love this book. I can recognize the value that the work has. It felt like an important work of fiction that also housed some nonfiction elements. It offered a perspective that isn't very common in literature; therefore, it was effective in shedding light on the plight of people in Syria. But, it just wasn't for me. I made the wrong personal choice. If you like kind of slice-of-life and family history, then you'll probably enjoy this book. If you want a book that has some action in it, probably skip this one. There is very little that actually happens.
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