Title: I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad Author: Souad Mekhennet
Source: Library
Links: Bookshop (affiliate link) |Goodreads
Rating:
Summary: Of the three memoirs I’ve read by female journalists in the Middle East, this was by far the best, in part because it had the most cohesive framework for understanding the region.
I wanted to review this with the two other books I read about female journalists in the Middle East, but I’m glad I didn’t finish it in time. It was less similar than the other two books. It was also by far the best book of the three and I’m happy to devote a post to it. Author Souad Mekhennet is a Muslim German woman who has experienced the bigoted behavior that many of the terrorists that she interviews say started them down that path. She’s able to leverage her identity to make contacts and enter spaces not available to other journalists. She does this bravely and at incredible personal risk. Her mother is a Shia Muslim and her father a Sunni Muslim. The author is able to talk to them to give a more personal perspective as she covers sectarian conflict in the Middle East.
Although the author has faced bigoted comments about her ability to be unbiased, I think she was as objective as the other journalists I read (both of whom came from countries involved in wars in the Middle East). I also thought her work was a strong argument for allowing people to cover communities that they’re close to. The other two journalists that I read were incredible, but I felt like I was getting quick snapshots of many different stories. They parachuted in for a specific conflict and moved on to the next one. Mekhennet, by contrast, passionately and consistently follows stories connected by the question of what makes people become terrorists. She also thoughtfully challenges our ideas about Muslims and the political situation in the Middle East. I felt like she had a cohesive framework for viewing the stories she wrote. She was able to share that framework with the reader, so I learned a lot more from her book than the other two. I also thought her personal connection to the stories she told made the combo personal/career memoir approach work particualrly well. The parts felt better integrated.
Jenny @ Reading the End
Oh wow, this sounds fascinating. I’m always so impressed when people are driven to do work like this, fully knowing that it might litrally kill them. (Impressed and also kinda glad they are not my loved one because holy shit that would be scary.)
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DoingDewey
Honestly, even having read several of these memoirs, I don’t entirely understand what drives people to do this kind of work! It does seem incredibly difficult for their families and like you, I’m glad not to have that kind of worry in my life.
Helen Murdoch
What an interesting book and it sounds like she really has unique perspective on the topic.
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DoingDewey
For sure! I thought her background and her particular approach to her work made this a book no one else could have written.
Lory @ Entering the Enchanted Castle
Persuasive explanation as to why this was the best of the books you read in this topic. I’ll definitely be checking it out.
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DoingDewey
Thanks Lory! I really enjoyed this and I hope you do too 🙂
Carole from Carole's Chatter
You do come up with intriguing books. Cheers
Rennie
Ooh I’m so happy that you loved this one too! I read it years ago, I guess around the time it came out, and I thought it was outstanding. I’m still in awe of what she’s done, it’s bravery I can’t even imagine. And I thought this was beautifully written too. I’m glad this ended up being one of your favorites in this group of reads!
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DoingDewey
It was so, so good! I admired her bravery and her writing. It also stood out from the other memoirs I read because the author had such a thoughtful, nuanced take on her stories. I really loved this 🙂