Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Days of Love and Rage:
It takes a city.
Quick synopsis:
The story of the city of Manbij, Syria during the Syrian Revolution.
Fact for Non-History People:
The revolution would last 13 years and result in over 500,000 deaths.
Fact for History Nerds:
In 2023, while the revolution was still ongoing, Syria was hit with a severe earthquake resulting in 8,400 deaths.
My Take on Days of Love and Rage:
There is something about great books which lead me to sound truly pretentious in my reviews. I want to avoid cliches like that the book is powerful, astonishing, or important. However, I run into books like Days of Love and Rage by Anand Gopal which defy me not to call it all these things. Gopal has written something that cannot be done by every author. It is painstakingly researched, beautifully written, but somehow very grounded. Also, it is dense, challenging, but as close to a page turner as something like this could be. It is, in a word, a masterpiece.
The narrative follows various characters in the city of Manbij, Syria during the Syrian Civil War. Gopal keeps his story focused on the street level of the war as much as possible. While Gopal will give the reader an idea of what is happening around Syria, Manbij is where most of the events take place. He draws the reader in by introducing his characters in mundane ways. There is the boy who falls in love with the girl down the street. There is the poet who is just finding his voice or the woman who doesn’t know she’ll ever be allowed to have one. The opening of the book truly feels like the beginning of a novel. Then, of course, resistance begins and things are going to get messy, violent, and unclear.
Gopal’s tone throughout the narrative is one of journalistic objectivity. You can feel his emotion by what he chooses to present to the reader. He is clearly pulling for his subjects to be the best version of themselves, but he will not hide their sometimes-significant shortcomings, either. One man, in particular, ranges from righteous revolutionary to ISIS criminal to outcast. Throughout, you live and die with these people as they just try to define what freedom is and how to keep it once you have it.
No one is ever going to ask me to hand out awards for writing. However, if this book doesn’t win every single thing it is up for, then they don’t matter anyway.
(This book was provided as a review copy by Simon & Schuster.)
Verdict:
Absolute must read. Buy it here!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.