The Sirens of Baghdad by Yasmina Khadra audiobook

The Sirens of Baghdad

By Yasmina Khadra
Translated by John Cullen
Read by Jason Collins

Blackstone Publishing

Unabridged

Format : Library CD (In Stock)
  • 4 Formats: CD
  • 4 Formats: Library CD
  • 4 Formats: MP3 CD
  • 4 Formats: Playaway

  • ISBN: 9781433229367

  • ISBN: 9781433229343

  • ISBN: 9781433229374

  • ISBN: 9781433279126

Runtime: 8.64 Hours
Category: Fiction
Audience: Adult
Language: English
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Summary

Summary

A student at the University of Baghdad must return to his small village home when the Americans invade Iraq. There, he witnesses American soldiers kill the benign village idiot, bomb a wedding, and finally, terrorize his family in his own home. Consumed by the desire for vengeance, the youth leaves for the city, where he is taken in by a radical group. After proving his mettle in several attacks, he is entrusted with a super-secret mission, which he struggles to reconcile with his moral principles.

A masterful look at the effects of violence on ordinary people, The Sirens of Baghdad explores the depths of human nature as it confronts the most horrific circumstances.

Editorial Reviews

Editorial Reviews

“Yasmina Khadra’s work has been compared to that of his Algerian compatriot Albert Camus, and The Sirens of Baghdad has a similar blaze of heat, the same heavy, insoluble questions and the same need to face them down, even to one’s death…The novel builds to a startling and wrenching finish.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Like all the great storytellers of history, Khadra espouses the contradictions of his characters, who carry in themselves the entirety of the human condition.” —Le Point (Paris)
“An astonishing novel with overtones of Camus…It’s simply admirable…a magisterial work of fiction.” —Lire (France)
“Couldn’t be more timely…[Khadra] manages to make the thoughts of a suicide bomber accessible to a Western readership, even as the scope of the terrorist’s intended target…will send a shiver down the spine of most readers…Khadra manages to inject a note of hope toward the end, without betraying his powerful message of how the occupation of Iraq has brutalized both the Iraqis and the Americans.” —Publishers Weekly
“With sincere-sounding feeling, Jason Collins delivers the story of a young man’s quest to repudiate his homeland, war-ravaged Iraq. Collins creates distinctive personas for the novel’s various male characters—in particular capturing the young protagonist’s anger with society as well as his turmoil at finding himself displaced in the world. Somber, with a slightly angry edge, the story builds as the quiet youth is urged by a radical group to make a difference. Collins delivers his lines in an increasingly clipped and hard-bitten tone as the plot escalates. With his masterful delivery Collins propels the listener through an intense story.” —AudioFile
“This is Khadra’s second novel about a phenomenon that mystifies so many Westerners—the educated, intelligent Arab terrorist…it dramatically embodies the points about cultural clash that Meic Pearse argues in Why the Rest Hate the West (2004). That is, it shows why crystal-clearly.” —Booklist
“Perhaps the most frighteningly plausible doomsday scenario yet to appear in fictional treatments of this seemingly insoluble crisis. And if it doesn’t scare the hell out of you, you’re not paying enough attention.” —Kirkus Reviews

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Author

Author Bio: Yasmina Khadra

Author Bio: Yasmina Khadra

Yasmina Khadra is a pen name of Algerian army officer Mohammed Moulessehoul, who is the author of three other books published in English: The Swallows of Kabul, In the Name of God, and Wolf Dreams. He took the feminine pseudonym to avoid submitting his manuscripts for approval by military censors while he was still in the army. He lives in France.

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Details

Details

Available Formats : CD, Library CD, MP3 CD, Playaway
Category: Fiction
Runtime: 8.64
Audience: Adult
Language: English

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