My Road from Damascus, Jamal Saeed
My Road from Damascus, Jamal Saeed
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My Road from Damascus
A Memoir

Author: Jamal Saeed

Narrator: Pasha Ebrahimi

Unabridged: 16 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: ECW Press

Published: 02/17/2023


Synopsis

An extraordinary account of survival in Syria’s most notorious military prisons that is written with “brutal clarity — and yet, there is a poetic quality to the telling.” — Frances Itani, award-winning author of Deafening and Remembering the Bones Jamal Saeed arrived as a refugee in Canada in 2016. In his native Syria, as a young man, his writing pushed both social and political norms. For this reason, as well as his opposition to the regimes of the al-Assads, he was imprisoned on three occasions for a total of 12 years. In each instance, he was held without formal charge and without judicial process. My Road from Damascus not only tells the story of Saeed’s severe years in Syria’s most notorious military prisons but also his life during the country’s dramatic changes. Saeed chronicles modern Syria from the 1950s right up to his escape to Canada in 2016, recounting its descent from a country of potential to a pawn of cynical and corrupt powers. He paints a picture of village life, his youthful love affairs, his rebellion as a young Marxist, and his evolution into a free thinker, living in hiding as a teenager for 30 months while being hunted by the secret police. He recalls his brutal prison years, his final release, and his family’s harrowing escape to Canada. While many prison memoirs focus on the cruelty of incarceration, My Road from Damascus offers a tapestry of Saeed’s whole life. It looks squarely at brutality but also at beauty and poetry, hope and love.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Steph on December 12, 2022

This book made a huge impact on me while I was working on it with ECW Press. It's actually not that often that I'm so deeply affected by the books I work on. I had several excellent conversations with Jamal afterward, who unflinchingly brings to light the horrific Syrian prisoner and refugee experie......more

Goodreads review by Enid on November 22, 2022

WOW! An incredibly powerful - and necessarily brutal - telling… showcasing the injustice, indignities, immorality and illegality of the Syrian regime… as evidenced through the experience of one man. This is a testament to the power of the human spirit, to ingenuity and creativity, and to the resilien......more

Goodreads review by Sonee on May 04, 2022

This book is really touching. It is told non-chronologically, yet all the events fall into place according to a theme. At times, it is harrowing, given the mistreatment the author received when in prison and the many challenges he faced. Yet it is a story of resilience and courage. I felt I learned......more

Goodreads review by Margo on August 03, 2022

Easy smooth read love it. Great book enjoyed reading it.......more

Goodreads review by Abby on October 04, 2022

Informative, touching and overall made me re-examine my own cultural biases and privileges.......more