I did not expect this book to be as deep as it was, but it was fantastically done. I really love how important the cat was to Amra's story and her family as well. It definitely shows the horrors and fear that comes with war and is a powerful read. Highly recommend.

The Cat I Never Named by Amra Sabic Al Rayess (@amrasabicelrayess) recounts the author's experiences as a teenager during the genocide of Muslim Bosnians at the hands of Serbic Bosnians in the 90's.

The love between a girl and her furry companion through dark times both warms, and breaks, our hearts.

Having only been published this year, this book reminds us when to take a stand on corruption as we see it, to appreciate and value our right to an education, and to encourage empathy towards those who are victims of prejudice.

One of the final messages in the book gave me chills: "He has paralyzed me with his humanity. This, I think, is what America is. With his welcome, he reinstated my belief that there is good in the world." How beautiful AND relevant is that today as America enters another period of so much change?

It is my hope that many will choose to read this story of love, loss, and hope for a brighter future.

Very moving memoir, showing how connection to someone or something (the cat in this case) can help move us forward in the most devastating of times.

Amra's story, The Cat I never Named, is an unforgettable gem. With exquisite pacing, Amra tells of the horrors of the Bosnian war and its impact on her Muslim family. Trapped in a once-peaceful city, her family is threatened by arrests and violence. Danger escalates as the siege progresses: Amra's school closes, her friends abandon her, and her neighborhood is bombed. Winding through the story is an unnamed stray cat Amra brings home. The cat symbolizes hope for the family and, despite food shortages, they allow her to stay and eventually become part of the family. This story will resonate with readers of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.

Poignant, personal story that draws the reader into a far away place in a relatable style. The author's story of her life in war torn Bosnia and the harrowing events of conflict is told exposing the humanity of the situation and the lives that it touches.

We love a book with a Cat. I loved this book. I will definitely be putting a copy in my classroom for my kiddos. Please check this out if you have not.

This is a heart wrenching memoir about survival. A book that teaches empathy. A book that will stay with you long after you read it. Read every single page, including the afterward from the author. Can not recommend highly enough for people of all ages, but especially young adult readers who may not know of the genocide in Bosnia.

A beautifully written memoir about a horrific time. Amra brings the readers with her as she and her family try to survive the attack on her home, Bihac, during the Bosnian Wars. With so many echoes of what is happening currently in the world and the United States, this book is an important read.

It's really hard to rate books like this in which they are based on the author's past experience but this was such a breathtaking and beautifully told story it'a an easy 5 star rating. Highly recommend checking it out and I emplore publishers to publish more stories like this.

This book left me breathless. After interviewing Amra, I was very curious about her story and once I began reading I could not put her book down. The Cat I Never Named is, quite simply, an emotional roller coaster. Spanning the period from 1992 to 1998, Amra tells the story of her life in war-torn Bosnia. The thread that weaves through her story together is a little calico cat she calls Maci who adopts not only Amra but her family as well. As a cat lover, I well understand the bond between a cat and its’ human – it can be as unbreakable as a human family unit. What this little kitty did to help Amra and her family during the most difficult times of their lives was nothing short of remarkable. The luck Maci brought to her humans is something only one who has experienced it will truly understand. But just as Amra warned, I needed a lot of tissues nearing the end of her story. I’m looking forward to the next part of Amra’s story.

I don't know if it was the formatting of the download or a deliberate choice by the author in light of the content but this book felt disjointed and fragmented. As a result, I found it impossible to follow and I couldn't find a way to connect to the main character (in this case the author as it's a memoir) enough to push through to the end. So, unfortunately, I didn't finish this book even after putting it down and trying to start it all over again.

A real shame as I had heard the author book talk and that was what hooked me to check it out.

This is the author's true story of living through her country's becoming a war zone. The things she went through are terrible to think about, but also somewhat similar to the covid-19 pandemic currently going on.
She hid in basements for days, school was only in session a few days per month, and overall the lives of her family members and friends were risked on almost a daily basis. The students have to go without notebook paper for so long that they have to memorize their notes and then erase them, all things that are taken for granted in a society that functions somewhat normally. She was already wearing her late brother's old shirts and pants before the war truly started, but throughout this book, she struggles to get food, and a missile hits her house and they still have to live in it, unable to do much to fix it for lack of resources.
The entire book is so gripping and incredible, and shows how difficult it is to survive and keep going when the world as you knew it is gone. I could hardly put this book down.

I do need to put out there that there is a graphic death of a chicken described, and some other animal-related stuff that happens that could upset anyone who, like me, is involved in animal rescue in any capacity. Because not only do people in this society not have enough options for animal care, but this also takes place in the early 90s when animal welfare hadn't quite caught on, even in the US, let alone a place like Bosnia where people were facing a lot of conflict.

"Attacks on immigrants, on racial or religious groups, on people of different sexual orientations are happening all over the world and particularly in the United States. When violence against certain groups becomes normalized, stories like mine happen." - Amra

I will be upfront about my initial reason for wanting to read this book. The cat. I wanted to know about this cat who never received a name and the reasons. I requested the book at SLJ Live without reading the synopsis. After doing so I still wanted to read this book because now it was even more compelling. How did a cat become such a vital aspect during a genocide? I needed answers!

I didn't know too much about the Bosnian War. I was young when these events transpired. Although nothing much as changed in the world as I grew into adulthood. From what I learned in this book there were random bombing of cities, mass genocide, and rape camps. Over 100,000 thousand, mostly Bosnian Muslims were killed in the first biggest "ethnic cleansing" since WWII.

This book was hard to get into most likely due to my unfamiliarity with the subject but I am happy I stuck with it because I ended up really engrossed.

Amra's story is heart wrenching. There is a part in this book where her father talks about being worried about bombs falling on the heads of his children. Amra and her younger brother Dino would walk to school together but apart because it would destroy their parents if they both got hit by a bomb.

She would lay in bed conditioning herself to deal with whatever horrible things might happen. She pictured herself being raped. She thought about her brother dying, her parents, her friends... she did this to strengthen her resolve to get through the next day and the day after that... that was what the war did to Amra and other just like herself that lived through the Bosnian War.

Now onto this cat! Oh this cat stole my heart! Maci which is the Bosnian word for cat was basically a real life spiritual being that watched over this family. She saved them in many ways, both their lives and their mental struggles. She performs some miracles that had my jaw on the floor. I don't want to spoil this cat's specialness. She tore my heart out.

I recommend this book. There are so many stories out there about WWII and this one teaches us about another horrific stain on World History.

Thank you Netgalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. It was beautifully written and I learned so much about a war that happened in my lifetime but I know little about. What an amazingly strong and resourceful girl and family. Their love for each other really came through. I would like to have had a note in the back telling what happened to the other family members and where they are now.

In this moving memoir, Sabic-El-Rayess shares her memories of being a Muslim teen in war torn Bosnia, A happy middle class teen, the future for Sabic-El-Rayess was bright indeed. At the top of her class, scoring in the top percentiles on exams, it was expected that she would make her way to university, career achievements and financial reward not just for herself but her family. But as war broke out, her Bosniak family was trapped by the siege in the Muslim region, survival became the focus. Into her life came the cat, Maci, who with her gentle ways offered hope to a family during a time when it was difficult to find. I don't think many Americans remember the ethnic cleansing attempts by the Serbian government to rid Bosnia of Croatians and Muslims. This book is valuable as a first person survivor story, detailing some of the horrors that the people experienced: betrayal by Serbian friends/neighbors, seeing people blown to bits by bombs or gunfire, seeing their homes and landscape destroyed by the same. Sabic-El-Rayess also shares the fear of the young women, that if they were captured they might not be murdered, but instead turned into sexual slaves of the Serbian military. The cat, Maci (which is "kitty" in Bosnian) is the beacon of hope in the story- the loving being who seems to escape and seemingly prevent tragedy repeatedly. While I found some of the writing awkward, overall it's a powerful novel of survival.

Due to life circumstances, I was unable to finish this book. But I will definitely purchase it, so I can finish reading it. The Cat I Never Named was absolutely heartbreaking, but I am grateful to the author for telling her story. I work with English Learners and actively seek out memoirs such as this book to better educate myself on historical experiences from those who actually experienced them. Thank you for sharing your story with the world!

I knew that going into this, that it was not going to be an easy read. I honestly didn't really know anything about the Bosnian genocide before reading this, and to believe that it occurred less than 30 years ago is so horrifying. That things like this can still be happening is awful. I can sometimes struggle with non-fiction, mostly because it tends to come off a bit dry, but I did like how this was told more as a narrative. It didn't make the actual story easier to read, but it allowed me to read through it more quickly. I love how this cat (Maci) came into their lives, and indirectly saved them so many times from bombings and shootings, and it was so emotional reading through everything. Maci also helped them not to stop living or to give up hope, and their resilience was incredible to see. We see Amra continuing to get her education and finding whatever work she can to support her family, and the love they all had for one another is so touching. This was such an eye opening book and I am really glad that I read it. Definitely recommend.

Actual Rating: 4.5 Stars, rounded up

Amra Sabic-El-Rayess was a teenager during the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia. As a Muslim teen in Bihac, Bosnia she endured years of siege, starvation, and constant terror. Serbian forces engaged in a genocidal campaign across Bosnia, destroying the multi-ethnic nature of the country. At the onset of the war, Amra was poised to pursue post-secondary education, near or at the top of her class in most subjects. The titular cat, Maci (which translates to “cat” in English), wandered across Amra’s path as part of a refugee train fleeing the Serbian army, shortly before the tanks rolled into Bihac. Maci stays with the family throughout the war, providing comfort and guardianship.

Overall, the book was engaging and I enjoyed reading it, as much as you can enjoy reading a memoir of civilians trapped and targeted in a war zone. There were times when the imagery of Maci as a guardian felt a bit overdone, but it’s hard to fault a retelling of someone’s lived experience for how they perceived events. It feels like I’m encountering more books about the experiences of Bosnians and Croatians in the breakup of Yugoslavia, and I think we all could use a reminder of what can happen when we don’t want to see the truth of human rights violations. Partner with Safe Area Gorazde to compare a memoir of Western Bosnia with a journalistic research in Eastern Bosnia, and additional resources are listed at the end of The Cat I Never Named.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this powerful book! This is an incredible true story of a Muslim girl named Amra growing up during the conflict in Bosnia in the 1990s. She meets a small cat who she names Maci, which simply means "cat", and Maci ends up saving her in different ways, both physically and emotionally, throughout the story. Amra's relationships with her father, mother and brother are extremely poignant, as well as her relationships with all the other people in her life: family members, friends, teachers. This story gives great insight into the conflict while also being deeply personal. I think it's a very important book for teens and really anyone to read. Definitely recommend!

This book will sit with me for awhile. I read it as covid-19 continues to spread across the U.S. It offered so much perspective. Our nation is being asked to stay in, limit our socialization, and wear a mask to stop the spread of the virus. These are transitions we must make, but they are little in comparison to what Amra had to face in a war torn country. Yet, the author's letter at the end says she wrote it during the start of covid-19, and she felt sorry for all of us as she understood how hard these transitions can be, hiding out in a neighbor's basement for days and having her school life disrupted and stopped suddenly.

Amra's story is well-crafted and gives us a firsthand account of life in a bombed out city. Her book teaches empathy. Her interactions with people as she grows up and survives so much detail the mix of characters and emotions we face in difficult times. As we are seeing in the U.S. now with Black Lives Matter protests, opinions of all kinds are popping up, there are opportunists who loot or damage property, but there are also activists fighting for an end to police brutality and community helpers who are cleaning up and providing food/shelter/donations. We are in this strange parallel. We are not facing missiles and bombs as Amra and her family were, but we're in the middle of deciding who we will be as a country in the future. It's clear she hopes that by sharing her story people will learn about and CARE about social justice issues like genocide, racism, religious persecution, and violence against women.

This book is a great read for young people. I think it would help many who have faced the loss of something due to covid or otherwise. And it's an intentional and true story that would crossover well for adults too.