Cover Image: The Book Collectors

The Book Collectors

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This is a short, heartbreaking book written by a French journalist about Daraya, a Syrian community. A love letter to books, poetry, and libraries, it's an important documentation of a tragic war and the response of civic resistance through kindness and learning.

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I must apologize for my tardiness in reviewing this title. I didn’t want it to just go by the wayside because this was such a great book. The resilience of people who are going through the horrors of war never ceases to amaze me. I have told a couple of friends about this book because they are librarians and I know like myself, they can appreciate the dedication of those people who worked hard and even in some cases risked their lives to protect the written word

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‘The Book Collectors’ by Delphine Minoui was deeply heartbreaking, deeply moving, and utterly inspiring.

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In the mid-2010's Daraya, Syria - a small community just outside Damascus - was a focal point of the Syrian Civil War (which is still going on). Bombs and chemical weapons would rain down on the community daily - as much to wear down the morale of the citizens as it was to kill them.

A group of youth, determined to resist the attacking forces, would walk through town after a bombing raid to search for survivors. In addition to the occasional survivor, these youth found books. Books. And more books. Soon what this band of rebels had was an underground library.

The story was brought to the attention of Delphine Minoui, a French-Iranian journalist who managed to make a connection with the youth stocking and protecting and sharing the library. What she found were smart, dedicated people just looking to hang onto their homes, and with nothing to do day in and day out but wait for the bombs and search for survivors, these young people became voracious readers who also looked forward to semi-regular Facebook conversations with Delphine. For her part, Delphine became attached to these youths and would try to send digital books that were requested by the villagers who were essentially held captive in their own homes.

This is a fascinating story and with Delphine Minoui's help we get to know a few of these young rebels. And while they might be presented on the news as rebels (if the news would even bother to cover this war), this book really humanizes these victims. With not much to hang on to in a city slowly being literally destroyed, a group of educated, intelligent young people have sought refuge and escapism in books. For those of who love to read (and chances are, if you are reading this blog or finding this review on Goodreads, you love to read) we can easily see ourselves here ... minus the ever-present threat of being blown to bits.

Minoui relates and compares some of her own experiences watching horrors in her home of Paris and while visiting Istanbul, and these experiences make a strong statement on the general aggressiveness of human beings.

And while I found the book engaging, at the end of it I wasn't sure what I was meant to take away from the reading. Is it just a news story, meant to inform and let the reader take away from it what they will? I don't think so. It's meant to be more than that, and the connection is in the books and the library, but that final literary ribbon to tie it all together was missing for me.

Looking for a good book? The Book Collectors by Delphine Minoui is a powerful story of a war-torn city and its people trying to survive but an opportunity to tell how the creation of the library was important to maintaining a semblance of normalcy was missed.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Diverse and electrifying non fiction is one of my favourite genres. Minoui offers a brilliant view of Syrian while it grapples with war and crisis. We follow a young group of rebels creating an underground library. A heartbreakingly beautiful story, this book provides the perfect understanding of why books and education are so important. 4 stars

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The Book Collectors is more than a story about people who find escapism and joy in reading whilst going through difficult times, it is a heart breaking account of the 4 year siege of Daraya, Syria. Delphine tells the story from her perspective of a Journalist on the outside, gaining information from several sources who were stuck inside of Daraya during the war. I loved learning how the library space and the books themselves helped the people of Daraya in so many ways and how they were so brave and optimistic to the point of studying for future careers because they were so sure the war would end and they would have survived. The book gave us the opportunity to get to know some of these people and the experiences that they were going through. These brief glimpses into their lives was heartbreaking and maddening. How on earth can the rest of the world stand by and watch atrocities like this happen? The library was a place of rebellion and hope, a place to let the mind escape from the nightmare of reality. This book is a difficult, emotional read but one that holds an incredibly important story that needs to be told to as many people as possible. We cannot continue to sit back and allow people to go through this, regardless of the country they are in.

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Because I'm a librarian, friends are always sending me articles about everyday people starting libraries. This falls into that genre with an important difference. The library these young men start is filled with books save from the bombed buildings of the besieged Syrian town of Daraya. As we reach the tragic anniversary of ten years of war in Syria, this is an important story about the spirit of the early rebels, as well as showing the power of books to transform lives.

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Delphine Minoui's latest biography/memoir is a harrowing and compelling story, and I knew I was going to be changed by this story just from reading the title and brief synopsis. It did not disappoint. While I do wish the book had focused more on the library and book collection, it offers a great overview of the war in Syria and its devastating impact.

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This is a powerful, pithy book about the triumph of the human spirit even in times of hopelessness. Specifically, about a group of Syrian rebels - really, young men who became soldiers out of necessity to fight for their country and their freedom - who find solace in a secret library in the war-torn Syrian city of Daraya. This library is filled with books ranging from old Islamic texts by historian Ibn Khaldun to new works like The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Young men fighting for their city turn to these books to envision a better future - to read about principles for rebuilding their democracy, to help them understand each other better, and to escape from the horrors of their real lives into a world of fiction and fantasy.

Although the book is framed around the secret library, it also details the city of Daraya, its interesting rebellious history, its families, and its awful, awful struggles. The city was cut off from neighboring towns early on in the conflict. The Syrian army burned agricultural fields and prevented the international community from providing aid - not that the UN and other groups were jumping to address this crisis in the first place. It's absolutely shocking and horrifying to read stories about the infants who died because mothers couldn't produce breastmilk, the necessary dinners of leaf soup, the cakes made out of mud that children would bake in the sun. How these stories - supported with pictures and videos and firsthand accounts - could not move the international community to intervene is beyond me.

The only thing I wish was different about this book is the timeline. The battles and humanitarian crises in Daraya took place 4-5 years ago, but the overall Syrian civil war still rages on. The book acts as though everything is tied up now, when in reality, thousands of Syrians are still being killed and left without necessary humanitarian aid.

The story of Daraya's secret library is still a powerful one, a reminder of how the beauty in human intelligence, appreciation for poetry and stories, and thirst for something greater never disappears, not even in times of the worst strife imaginable.

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This is a heartbreaking tale, but one that demonstrates the transportive power of books and education.

In the mid-2010s, in the war-torn town of Daraya, Syria, a suburb of Damascus, bombs and chemical weapons would rain down from the sky. The Syrian Civil War was in its early years (and still rages on today, nearly a decade since its start in 2011). A group of young people dedicated to resisting the pro-Assad forces would sweep the rubble in the aftermath of each violent, looking for survivors, but instead, what they found were books. Then more books, and more books after that. Before too long, they had enough volumes to create a collection, and thus the secret underground library of Daraya was born.

French-Iranian journalist Delphine Minoui first saw a post about this library on Facebook in 2015. She was determined to track down the library’s organizers in order to hear their story and, hopefully, write a book about it. From her office in Istanbul, she made contact with the self-trained librarians, speaking to them over literally shaky internet connections as the bombs made the ground overhead tremble.

The young men with whom she spoke told her about how the remaining residents of Daraya would devour the available titles; just like other groups of readers worldwide, certain titles would become trendy in their small communities. The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo was their most popular book, giving a much-needed sense of escapism to Daraya residents who were fighting every day just to survive. The optimism of the community could be reflected in the eventual popularity of the well-known self-help title, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. This small, but mighty book community dared to hope for an end to the conflict and for a chance to return to a normal world, one in which they would be prepared to become the highly effective people their reading was preparing them to be.

Minoui was largely incapable of providing any assistance to this group of people she grew to care for so much; often, she was only able to send a quick message over WhatsApp, asking if things were okay. She would be thrilled to get an emoji in response, a temporary assurance that they were still alive.

Meanwhile, the author mirrors the chaos in Syria with attacks in her hometown of Paris which she watched from afar with horror, and the March 2016 suicide bombing in Istanbul that the author and her young daughter were just blocks away from as they were on their way to – of all things – a children’s story time in the basement of the French Consulate.

The scene following, in which the children are oblivious to the chaos on the street above, focusing solely on the story being read to them, was my favorite of the book, and so clearly illustrated her point. Books are an escape from the world. They let our minds be somewhere else in periods of unimaginable stress and trauma, but they also can propel us forward with the knowledge we gain. We can reach further with their help, and although this story does not have the happy ending with which so many of us hope to close out a good book, the tenacity of this brave group of young people is downright inspiring.

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Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Now available.

There's something very poetic about the way Delphine Minoui starts The Book Collectors - a group of young men who scavenge the still warm rubble of the besieged Syrian town of Daraya looking for books. Despite the onslaught of bombs, the lack of food, water and electricity, and almost total neglect from humanitarian aid organizations, the young men of Daraya manage to keep hope alive. Through a series of messages, phone calls and video chats on WhatsApp, they are able to show journalist Minoui a small glimpse into their daily lives. Even under the most dire circumstances, the people of Daraya manage to find hope through literature, through every day self help books like 7 Habits or in the words of the late great poet Mahmoud Darwish. Beautiful, heartbreaking and timely, The Book Collectors is a great read!

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The city of Daraya where the story of this book takes place, was besieged in 2016 and rebels had no choice but to surrender to Syria. Written by French journalist Delpine Minoui, she recounts the struggle of a group of Syrian rebels trying to make sense of a world amidst constant bombing, betrayal, and death. Minoui’s early contact, Ahmad Muaddamani, came up with the idea of saving books from the war rubble in 2013 as a way to defy Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s leader, and his claims of burying the town and everything in it. But from the ruins, a fortress of paper would arise. The secret library of Daraya. Inspiring and heart wrenching.

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The Book Collectors a beautiful story about how the power of books can change the minds of those who read them, no matter their circumstance or environment. It is engaging, eye-opening, and reflective. I wasn't sure what I was expecting when I picked this book up, but it was very informative and not as heart-grabbing as I thought it would be. At times it was a little too dry with all the information presented, but taught me a lot about a culture and country I know very little about. Overall, Minoui's writing is captivating and the subject is fascinating, but the book did not always capture that, which was something I was expecting and felt was undelivered.

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A remarkable story of brave young men who loved books and created a library during a war. This is their story of how the books were first found after a bombing and their devotion to save the books . They created a underground library for their community that was a welcome respite during their civil war. It is brilliantly told
and quite inspiring for all book lovers.

Award-winning journalist Delphine Minoui writes this true story of a band of young rebels in a bombed out Syrian town, who find a feeling of hope amid the rubble. They connect with the books and find six thousand volumes to create their library. She, tracked them down on Facebook to tell their story. They tell of how the library is a sanctuary for the community a place to share ideas and find peace. The books inspired them to reach beyond their circumstances and hope for better lives. It is quite inspiring to this reader how the books became their refuge as so often our books are. I highly recommend this body of work for all who love books and are inspired by the resilience of the human spirit .
Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My review opinion is my own.

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This is such a heartbreaking but important book that enlightened me about the siege of Daraya, and the conflict in Syria in general. Under a constant rain of bombs, the remaining residents of this war-caught city find refuge in books and create an underground library from all the books salvaged from the ruins of the bombs.

I would have liked a little more background of the Syrian conflict, but perhaps it's due to my ignorance that I didn't already know more.

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7/10 stars. The title and blurb about this book are a bit misleading. The story has a weak connection to books or to the secret library. It mostly focuses on the conflict in Syria and the experience of the people living there. I think everyone who feels nervous or resentful about their country taking in refugees should read this. The conflict was absolutely horrible, violent and terrifying and it would be a nightmare to live through. As much as I appreciated this information, I didn't think it was a big success as a book. For me it would have worked better as a long essay. The human interest story with the library disappointed me.

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A war zone is the not the first place that comes to mind to experience the life-changing impact of books and reading. However, that is exactly what happens in The Book Collectors. French journalist Delphine Minoui pens this behind the scenes true story of the Syrian community of Darayya where young Syrian men engaged in an uprising collect books found in bombed houses. While they knew how to read, access to books had been severely limited prior to collecting the books. Creating a make-shift library they begin to experience the power of words and reading for the first time. This sense of normalcy encourages them and keeps them going during their long seige. Minoui uses her contacts as to connect with these individuals via video, text messages, and other resources to share their story with the world.

Beyond showing the amazing impact of books, The Book Collectors helps the reader to learn more about the tragedies in Syria and see the humanity of behind the soldiers. Learning about how they were defending their homes was eye-opening. Recommended for anyone who enjoys learning about different parts of the world and anyone who loves the power of story.

I received a complementary copy of The Book Collectors via NetGalley. I was not required to provide a positive review.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for kindly providing me with a digital copy of this book for review.
I always find reviewing books like this incredibly difficult. It seems such a cliche to say I found it deeply moving, inspirational and depressing all at the same time, but that is how I feel none the less.
I also feel considerably unqualified to comment on the troubles in Syria- I can only offer an emotional response based on what is presented to me in the media (not always impartial).
I found the human story in this utterly compelling and heartbreaking though. It is the story of a bunch of young men trying to salvage books from bombed out buildings and to then create a lending library. Something that really struck me was that they were careful to record where the book had come from so that it’s original owner could reclaim it if they ever came across it. It illustrates what a selfless act these young men were performing- they weren’t out to profit from these finds, they just wanted everyone to be able to escape to a world of reading.
Would definitely recommend this book- just have a tissue at hand as there’s some very emotional bits.

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Minoui, who is a Middle East correspondent for Le Figaro takes a photo she saw on Humans of Syria Facebook page and creates marvelous account of the Syrian love of books. The story told is in two parts. One is the storie of the underground library and the other is the story of the city of Daraya which was being bombarded by Bashar al-Assad’s troops. Amid the chaos the library was built and even a magazine was started. Sadly, after 1,350 days, the city was hit with napalm. The library was destroyed, including much needed medical texts. The books were stolen and Daraya’s heritage was sold. A story that ends sadly, but much needed. If you read Reading Lolita in Tehran, Tehran, you will appreciate this story.

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This book is a quick read that is touching, endearing, and sadly, somewhat boring. The topic is compelling, but it feels like it may have worked better as a 10-minute BBC News segment/expose, rather than a full-length book.

The author does a good job of writing short chapters, chunking the story together through several individuals she communicates with via Skype. She also ties in some of the complexities of the Syrian crisis, through the eyes of those living under siege.

Yet, it's hard not to feel like the book never truly lives up to the horror of the Syrians' situation. The library acts as a center-piece, but the tragedy unfolding around it, and the horror of the everyday lives of the individuals maintaining it are largely detached.

There are some really great moments in this book. Overall, though, the book lacks emotional punch. "For Sama" it is not, touching and real though it may be.

Please see my longer review on BookBrowse (https://bookbrowse.com).

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