This seems like a really important book and I am always for reading diverse. I just could not get into the story, sadly, and ended DNF a few chapters in.

This book does not have a clear structure. It is non-linear. That being said it is thought provoking novel about a young Syrian man living in a world of racism, persecution and poverty.

An Ishmael of Syria is not an easy book to read. It will challenge your idea of what a novel is and how a novel should be presented. Every so often you read a book, a book that takes everything you thought created an excellent novel and tears it to pieces in a display of pure individual brilliance. That is how I felt when I read this novel.

The book has no clear structure. But, it works so well. It cements the book’s message and purpose underlining its meaning.

Through the narrator, the book focuses on achieving an in-depth understanding of the Syrian conflict, allowing for the perception and exposure of social and political contradictions. The book explores a number of issues (prejudices, homophobia, radicalization, victimization, and conspiracism) that have a powerful emotional impact on our daily lives.

I'm sorry to say I won't be able to review this book after all. I've started reading it several times, but unfortunately, it never captured my interest. Thank you for the opportunity.

I have picked this book up and put it down too many times to count. I’m afraid it is just not for me. The words that I have read are a powerful insight into the world of a Syrian refugee. I’m not sure if this is autobiographical, but assume that there is some first-hand experience by the author. The voice and tone of the book was very angry, negative, and political. The writing often came out as ranting and became muddled together. I would have liked to have gotten farther and gained more out of this. It had a lot to say, but was just not for me.

This book had me in tears, having visited Syria myself many times over the last 30 years I really empathised with Adam.. the war in Syria has destroyed lives and relationships.
This powerful novel tells the story of Adam a Syrian refugee living in Malaysia, it's told in flashbacks from his childhood and draws the reader into his life both then and now.
Everyone should read this amazing book and I would thoroughly recomend it.

A little heartbreaking. Great insight into what refugees struggle with. It opened my eyes to a new world and my heart to others' needs.

The book shows the angst and brutality of the political situation in Syria, specifically for innocent civilians. It was difficult for me to follow the many characters and references, and the tone and story-line of the book swings wildly between raw, graphic, disturbing imagery and prose that is highly cerebral and academic [and much harder to read than anticipated, plus made it unenjoyable at many points]. Thematically, the concept makes sense, but in execution, it is difficult to read and comprehend. I was torn between being horrified and bored all at the same time.

There are three types of people in this world- the ones who are ignorant and choose to do nothing, the ones who are just talkers but do nothing and the third are the ones who are silent crusaders for their cause.
Adam is between the second and the third type.He is a Syrian expat living in Malaysia and who is torn between his land and his present life where he is studying and trying hard to make ends meet . The book touches upon his life where he is constantly picked upon, and life isn't easy for him as he is an 'unwanted' in most places. He is someone who feels very deeply and the events in his homeland have left deep scars on him. He is constantly trying to prove a point to others which is extremely annoying. He claims to be tolerant but is constantly forcing his opinion down everyone's throat. He is venomous towards religions and varied terrorist and governmental bodies and its actually very irritating that on one hand he condones victimization, and next ,he is showing himself as one .He is constantly trying to explain how 'political Islam'(din know there was political and non political Islam) is causing war in Syria!!!
It is a whiny account of a person who is highly opinionated and is just venting about how everyone is pitying but no one including him are doing anything to help Syria. The only saving grace were a few very moving stories set in this war torn land .
I really hoped to have a closer peek at the plight of these suffering souls but all I got was an account of whining and venting by a person on the other end of the telescope as he calls himself. .
.
If only people attempted to do something rather than thinking that having political debates and winning them is paving a way - which is doing nothing but pampering their ego.
Overall, I had a love hate relationship with this book where I hated it more than I liked it .

This might seem like a biased opinion of a believer but it isn't and there are so many better books that are pointing out the blatant hypocrisy of the Muslim community- read those to know more about Islam and the hypocrisy of Muslims today than the account of this guy who just needs someone to blame.

An interesting insight into the issues in Syria. I must admit I shelter myself a bit from the awful events in the world, so I found this to be a shocking account of the brutality of war and the plight of the innocent refugees. It wasn't a comfortable read and left me feeling sad and concerned for the world we live in. This was an amazing debut and I would certainly read more of this author's work, but perhaps not for a while, whilst I recover mentally from this book!

I'm afraid this was not my type of narrative voice. I agreed with much of the "dialogue" but it was delivered in indigestible chunks in such a condescending tone of voice that 20% in, I was having flashbacks to every insufferable political activist I've ever endured a meal with (I've enjoyed many meal with political activists as well but not in this tone of voice). The monologues of pedantic vitriol directed at every "friend" the narrator encountered felt relentless while the pseudo-academese language obfuscated the actual pain that inspired those monologues thus completely burying the message.

Thank you for the galley. Unfortunately, I could not read the book before it was archived.

This book was not easy for me to read. At times graphic, at times heartwrenching, this book really makes you think about the state of the world. It was great to get this perspective in a novel that seems almost autobiographical. When reading keep your mind open and you will be surprised at what you can learn.

An Ishmael of Syria is a cautionary tale of the racism, preconceptions, and harsh judgements that we see every day in Western societies. It is by no means an easy read, with some broken English and intense situations, but a thought-provoking and interesting read nonetheless. An eye opener for me, as a White UK citizen with very little real life exposure to Middle Eastern cultures and religions.

I found the language of this story rather flowery and it rather put me off and I couldn't get into the book at all.

No more important book to read in today's age of tragedies. Great writing, haunting scenes.

Adam was born in Syria and as the current troubles increase he leaves to live in Malaysia. This novel looks at his life and family in Syria and how he copes living away from them in Malaysia.

Asaad covers an awful lot of ground in his novel. His writing style is similar to Jeremy Clarkson and you can imagine Adam deploying a Yorkshire accent as he rants about Syria, politics, religion and women in a very blokey Top Gear way. I liked Adam’s character as he appeared very knowledgeable, educated and street-wise. I very quickly developed an empathy for Adam. This was achieved in a simple stand-point as Adam calls himself a global-citizen and not a Syrian or an Arab. This is very easy for the reader to identify with as Adam then comes across as another bloke rather than a member of a country or race. I feel the same way myself, I am just an ordinary bloke rather than a white skinned Englishman living in Wales. Adam does have a good rant at how race plays an integral part in his life in Malaysia and how this ignorance is both frustrating and wrong. Asaad has a very extensive vocabulary which makes his novel very descriptive.

The structure of this novel is soft. There are opinion related bits where Adam puts the world to rights, parts relating to his life in Syria and parts following his life in Malaysia. Then there are parts just reflecting on the differences between cultures before moving onto the shock and awe of war torn Syria. So this novel does float about quite a lot but the general direction is a bloke in the pub ranting about what is wrong with the world, to a depressing end of what a hell of earth Syria has become.

I found this to be a good book to read. It was interesting and refreshing to get a personal opinion about ordinary life far away from home. It did not provide a regular novel reading experience though. There was not a big range of developed characters building an extensive plot. This book is more an exploration of life, how it is now. It is not a story that builds hope in the reader as it grows to a happy end. It is not an entertaining read although there is some sarcasm to bring the odd smile. To call this book a novel is misleading as it lacks the storyline and structure of your average book/novel/tale/thriller. It does however highlight the plight of people living a very different life to people in the Western world. It does provide an escapism for readers in their peaceful and stable homes. When you get to the end of a good regular novel you sit back and marvel at how much you enjoyed the characters and the plot. When you get to the end of An Ishmael of Syria you feel very sad and angry at the total mess the country Syria has become. You feel depressed about man’s inhumanity to man, the senseless violence sweeping the Middle East and the total waste and cheapness of life in Syria.

I am pleased a friend on Goodreads put me onto this book. I think it is a good book that I will vote 4 stars. It does not work as a novel in the storytelling sense but scores highly in the eyeopener stakes. Readers can enjoy fiction because they are shielded from reality but An Ishmael of Syria is based on the actual misery of ordinary people in Syria. So if you want a heart warming, cosy and loving read this is not a book for you. But if you live in the real world and can accept the brutality of war, this book is worth you time although it left me feeling very sad and thankful for the location of my accident of birth.

I picked this novel because I was intrigued by the premise of a story about a Syrian refugee trying to make a new life for himself. However, the plot was all over the place, jumping from past to present with at random without setting up one scene or another, making it difficult to realize the characters were in a flashback until several paragraphs in. The main character is incredibly arrogant, behaving as though he's the only one who understands anything that happening, even though all of his information seems to come from videos posted on Facebook. He lectures and curses at anyone who dares to contradict him, making his relationships throughout the novel seem unbelievable as most people probably wouldn't continue to seek out a friendship with someone who constantly yelled at them about how stupid they are. While this novel was a great idea, the execution left way too much to be desired.

The book shows the angst and brutality of the political situation in Syria, specifically for innocent civilians. It is difficult for a Westerner to follow the many characters and references, and the tone of the book swings wildly between raw, graphic, disturbing imagery and prose that is highly cerebral and academic. Thematically, the concept makes sense, but in execution, it is difficult to read and comprehend.

Main character didn't feel true to me. But the story held my attention nonetheless.