SISTERS OF THE WAR

As the conflict that will eventually claim more than 500,000 lives erupts in Syria, this account follows two real families on different sides of the political divide who end up in similar circumstances.

Eight-year-old Hanin is at first oblivious to the conflict. Her father is certain that the early small protests will be squashed by the Syrian regime. Her family, like that of President Bashar Hafez al-Assad, belongs to the country’s Alawite religious minority, whose members support the government and hold military and security power. Nine-year-old Ruha’s acute awareness of the struggle for justice in Syria begins with a raid on her home during the peaceful uprising in 2011. Subsequently, her town gets shelled and school is no longer safe. Her community is Sunni Muslim, like the country’s majority. Lebanese Australian journalist Abouzeid illustrates the complexity of the Syrian conflict over six years while reporting on and quoting the two families. Both girls’ families suffered in unspeakable ways due to the conflict. Their stories, juxtaposed in alternating chapters, focus heavily on their identities, favoring an account of warring religious groups at the expense of delving into systemic government suppression, competing international interests, and the struggle (sometimes armed) for rights. The detailed documentation of the conflict also eerily leaves out Assad’s role in enabling Islamist fighters and gains due to their assistance.

While presenting powerful true stories of survival, the book could leave a distorted impression of the Syrian conflict.