Publishers Weekly
The author of The Bookseller of Kabul, Norwegian journalist Seierstad spent 101 days in Baghdad before, during and after the initial coalition attacks in March 2003. She calls the articles she sent back to Europe glimpses from the war, and weaves them into a brisk, present-tense narrative. The initial battles are with her official minders, always eager to steer her to sanctioned sites. With child psychologists, she sneaks out to explore the muddled terror and fantasy in Iraqi kids. A Finnish human shield professes no opinion of Saddam. A missile that hit a market renders scenes of blood and torment too gruesome to publish. Every American soldier the author meets mentions 9/11, but there is no one Iraqi voice she finds men joyful and resentful as they watch the fall of Saddam's statue, and finally able to report atrocities they witnessed. One constant is Aliya, Seierstad's interpreter, a loyal regime supporter who heroically shows up during the attacks, works mechanically after liberation to translate regime opponents' words and finally comes to some understanding of her country's past. While more ambitious narratives may provide more context, this is a valuable impressionistic portrait; it may lack the concentrated intimacy of The Bookseller of Kabul, but should backlist well as part of the tapestry of Iraq coverage. Agent, Diane Spivey. 7-city author tour. (Apr. 11) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A riveting and wrenching account of a Norwegian journalist's experiences in Baghdad before, during and after the American invasion of Iraq. Seierstad (The Bookseller of Kabul, 2003) establishes a principle that dominates this powerful work: "The truth about the war in Iraq does not exist." Everyone lies. The Iraqi bureaucrats lie as the Americans prepare and launch their attacks; the Iraqi media broadcast and print stories that are patently false; the Americans lie about their objectives in the country. (The author reports many American soldiers saying the invasion is payback for 9/11.) Seierstad begins with her difficulties in Baghdad before the regime fell. She didn't speak the language; couldn't go anywhere without a "minder"; and repeatedly struggled to convince officials to let her remain. (Once, she was evicted but soon found her way back from Jordan.) But then she discovered a wonderful translator and guide, Aliya, who stayed with her until she left the country after the fall of Baghdad. When order disintegrated as the Americans approached, the author was able to get the stories she craved through interviews with ordinary Iraqis and visits to sites of damage and destruction-hospitals, marketplaces, schools-writing descriptions of what she saw that can require of the reader a steady eye and a calm stomach. Seierstad reproduces here, within the context of her narrative, a number of the actual stories she filed. Horrors were everywhere. American soldiers, she claims, targeted journalists and, unable to distinguish friend from foe, shot numerous civilians whose only offense was to fail to understand English. In Saddam City, later, she heard harrowing tales of families that had beendecimated by the dictator's brutality. Looters now ran wild while Americans guarded the Oil Ministry. Dispatches scorched by the flames of battle and delivered by Seierstad, to enormous effect, in tense, crisp language. Author tour
OCT/NOV 05 - AudioFile
Josephine Bailey masterfully presents a reporter’s view of life in Baghdad during the first months of 2003. The voice she gives to the author is precisely what one would imagine her to sound like, and her other characterizations are also well done. Author Åsne Seierstad, a journalist based in Norway, reports for various Scandinavian, German, and Dutch media. She is the author of the widely acclaimed BOOKSELLER OF KABUL, about the war in Afghanistan. Presenting voices of Iraqis of all ages and a host of foreign nationals, Bailey delivers a vivid portrait of life in a war zone. M.L.C. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
