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slash's review
dark
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and War
Moderate: Sexual violence and Religious bigotry
edick's review
adventurous
dark
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
4.25
If you want yet another reason to hate the US government, look no further. Slahi's writings on his experiences as a Guantanamo detainee are chilling and dystopian, until you remember that it's pure nonfiction. I still cannot wrap my head around his ability to preach forgiveness and the beauty of his writing, and I don't think I ever will. He does an excellent job at illustrating the cold misery of his capture, but he does it with a grace and effortlessness that is rare to come by. Still yet to see the adaptation!
rincewind's review
5.0
This book provides insight in the US response to the intelligence failure of 9/11 from a unique perspective. Mohamedou's tale of his incarceration, interrogation and torture is informative, absurd, tragic and ultimately, surprisingly life-affirming.
strickvl's review
4.0
It's important to read the accounts of places like Guantánamo, Iraq, Afghanistan (among many others) in the words of those who have experienced things first-hand. There isn't a great deal in this book that isn't already in the public domain in some shape or form. But that has been the case for a long while: we know what goes on in Guantánamo, what went on, and we are starting to know more about why people ended up there. The author brings his own perspective, however, one that ranges from outrage to sarcasm to tenderness and the whole gamut in between. If you've read the dozen or so other Guantánamo 'memoirs', there isn't much in here in terms of new information, but if you're read the other you'll probably end up reading this account as well. If you've never read such an account, this would be a good one to start with.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention... the book is also remarkably funny for a Guantánamo memoir...
UPDATE: I forgot to mention... the book is also remarkably funny for a Guantánamo memoir...
heatherreadsbooks's review
4.0
Not the most festive of reads to choose over Christmas, I grant you, but it was a good one nonetheless.
Since 2002, Mohamedou Slahi has been imprisoned at the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In all these years, the United States has never charged him with a crime. A federal judge ordered his release in March 2010, but the U.S. government fought that decision, and there is no sign that the United States plans to let him go.
This is the diary of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, recalling his life before being put into custody, his constant interrogations and life inside Guantanamo. It's frankly horrific. But most pertinently, it's important.
To say it's fair to be suspicious of security services and their treatment of some people is an understatement, and this shines a light on why. Cross-referenced with plenty of footnotes to contextualise many of the (often pointless) redactions, this book gives insight into a world that the USA never wanted anyone to see into.
To be without a charge against him, but face what he has is awful. But within that, you see MOS's personality, his humour; he himself says it - he doesn't try to overstate or understate, merely state. If he's giving snark, if a guard is kind to him, you see it; it's not one versus the other, good versus bad. He simply writes his way through his thoughts and opinions, experiences and treatment, if someone is worthy of being called Satan, they are. If someone is friendly, he'll say so.
I can't recommend this book on the premise that it's enjoyable in a traditional sense. It isn't. It's real, and horrifying, and while there are moments that will raise a smile, this is ultimately something you should read because of it's standing, the battle to get it released into the world, the picking apart of redactions when possible, to see inside the kind of things that some world powers would rather keep buried.
Since 2002, Mohamedou Slahi has been imprisoned at the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In all these years, the United States has never charged him with a crime. A federal judge ordered his release in March 2010, but the U.S. government fought that decision, and there is no sign that the United States plans to let him go.
This is the diary of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, recalling his life before being put into custody, his constant interrogations and life inside Guantanamo. It's frankly horrific. But most pertinently, it's important.
To say it's fair to be suspicious of security services and their treatment of some people is an understatement, and this shines a light on why. Cross-referenced with plenty of footnotes to contextualise many of the (often pointless) redactions, this book gives insight into a world that the USA never wanted anyone to see into.
To be without a charge against him, but face what he has is awful. But within that, you see MOS's personality, his humour; he himself says it - he doesn't try to overstate or understate, merely state. If he's giving snark, if a guard is kind to him, you see it; it's not one versus the other, good versus bad. He simply writes his way through his thoughts and opinions, experiences and treatment, if someone is worthy of being called Satan, they are. If someone is friendly, he'll say so.
I can't recommend this book on the premise that it's enjoyable in a traditional sense. It isn't. It's real, and horrifying, and while there are moments that will raise a smile, this is ultimately something you should read because of it's standing, the battle to get it released into the world, the picking apart of redactions when possible, to see inside the kind of things that some world powers would rather keep buried.