Review Summaries

• The book is praised for foregrounding survivors' testimony while showing the courage of those who helped rescue them. Though the subject is harrowing, it is received as memorable because it records not only harm but also human resistance and hope.

Reviews

• Beautifully written, horrifying to read.

  This has to be the saddest book I have ever read—and I have read a lot of books. What a sad, broken world Islamic State created, wherever they went. The beekeeper of the title is a man named Abdullah. With the men who work for him, he has been making heroic efforts to free enslaved Yazidi women and children. In this remarkable book, Dunya Mikhail tells their stories. There is nobility and goodness in the world, as well as horror.

• Powerful and Moving The Beekeeper is a remarkable nonfiction book ...

  Powerful and Moving The Beekeeper is a remarkable nonfiction book written by the acclaimed Iraqi poet Dunya Mikhail. It tells the stories of tens of Yazidi women who were abducted and abused by Daesh (also known as “ISIS”) and later rescued by a number of courageous and selfless people. One of these saviors is Abdullah the beekeeper. For two years, starting in 2014, Mikhail worked with him from her home in Michigan to learn who these victims were, and how she could contact them.to record their stories first hand. In 2016 Mikhail returned to Iraq for a visit and met Abdullah at his area of work, and also some of the women she had interviewed earlier by telephone. During the last two years, many stories have appeared in the press concerning the barbaric way in which Daesh treated Yazidi women and how some of them were rescued. What makes this book special is hearing these stories directly from the victimized women themselves. In a sensitive, low key and lyrical style, Mikhail gives the background of each victim she had interviewed, followed by a verbatim recording of their telephone conversation. Her description of Abdallah, the beekeeper -- his courage, resourcefulness, and sacrifices – is also remarkable. In addition, the book shows how generous and helpful people in the refugee camps were in assisting the victims and their rescuers. It seems that the needier they were, the more they offered. Read this book! Read it in order to acquaint yourself with all the evil that Daesh is capable of. But also read it to restore your faith in people’s ability to resist. No matter how low inhumanity reaches, people’s will to resist it will never disappear! Fawzi M. Yaqub

• Useful not to forget Daesh

  Makes the fading of the memory of Daesh less facile. In this lies its merit. The poetic manner, the repetitive forms of the translation, vagueness of action and colour make it a less vigorous read than it could have been.

• The Beekeeper of Sinjar is a very powerful book

  The Beekeeper of Sinjar is a very powerful book. Comprising of many mini narratives of captive Yazidi women, this book reveals a history no less horrible than Auschwitz genocide but yet kept unnoticed and underrated. However, Mikhail's narrative portions seem a little dull compared to those of the survivors. Overall, it is a very insightful work and I highly recommend it.

• Women kidnapped by the Islamic State

  This is the story of women captured by members of the Islamic State and the man who operates a rescue operation, Abdullah. The stories of the women who have been kidnapped and mistreated are heartbreaking and distressing. Although this is a very emotional book I did enjoy reading these stories. Before I got this v ok from Overdrive, I had little idea of what was happening to the women of Iraq. This book was an free-market for me.

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