The Sirens of Baghdad

I just finished reading the first 72 pages of this book, and it seems to have a different feel compared to the other books. There seems to be nothing but negativity in Kafr Karam. The other books and even the films seemed to offer hope for the civilians. But it is hard to map out the situation for Yasmina Khadra. He has no real relationship with his father and has nothing but hate for the city he lives in.

Easily the most vivid point in this text was Sulayman's death. The mentally ill Iraqi became another subject of careless actions performed by another Iraqi. The reader has to ask themselves if he really had to be shot, and no he didn't. The language barrier played a huge role in the decision but the image Yasmina had stuck in his head was unbelievable. This has to be one of the most unbelievable situations I have read in any of the texts so far for this class. It didn't even make sense to me as the reader, but how could I relate? It's just the way of life over there, and people somehow can stand it.