The Book Collectors

May 1, 2020

In the ancient Syrian city of Daraya, under siege for years and eventually subject to forced displacement, residents discovered a motherlode of books and began to collect more. Within a month, 15,000 volumes were housed in a secret library used for discussion. In 2015, award-winning French-Iranian journalist Minoui learned of the library and interviewed one of the founders over WhatsApp and Facebook. With a 50,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2020
An extraordinary story about the passion for books in war-torn Syria. Minoui, a Middle East correspondent for Le Figaro, opens with the story of a photograph she saw in 2015 on a Facebook page called Humans of Syria. Taken in Istanbul, it shows two young Syrian men standing in an enclosed room with thousands of books on shelves all around them. Their city, Daraya, was surrounded by Bashar al-Assad's troops and was being regularly bombed; yet here was a secret, underground library. "Amid the bedlam," writes the author, "they cling to books as if to life." How was this possible? Minoui contacted Ahmad, the photographer and one of the "cofounders of this secret haven." He told her about his devastated, bombed-out city and the books found in destroyed buildings. The author tells two stories: one about the library and the other about a city that had been starved and attacked since 2012 and whose population went from 250,000 to 12,000. In 2013, Ahmad and some friends began collecting books and hiding them underground in a damaged building. They built shelves and organized the books. "From the ruins," writes Minoui, "a fortress of paper would arise," an oasis that became popular not just for the books on all kinds of subjects--including much-needed medical textbooks--but as a place for people to gather, talk freely, and learn. They even started a small magazine. More bombs fell, some loaded with sarin gas. The building housing the library was hit, damaging the books, but the dedicated keepers glued pages back in. After 1,350 days of siege, they were struck with napalm. In 2016, the city surrendered, and its people evacuated. The library was pillaged, the books sold "for cheap on the sidewalk of a flea market in Damascus....Four years of saving Daraya's heritage swapped for a few coins." It's an agonizing tale, but readers will be appreciative that Minoui has brought it to light. Shelve this one next to Reading Lolita in Tehran. Heartbreaking, inspiring, and beautifully told.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 3, 2020
French-Iranian journalist Minoui (I’m Writing You From Tehran) paints a haunting portrait of the 2012–2016 siege of Daraya, a suburb of Damascus, during the Syrian civil war. After a government bombing campaign in response to pro-democracy protests set off an exodus from Daraya, remaining resistance members collected thousands of books and built a library in the basement of an abandoned building. Through video interviews and online chats with the library’s founder, Ahmad Muaddamani, and frequent patrons, including a photographer, a Free Syrian Army fighter, and a veteran of previous protest movements, Minoui chronicles how these men—denounced as jihadists by president Bashar al-Assad—created a sanctuary for free thought. Her subjects describe how books as varied as the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, and Mustafa Khalifa’s novel The Shell offer the library’s patrons education, encouragement, and the “freedom they’ve been deprived of.” Minoui also recounts her own responses to terrorist attacks in France to affirm how, amid the fight for survival, books can offer enlightenment and escape. Fluidly translated and emotionally powerful, this devastating account pays tribute to the “dream of a better world that never fully came true.”

Starred review from October 15, 2020
Heartbreaking and heartwarming, this account tells how the pro-democracy rebels of Daraya, Syria, survived a six-year siege with the help of books. In 2015, journalist Minoui saw a picture on Facebook showing the young men of Daraya, which had been besieged by Bashar al-Assad's forces since 2011, in a windowless room surrounded by books. When Minoui connects with Ahmad Muaddamari via social media, he tells her how he and his friends have salvaged 6,000 books from a destroyed house and set up a library in the basement of a ruined building for the remaining townspeople. The library is used constantly as the people "cling to books as if to life," and they discover that "words have power to soothe the mental wounds" of war and hardship. After the town is attacked with sarin gas and then firebombed, the residents are forced to flee, and Minoui finally meets Ahmad in person when he finds refuge in Turkey. Readers will be moved by the plight of the people of Daraya, and inspired by their faith in the power of books to give information, release, and hope. Highly recommended for all libraries and book lovers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)