REVIEW: The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War by Delphine Minoui

Non-fiction. 208 pgs. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. November 2020. ISBN: 9780374115166.

When you are living under extreme circumstances such as we might consider our current pandemic plight, it’s difficult to believe that it might be worthwhile to immerse yourself in the misery of others. Perhaps it’s best to turn off the news, stop doom-scrolling, and watch cheerful movies. Each of us has our own threshold for pain and suffering. I feel that I’ve reached that threshold, however, as a librarian, I was naturally drawn to The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War, by Delphine Minoui, translated by Lara Vergnaud (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020). Trapped in a city under siege by Syrian strongman and President, Bashar al-Assad, a group of young men created a secret library. It was just a vague idea at first—rescue the books from bombed out homes, print the owners’ names on the title page and keep them safe, but in use, with the hope they would someday be reclaimed.

In 2012, Assad targeted Daraya, a suburb of Damascus, because it dared to partake in the ideals of the Arab Spring. Residents protested Assad’s oppressive regime, preferring more moderate politics. Though a primarily Muslim community, they never adopted the idea of a religious caliphate. In fact, during the siege, the militant extremist group Al-Nusra Front, came to aid Daraya, but the residents ousted them from the city. In the library, as in their city, they kept cosmopolitan ideas. They didn’t restrict the books they collected for the library, or who could read them. They read for exploration, not indoctrination. In addition to works by Arab writers, widely circulated books included the Western titles, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Author and journalist, Delphine Minoui found a photo of the library’s founders on Facebook and tracked them down, employing whatever communication was available at the moment—email, WhatsApp, Skype, text. She tells their stories within the context of the ongoing Syrian war and weaves her own life into their story—her interest and constant worry over their safety juxtaposed with the normal conditions in her own life. She contrasts her usually serene visits to the library in Istanbul for story time with her daughter to the Syrian’s dangerous visits to the secret underground library with barrel bombs raining down on the city above. What struck me most was the favorite reading choice of one of her contacts, Omar Abu Anas. Omar’s favorite book was Al-Qawaqa’a, The Shell, by Mustafa Khalifa. It details the sickening torture of its author while imprisoned under Hafez al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad’s father. Minoui “was shocked that Omar had the courage to read this chronicle of horror. As if he didn’t see enough of it in his daily life …” The book, as it turns out, was one of the most widely read books in the secret library. Omar tells her, “…it’s important to open people’s eyes to our past, which, in moments of doubt and despair, can remind us why we are resisting.”

The thousands of books in the secret library were never reclaimed, but they became the heart of the community, teaching and entertaining the residents during the four years of siege, starvation, bombings and chemical weapons attacks.

Reading books about human tragedy is not easy, but as Omar said, they open our eyes. We read so that we do not forget. We read so that we carry truth in our minds, and it cannot be taken from us. We read so that we keep the light of empathy and compassion alive in our hearts. We read so that we have hope that tomorrow will come, and we will know how to survive it.

To read The Book Collectors will renew your faith in books, and in people, and in the unstoppable force they can create when combined.

Note: My copy of The Book Collectors came, fittingly, from the public library.