Where the Wind Calls Home
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
2024 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
“The potent latest from Yazbek (Planet of Clay) weighs the consequences of the Syrian civil war after a 19-year-old soldier, Ali, survives his patrol station’s 2013 bombing in the Lattakia mountains. This slim novel packs a punch.” —Publishers Weekly
Ali, a nineteen-year-old soldier in the Syrian army, lies on the ground beneath a tree. He sees a body being lowered into a hole—is this his funeral? There was that sudden explosion, wasn’t there ... While trying to understand the extend of the damage, Ali works his way closer to the tree. His ultimate desire is to fly up to one of its branches, to safety. Through rich vignettes of Ali’s memories, we uncover the hardships of his traditional Syrian Alawite village, but also the richness and beauty of its cultural and religious heritage. Yazbek here explores the secrets of the Alawite faith and its relationship to nature and the elements in a tight poetic novel dense with life and hope and love.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A wounded Syrian soldier reflects on his life in this powerful and poetic novel. Ali has been injured by a bomb, his comrades killed. He wavers between life and death, inching closer to the respite of an old tree he wishes to climb in order to escape being savaged by animals. As the situation washes over him, so, too, do memories: his brother’s funeral, which Ali feels he is experiencing firsthand; the Alawite sect elder who raised him and instilled in him his love of nature; and his fractured relationship with his father. Ali’s lyrical and hallucinatory voice at times lacks clarity, reflecting his terrible predicament. While vividly capturing the horrors of the ongoing tragedy of civil war, author Samar Yazbek’s rich and sumptuous writing, full of compassion, feels like a love letter to the Syrian people and to the country itself. When it all feels like too much—for both the reader and Ali—Yazbek shows there is always peace and serenity to be found in nature. This stunningly beautiful short novel is as memorable as it is haunting.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The potent latest from Yazbek (Planet of Clay) weighs the consequences of the Syrian civil war after a 19-year-old soldier, Ali, survives his patrol station's 2013 bombing in the Lattakia mountains. Covered in debris, Ali struggles to regain his bearings and then attempts to drag himself to a nearby oak tree for protection. His goal is to climb the tree before moonrise to escape wild animal attacks. As the hours pass, Ali slips into memories of his life before he was forced into joining president Bashar al-Assad's military. He remembers his fractured relationship with his father; the funeral for his older brother, who died in the war; his adolescent suicidal thoughts; and the guidance he received from village elders and sheikhs. In short chapters, Ali inches closer to the tree while a shadowy, deathlike figure referred to only as "the Other" mirrors his staggered movements amongst the wreckage. The juxtaposition of timelines is effective, and Yazbek establishes poignant correlations between Ali's civilian life and the violence of war. This slim novel packs a punch.
