The Sirens of Baghdad

By: Yasmina Khadra

Narrated by: Jason Collins

A student at the University of Baghdad must return to his small village home when the Americans invade Iraq. There, he witnesses American soldiers kill the benign village idiot, bomb a wedding, and finally, terrorize his family in his own home.

Consumed by the desire for vengeance, the youth leaves for the city, where he is taken in by a radical group. After proving his mettle in several attacks, he is entrusted with a super-secret mission, which he struggles to reconcile with his moral principles.

A masterful look at the effects of violence on ordinary people, The Sirens of Baghdad explores the depths of human nature as it confronts the most horrific circumstances.

©2007 John Cullen (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[P]erhaps the most frighteningly plausible doomsday scenario yet to appear in fictional treatments of this seemingly insoluble crisis. And if it doesn't scare the hell out of you, you're not paying enough attention." ( Kirkus Reviews)

I enjoyed the book, but disliked the narration.

The book was fantastic. It gave new and foreign perspectives on events I wouldn't have been able to consider given my education in books and in life. It rationalized what to me would be irrational behavior in terrorism and the call to terrorism. My criticism is mostly on the narrator. At 1.1x or 1.15x speed it's much easier to listen to. I'm not sure if it's the near monotone way he reads or that he reads fairly slowly, but increasing the audio speed made this book more interesting to listen to.

very sad

The story is very sad, it is as heartbreaking as the whole war was. I thank the Lord every day now that the Iraq war is finished. For this alone Obama should be reelected. The last eight years has left so many people broken and has left holes in the lives of too many people, including my own, and all of it was for WHAT? We should have probably never been there. Saddam Hussein was the tyrant that the Iraqis chose; why was it our business to remove him? For the sake of the Jews? This is the only answer I can think of. Screw the Jews. Let them fight their own wars with middle eastern tyrants.

Now if the president would only end the damn war in Afghanistan then we could put this entire mess into the garbage can of history where it belongs.

Unfortunate Translation and Narration

A fascinating account made almost unbearable by the poor English translation and ridiculous narration. The English translation is Americanized colloquial and entirely unrealistic. Worse yet, the voices created by the narrator are tragic, including Omar with a California "surfer dude" accent. Very distracting considering the gravity of the subject matter. What a disappointment.