Book Review: ‘The Bird Tattoo’ by Dunya Mikhail

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Updated 08 November 2024
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Book Review: ‘The Bird Tattoo’ by Dunya Mikhail

Reading Dunya Mikhail’s “The Bird Tattoo,” published in 2020, is embarking on a journey through the intricate layers of identity, loss and hope.

From the very first pages, readers will be drawn into the world of the unnamed protagonist, a journalist returning to her war-torn homeland of Iraq.

Mikhail’s writing envelops you, making you feel the weight of memories and the pulse of a country struggling to heal. One of the most striking aspects of the novel is its unflinching exploration of the painful subject of the sale of Yazidi women as slaves by Daesh.

Mikhail addresses this trauma with a delicate touch, balancing the harsh realities of this atrocity with an exploration of the astonishing world of Yazidi customs and legends.

This duality adds depth to the narrative, allowing readers to appreciate the richness of Yazidi culture even in the face of such unspeakable suffering. Mikhail tells these stories without exaggeration or sentimentality, which makes the emotional weight all the more impactful.

Many readers will find themselves reflecting on their own experiences with home and belonging. The tattoo of the bird, a symbol of freedom and escape, will resonate deeply with them.

It beautifully encapsulates the protagonist’s yearning for liberation from the constraints of her past and the chaos surrounding her.

Mikhail’s prose is both lyrical and haunting, painting vivid images of Baghdad that linger in the mind. Readers will hear the sounds of the city and feel the warmth of the sun, yet the underlying tension of conflict is always present.

This duality will strike a chord with them, as it mirrors the complexities of life — how beauty and pain often coexist.

The flashbacks woven throughout the story are particularly poignant. They allow readers to witness the protagonist’s childhood and the impact of war on her family relationships. They will feel her loss and her struggle to reconcile her past with her present.

One of the most powerful aspects of “The Bird Tattoo” is its exploration of resilience. Despite the heavy themes of loss and trauma, Mikhail instills a sense of hope throughout the narrative.

Readers will find themselves rooting for the characters, marveling at their strength and determination to find their place in a world that often feels unforgiving. This theme will inspire them.

The novel is not just a story about war; it is a profound meditation on identity, love, and the quest for freedom.

The fact that Mikhail, an Iraqi-American, went on to become the English translator of her own work, which is now available in several languages, speaks to her commitment to sharing these stories with the world.

This book left me with a deeper understanding of the complexities of human experience and the enduring spirit of those who face unimaginable challenges.

It has certainly stayed with me, encouraging me to think more deeply about my own journey and the stories that shape who we are.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Atlas of Birds’ by Mike Unwin

Updated 20 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Atlas of Birds’ by Mike Unwin

“The Atlas of Birds” captures the breathtaking diversity of birds, and illuminates their conservation status around the world.

Full-color maps show where birds are found, both by country and terrain, and reveal how an astounding variety of behavioral adaptations—from flight and feeding to nest building and song—have enabled them to thrive in virtually every habitat on Earth.

Maps of individual journeys and global flyways chart the amazing phenomenon of bird migration, while bird classification is explained using maps for each order and many key families.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘When the Bombs Stopped’

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Updated 18 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘When the Bombs Stopped’

  • Fifty years after the last sortie, residents of rural Cambodia are still coping with the unexploded ordnance that covers their land

Author: ERIN LIN

Over the course of the Vietnam War, the United States dropped 500,000 tonnes of bombs over Cambodia—more than the combined weight of every man, woman, and child in the country.

What began as a secret CIA infiltration of Laos eventually expanded into Cambodia and escalated into a nine-year war over the Ho Chi Minh trail fought primarily with bombs.

Fifty years after the last sortie, residents of rural Cambodia are still coping with the unexploded ordnance that covers their land. In “When the Bombs Stopped,” Erin Lin investigates the consequences of the US bombing campaign across post conflict Cambodia.

 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Spike’ by Mark Humphries

Updated 17 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Spike’ by Mark Humphries

We see the last cookie in the box and think, can I take that? We reach a hand out. In the 2.1 seconds that this impulse travels through our brain, billions of neurons communicate with one another, sending blips of voltage through our sensory and motor regions.

Neuroscientists call these blips “spikes.” Spikes enable us to do everything: talk, eat, run, see, plan, and decide. In “The Spike,” Mark Humphries takes readers on the epic journey of a spike through a single, brief reaction.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Lost Souls’ by Sheila Fitzpatrick

Updated 16 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Lost Souls’ by Sheila Fitzpatrick

When World War II ended, about 1 million people whom the Soviet Union claimed as its citizens were outside the borders of the USSR, mostly in the Western-occupied zones of Germany and Austria.

These “displaced persons,” or DPs—Russians, prewar Soviet citizens, and people from West Ukraine and the Baltic states forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1939—refused to repatriate to the Soviet Union despite its demands.

Thus began one of the first big conflicts of the Cold War. In “Lost Souls,” Sheila Fitzpatrick draws on new archival research, including Soviet interviews with hundreds of DPs, to offer a vivid account of this crisis, from the competitive maneuverings of politicians and diplomats to the everyday lives of DPs.


What We Are Reading Today: Leibniz in His World: The Making of a Savant

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Updated 15 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: Leibniz in His World: The Making of a Savant

  • Drawing on extensive correspondence by Leibniz and many leading figures of the age, Audrey Borowski paints a nuanced portrait of Leibniz in the 1670s, during his “Paris sojourn” as a young diplomat

Author: Audrey Borowski

Described by Voltaire as “perhaps a man of the most universal learning in Europe,” Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) is often portrayed as a rationalist and philosopher who was wholly detached from the worldly concerns of his fellow men. Leibniz in His World provides a groundbreaking reassessment of Leibniz, telling the story of his trials and tribulations as an aspiring scientist and courtier navigating the learned and courtly circles of early modern Europe and the Republic of Letters.

Drawing on extensive correspondence by Leibniz and many leading figures of the age, Audrey Borowski paints a nuanced portrait of Leibniz in the 1670s, during his “Paris sojourn” as a young diplomat and in Germany at the court of Duke Johann Friedrich of Hanover. She challenges the image of Leibniz as an isolated genius, revealing instead a man of multiple identities whose thought was shaped by a deep engagement with the social and intellectual milieus of his time. Borowski shows us Leibniz as he was known to his contemporaries, enabling us to rediscover him as an enigmatic young man who was complex and all too human.