Marta Norheim published this review in NRK, on December 2014. Photo credit: Cappelen Damm
“Whoever is looking for exoticism, Arabian nights, rebellion against reports about violations of human rights, or Islamic studies will be disappointed with this novel. Ghalib is mostly captivated by his age, and by the fact that he cannot marry his lover, a woman he has loved for 20 years”

The interview was conducted by, Korbinian Frenzel for Deutschland radio kultur, on September 16th, 2015. Below are translated excerpts. Photo credit: Deutschland Radio, Torben Waleczek
Everybody makes the terrorist organizationof ISIS responsible for the failure of the Syrian revolution. But the Syrian journalist and writer Samar Yazbek says that responsibility does not only lie with ISIS, but also in the inaction of the international community.
Samar Yazbek, who was just a guest at the International Literature Festival in Berlin (…), claims to the German radio that it is too easy to say that ISIS has stolen the revolution (…)

A review by  Elke Engelhardt, for Fixpoetry, September 17, 2015. Below are translated excerpts.
Regarding Syria, there is a tragic mismatch in the perception of the situation in that country, and the needs of the people there. On the one hand there are people like Samar Yazbek, who expose themselves to great risks in order to repeatedly report on the situation on the ground, give a voice to the people there that no one listens to, and on the other hand, there is persistent policy of turning a blind eye for over four years (…)

This interview was conducted by Ruth René for Der Standard, and published on September 13th, 2015. Below are translated excerpts.
STANDARD: Ms. Yazbek, in your book you despair at the fact that no one wants to know what is happening in Syria. Has the world abandoned Syria?

 Yazbek: The world knows what is happening in Syria. All documents and evidence of the war crimes of the Assad regime were submitted to the United Nations, even before the advent of ISIS and similar groups. But the powerful countries, including the United States, ignored all the massacres perpetrated by Assad …

Woerdense Courant, May 27th, 2015
“Whoever thinks of the events in Syria in the recent years sees  horror images speed by. In this novel, it becomes very personal. The unnamed narrator brings the reader close to the worries of his family in Aleppo, while the political situation barely lurks in the background (…). Sometimes chaotic, [the novel is] always incisive.”

Der Standaard, March 27 2015
“Khalifa’s family chronicle is straightforward and very structured. We never have enough of the recent history it covers, and the sometimes bizarre characters that filled the ancient streets of the Syrian city [of Aleppo].”