The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State by Nadia Murad
The Last Girl: My
Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State by Nadia Murad
Nadia
Murad is the survivor of a genocide. She lived in a small village in Iraq
called Kocho. She was born into Yazidism, a monotheistic religion spread in the
oral tradition. It is a religion that you can only be born into. There are only
about one million Yazidis alive in the entire world. The Islamic State captured
her village, killed the men and kidnapped the women and children. Nadia and
other Yazidi women were forced to become sabaya, sex slaves. She was sold and
raped multiple times, by multiple men before escaping. Nadia is now a United
Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking.
She travels telling her story and demanding justice for the Yazidi genocide
taking place in Iraq at the hands of terrorist.
I
cannot imagine the strength it took to survive this. I cannot imagine the fear
that one would experience during a genocide. This book tore me to
pieces and yet I felt like I couldn’t stop reading, that if Nadia had the
courage to recount her story in such painstaking detail the least I could do
was finish reading. Nadia wrote this book for an ignorant audience, and I mean
that in a good way. I had never even heard of Yazidism before picking up this
book and I felt like Nadia did a great job explaining her religion and her
culture. She took her time throughout the book detailing her life before,
during and after her kidnapping. Nadia describes everything that happened to
her; the fear, the abuse, the rape, the uncertainty of not knowing what
happened to other family members and the loss when finally learning of all the
loved ones still living in captivity, or found in a mass grave or died during
an escape.
I’m
recommending this book because Nadia’s story needs to be known. Seeing news
reports of what’s going on in Iraq and seeing clips of terrorist’s attacks does
not in anyway compare to this account of one survivor. I admire the amount of
detail Nadia was willing to share. There is no way to deny the horror that she
endured at the hands of human beings. This was a well written and thorough
account of horrible abuse and genocide. Share it, talk about it so that one day
Nadia and all those who suffered can have justice and some semblance of peace.
Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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