The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity and My Fight Against the Islamic State

by Nadia Murad

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

In this intimate memoir of survival, a former captive of the Islamic State tells her harrowing and ultimately inspiring story.

Nadia Murad was born and raised in Kocho, a small village of farmers and shepherds in northern Iraq. A member of the Yazidi community, she and her brothers and sisters lived a quiet life. Nadia had dreams of becoming a history teacher or opening her own beauty salon.

On August 15th, 2014, when Nadia was just twenty-one years old, this life ended. Islamic State militants massacred the people of her village, executing men who refused to convert to Islam and women too old to become sex slaves. Six of Nadia's brothers were killed, and her mother soon after, their bodies swept into mass graves. Nadia was taken to Mosul and forced, along with thousands of other Yazidi girls, into the ISIS slave trade.

Nadia would be held captive by several militants and repeatedly raped and beaten. Finally, she managed a narrow escape through the streets of Mosul, finding shelter in the home of a Sunni Muslim family whose eldest son risked his life to smuggle her to safety.

Today, Nadia's story - as a witness to the Islamic State's brutality, a survivor of rape, a refugee, a Yazidi - has forced the world to pay attention to an ongoing genocide. It is a call to action, a testament to the human will to survive, and a love letter to a lost country, a fragile community, and a family torn apart by war.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, History, Middle East, War, Autobiography

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2017

About the author

Nadia Murad Basee Taha (Sorani Kurdish: نادیە موراد باسی تەھا‎; Arabic: نادية مراد باسي طه‎; born 1993) is a German-based Yazidi-Iraqi human rights activist. She was kidnapped and held by the Islamic State for three months. In 2018, she and Denis Mukwege were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict." She is the first Iraqi to be awarded a Nobel prize.

Murad is the founder of Nadia's Initiative, an organization dedicated to "helping women and children victimized by genocide, mass atrocities, and human trafficking to heal and rebuild their lives and communities."

Source: wikipedia

Reviews

[Pakinam Mahmoud · Rating 5 out of 5]

"لم نعُد بشراً..لقد أصبحنا سبايا.."!
صدق أو لا تصدق..نادية مراد كانت واحدة من
'ألاف'اليزيديات السبايا اللواتي أعتقلهن تنظيم داعش في عام ٢٠١٤!!!

من ست سنين فقط قُتلت أُم نادية و٦ من أخواتها في يومٍ واحد و إختُطِفت نادية كي تباع عبر موقع فيسبوك ب٢٠ دولار و تُقدم كهدية وكجارية لأعضاء تنظيم داعش الارهابي ..
كونها أزيدية فهي من وجهة نظر داعش "كافرة ونِجسة" ويجوز إغتصابها وسبيها!
نادية كانت تُجبر علي التزين قبل إغتصابها وجسمها كان مُتاح في أي وقت -ليس فقط للإستمتاع به- ولكن يجوز أيضاً ضربها و لا مانع حتي من إطفاء بعض السجائر عليها...

إستطاعت نادية الهرب و بعد سنة وثلاث أشهر من قدوم داعش لقريتها كانت في سويسرا تلقي خطاب في الأمم المتحدة لتحكي حكايتها وكانت تمثلها المحامية أمل علم الدين زوجة الممثل الشهير جورج كلوني و هي التي كتبت بنفسها مقدمة هذا الكاتب المؤلم..

قصة نادية مراد أكبر دليل إن كلمات زي الإنسانية،المساواة،العدل والحرية ما هي إلا شعارات وغير موجودة أصلاً علي سطح هذه الأرض..
مفيش تجربة أصعب من كدة ممكن تعيشها أي ست في الدنيا دي ومع ذلك نادية مقدرتش تسكت وبتتكلم علي حكايتها في كل مكان في العالم..
تحلم نادية بأن تكون الفتاة الأخيرة في هذه الدنيا التي تحمل في قلبها قصة مثل قصتها..
مش عارفين حلم نادية حيتحقق ولا لأ..:(

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a 10-star book written by a very brave young woman persecuted by ISIS, both the men and the women. I wish her health, happiness and peace of mind for the rest of her life. I had wanted to expand my notes on reading to a proper review, but there are many, so I just wanted to highlight a few areas:

I don't understand how ISIS can use Yazidi women they capture as sex slaves when although their ISIS interpretation of the Q'uran says that unbeliever (kuffar) women can be used as such, but not Muslim ones, and they forcibly convert them first. If they are converted to Islam, how can they be called 'sabiya' (sex slaves) and raped and sold by many men, sometimes repeatedly in a day?

I also wanted to share this about illegal immigrants into Europe pretending to be refugees when they are really economic migrants. I didn't realise the system was so simple from the illegal immigrant side and how easily duped the European Immigration services were. There is no thought whatsoever to try to emigrate legally, it doesn't even occur to them apparently.

"Other than Jilan [the girl he loved], he felt like there was nothing for him at home, and since he couldn’t have her, he didn’t see the point of staying. When a few other men in the village decided they would try to make their way to Germany, where a small number of Yazidis already lived, Hezni decided to join them. We all cried while he packed his bag. I felt terrible about him leaving; I couldn’t imagine home without any of my brothers.

Before he left, Hezni invited Jilan to a wedding outside Kocho, where they could talk without the locals whispering. She arrived and separated herself from the crowd, finding him. He still remembers that she wore white. “I’ll be back in two or three years,” he told her. “We’ll have enough money to start a life.” Then, a few days before we were to start one of our two yearly fasts, Hezni and the other men left Kocho.

First, they crossed the northern Iraqi border on foot into Turkey, where they slowly made their way to Istanbul. Once there, they paid a smuggler to take them in the back of a tractor trailer into Greece. The smuggler told them to tell the border guards that they were Palestinian. “If they know you’re Iraqi, they will arrest you,” he said, and then he closed the doors to the truck and drove across the border."

Easy eh?
_________________

ISIS idea of 'morality' stinks, not just this sex slave thing, but the Christian and Yazidi thing too. I cannot understand why anyone would support such a corrupt and murderous regime, especially women.

"After ISIS arrived, many Christians said that soon there would not be a single one of them left in all Iraq. When ISIS came to Kocho, though, I felt envy for the Christians. In their villages, they had been warned that ISIS was coming. Because, according to ISIS, they were “people of the book” and not kuffar like us, they had been able to take their children, their daughters, to safety in Kurdistan, and, in Syria, some had been able to pay a fine rather than convert. Even those who had been expelled from Mosul without anything at least had been spared enslavement. Yazidis had not been given the same chance."

After the establishment of Israel, many Jews were deprived of their property and expelled from Arab lands, others fled. Is this to be the fate of the Christians too? Is it to be as equally unknown as the Jews? I think so, it is already happening. Please do not write pro-Palestinian anti-Israeli stuff in comments or fake friend requests if you have to hide behind anonymity. This is not about that situation and in any case I am not anti Palestinian. If anything, I'm anti-religion especially those that suppress women.

[Jaidee · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 "harrowing, dignified, unfathomable" stars !!!

2018 Honorable Mention Read.

Nadia Murad's story is not unusual and in many parts of the world is quite common. Most of us here in the West and much of Europe are currently cocooned from the ATROCITIES that occur daily in our world. We complain about the price of hydro, extramarital affairs, ADHD treatments and poor service in the restaurant. In fact, in a funny way, this helps us survive and live life day to day. However, it does not help much of the world that is not only being oppressed but assaulted, tortured, killed, raped, maimed. Most of us have not experienced seeing most of our family shot dead, our homes purposefully burned, our bodies being violated frequently and violently. Being treated like a slave, dehumanized, mocked, our souls stomped on.

Nadia Murad was raised in a village in Northern Iraq near Mount Sinjar. She had a very poor but happy childhood with many siblings and half-siblings and a fierce and loving mother that did her best to provide for her children after her husband favored another wife and spent most of his attention and love on that family. Nadia is a Yazidi, a small nation of people that follow a faith that originated in the 12th century. For many centuries they have lived an uneasy peace with their Zoroastrian, Christian and Muslim neighbours. The Kurdish people have been mostly protective of them and in fact have tried to help them to a great degree by this recent genocide by the ISIS group that is fighting in Northern Iraq, Syria and Kurdistan.



Nadia Murad describes in the first part of the book what it means to be Yazidi. She describes the social structure, normative rules, the deep faith and living in harmony with the land and each other. Although a very patriarchal system, the women are treated with respect and love although holding much less power than the men. Nadia loves make-up, hair, her mother, her brothers. She is simple and caring but also fiery and protective. She is intensely likable and you want to teach her how to jump rope and laugh at her silly jokes.

Nadia Murad and her family lived in false hope that ISIS would leave their poor little village alone. They were not prepared for the extermination of all the men, the kidnapping of the boys trained to be human shields in the fundamentalist war. The girls and women are passed around and treated like sex slaves and assaulted physically, emotionally and sexually over and over and over again. Nadia Murad goes into detail about her time in captivity and her escape and finally into her life's work as a human rights activist and raising awareness of the recent genocide of the Yazidi people.

Nadia Murad survived but just barely. Most of her large family was killed, maimed or brainwashed.
I am immensely impressed how Nadia Murad deeply knows her worth as a woman, as a human and as a devout Yazidi. She is able to express her feelings as they occur and feels no shame for her rage and does not feel heroic or martyrlike despite her horrendous suffering.

This is an incredibly difficult read even for me who for a number of years worked intensely with a small group of individuals who were victims of torture in a number of totalitarian regimes throughout the world.

We need to be more aware of not just of the Yazidis but other groups of people that are being tortured and annhilated throughout our world. I am loath to say this but we are the most destructive and cruel species in God's beautiful world.

Ms. Murad -thank you for sharing your pain, your narrative and letting the rest of the world know what is happening to your nation and faith.

For more information on the Yazidi situation please visit the organization Ms. Murad currently works for https://www.yazda.org

[Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nadia Murad was the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 2018.

She was born in the Yazidi community in Kocho, Iraq. August 15 was the day when India gained independence from British rule. Sadly it is a similar August 15 where Nadia lost all her independence when the Islamic State militants caught her. She was twenty-one years old then.

They executed men at their will on whether they agreed to convert or not and made women their sex slaves. I was deeply disturbed by the events that happened in Nadia’s life. These cruel people killed almost her whole family, including her six brothers and mother.

She was raped multiple times by these people and was taken for the slave trade along with many Yazidi girls. After her escape, she boldly came in front of the whole world and told us all the ugly things that were happening in the name of war which most of the world was unaware of until then. Her efforts and voice helped save many people who were captured and sold for the slave trade.

What I learned from this book
1) Why does death also abandon some people at the time of crisis?
We can see the author mentioning that she wished to die due to the extreme pain and suffering she had to endure. But even the death deserted her. She could not even die and wondered why God was testing her like this.

She later understood that God behaved like this because he didn’t want her to die. He had bigger plans for her to save thousands of innocent people who were having the same suffering.

“Since leaving Kocho, I had begged for death, I had willed Salman to kill me or asked God to let me die or refused to eat or drink in the hopes I would fade away. I had thought many times that the man who raped and beat me would kill me. But death had never come. In the checkpoint bathroom, I began to cry.”

“I don’t know why God spared me,” he said. “But I know I need to use my life for good.”

2) What is one of the worst injustices that you can do to a human being?
Nadia was leading a peaceful life with her family in her village. She was forced out of her house and was separated from her family. She says that this is one of the worst injustices you can do to a human being.

“I still think that being forced to leave your home out of fear is one of the worst injustices a human being can face. Everything you love is stolen, and you risk your life to live in a place that means nothing to you and where, because you come from a country now known for war and terrorism, you are not really wanted.”

3) Weapons of war.
There are different types of weapons used during the war. The most brutal weapon during the war is rape. It is heartbreaking to see several people and organizations similarly use this lethal weapon worldwide. The author tells us how it is used worldwide and how to tackle it. She also tells us all the measures she already did, is currently doing, and will do in the future to prevent it.

“Rape has been used throughout history as a weapon of war. I never thought I would have something in common with women in Rwanda—before all this, I didn’t know that a country called Rwanda existed—and now I am linked to them in the worst possible way, as a victim of a war crime that is so hard to talk about that no one in the world was prosecuted for committing it until just sixteen years before ISIS came to Sinjar.”

My favourite three lines from this book

“There was no good reason to deny innocent people a safe place to live.”

“I’m crying for you, because you did this for me. You saved my life.” “It was my duty,” he said. “That’s all.”

“Hopelessness is close to death.”

What could have been better?
I can’t find out any fault in this book. The only thing I have to say is to read this book with caution if you are a faint-hearted person, as some events mentioned in this book have the power to disturb you deeply.

Rating
5/5 This is one of the few memoirs in this world that will shock you and keep you thinking about what has happened to humankind and why they are treating people like this. If you are thinking that you are facing setbacks in your life, please try to read this book. You will then understand how lucky we all are compared to the extreme difficulties the young, innocent Nadia had to face in her life. This is undoubtedly a memoir that you should never miss.

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Q:
More than anything else, I said, I want to be the last girl in the world with a story like mine. (c)

Horror fic writers have nothing on our contemporaries. This is a story to illustrate it: a story of a girl who went through true horrors and miraculously lived to tell us about it.

We are supposed to be living in an enlightened and modern and advanced and educated and informed world. And... it all amounts to nothing, since most vulnerable people out there remain just that, vulnerable, and fall victims while we go on thinking just how great our modernity is. Newsflash: it isn't. It isn't even all that modern, since in this book we can get a tiny and very redacted and sanitised glimpse of horrors, very ancient ones at that.

Instead, it's plain scary that our supposedly postindustrial and humanistic and diverse and democratic and altogether oh-so-very-enlightened world has allowed such thing from hell as DAESH to happen to our contemporaries. Including young and defenceless girls who have pretty much nowhere to run. Like Nadia.

And the DAESH surely didn't rise from some God-cursed sand in some God-forgotten desert, on their God-forsaken own. I'm not naive enough to believe that. There's no Petri dish anywhere, which would produce grown religious fanatic fighters on its own, without any external input. And the religion is probably only one of the ingredients here, since, well, many people of Islam are peaceful. Seriously, someone somewhere obviously believes it worthwhile to pay for DAESH weapons, to teach them to fight, maybe even to fight alongside them. Of-freaking-course, what ever could go wrong with a bunch of armed militants going around, running slave markets, casually killing and otherwise 'conquering' women, children, mature people and everyone else? Otherwise, these SOBs would've already long since ran out of resources, since they don't do much business or, say, agriculture or create modern weapons or do pretty much anything that could have kept them supplied with weaponry they rely upon. So, WHAT. THE. HELL. This world must be sick.

The language of writing is simple and unaffected which makes the tale even more touching and heartbreaking. This book can be split into the BEFORE and the AFTER. Such a loving and tranquille and even a bit bucolic setting of the life BEFORE (however hard it was, one can feel the author's nostalgia for what once was and what cannot be recreated AFTER) against the crescendo of sorrow and pain and hurt and all the horror of the AFTER. Our world should not contain such AFTERs. We should not allow such things to happen on our planet.

This book should make us all angry and full of shame that we stand and watch genocide and worse, much WORSE, unthinkably WORTH and do nothing or extremely little.

I don't think many of us can even begine to imagine the depth of horror that has happened to all these victims. Even after reading this book, I don't expect we still could be able to understand it all.
One can only hope that this mission and support and faith and God will help Nadia and give her strength to continue in this uneven struggle and maybe, just maybe, there will eventually be the ultimate last girl to have endured such dreadful horrors.

PS. Some fellow readers are feeling it their civic duty to inform me that DAESH is an Islamic group. While I know that, I also have read the book and paid close attention to the author's take on religion. Nadia is very cautious about her views on Islam and makes it clear that her village has had lots of peaceful interaction with Muslims. And while not one of them (or of anyone else!) came forward to help her fellow villagers in the time of dire need, and while the religion is obviously a sore point for most sides involved in this horrible crisis, Nadia is very gracious about Islam. And I respect this point of view and I don't particularly care about religious hate comments/messages.

The author, even after all the torments, understands that this war is not exactly about religion but rather of a perversity of it, and that anything can be distorted into horror, if someone applies to it. If Nadia can be this gracious, the commentators are advised to do their own work on their own empathy somewhere in private!

Q:
Our faith is in our actions. (c)
Q:
It was a simple, hidden life. (c)
Q:
“I don’t know why God spared me,” he said. “But I know I need to use my life for good.” (c)
Q:
The slave market opened at night. (c)
Q:
Along with the farmers, the kidnappers took a hen and a handful of her chicks, which confused us. “Maybe they were just hungry,” we said to one another, although that did nothing to calm us down. (c)
Q:
As lucky as I am to be safe in Germany, I can’t help but envy those who stayed behind in Iraq. My siblings are closer to home, eating the Iraqi food I miss so much and living next to people they know, not strangers. If they go to town, they can speak to shopkeepers and minivan drivers in Kurdish. When the peshmerga allow us into Solagh, they will be able to visit my mother’s grave. We call one another on the phone and leave messages all day. Hezni tells me about his work helping girls escape, and Adkee tells me about life in the camp. Most of the stories are bitter and sad, but sometimes my lively sister makes me laugh so hard that I roll off my couch. I ache for Iraq. (c)
Q:
Yazidism is an ancient monotheistic religion, spread orally by holy men entrusted with our stories. Although it has elements in common with the many religions of the Middle East, from Mithraism and Zoroastrianism to Islam and Judaism, it is truly unique and can be difficult even for the holy men who memorize our stories to explain. I think of my religion as being an ancient tree with thousands of rings, each telling a story in the long history of Yazidis. Many of those stories, sadly, are tragedies. (c)
Q:
There are so many things that remind me of my mother. The color white. A good and perhaps inappropriate joke. A peacock, which Yazidis consider a holy symbol, and the short prayers I say in my head when I see a picture of the bird. (c)
Q:
Yazidis believe that before God made man, he created seven divine beings, often called angels, who were manifestations of himself. After forming the universe from the pieces of a broken pearl-like sphere, God sent his chief Angel, Tawusi Melek, to earth, where he took the form of a peacock and painted the world the bright colors of his feathers. (c)
Q:
This is the worst lie told about Yazidis, but it is not the only one. People say that Yazidism isn’t a “real” religion because we have no official book like the Bible or the Koran. Because some of us don’t shower on Wednesdays—the day that Tawusi Melek first came to earth, and our day of rest and prayer—they say we are dirty. Because we pray toward the sun, we are called pagans. Our belief in reincarnation, which helps us cope with death and keep our community together, is rejected by Muslims because none of the Abrahamic faiths believe in it. Some Yazidis avoid certain foods, like lettuce, and are mocked for their strange habits. Others don’t wear blue because they see it as the color of Tawusi Melek and too holy for a human, and even that choice is ridiculed. (с)
Q:
We treat happiness like a thief we have to guard against, knowing how easily it could wipe away the memory of our lost loved ones or leave us exposed in a moment of joy when we should be sad, so we limit our distractions. (c)
Q:
We treat happiness like a thief we have to guard against, knowing how easily it could wipe away the memory of our lost loved ones or leave us exposed in a moment of joy when we should be sad, so we limit our distractions. (c)
Q:
April is the month that holds the promise of a big profitable harvest and leads us into months spent outdoors, sleeping on rooftops, freed from our cold, overcrowded houses. Yazidis are connected to nature. It feeds us and shelters us, and when we die, our bodies become the earth. Our New Year reminds us of this. (c)
Q:
It took a long time before I accepted that just because I didn’t fight back the way some other girls did, it doesn’t mean I approved of what the men were doing. (c)
Q:
Before ISIS came, I considered myself a brave and honest person. Whatever problems I had, whatever mistakes I made, I would confess them to my family. I told them, “This is who I am,” and I was ready to accept their reactions. As long as I was with my family, I could face anything. But without my family, captive in Mosul, I felt so alone that I barely felt human. Something inside me died. (c)
Q:
Every second with ISIS was part of a slow, painful death—of the body and the soul—and that moment ... was the moment I started dying. (c)
Q:
We were no longer human beings—we were sabaya. (c)
Q:
... although I stayed quiet, fully believing Abu Batat would kill me if I lashed out again, inside my head I never stopped screaming. (c)
Q:
“And so God turned them into stars.”
On the bus, I started praying, too. “Please, God, turn me into a star so that I can be up in the sky above this bus,” I whispered. “If you did it once, you can do it again.” But we just kept driving toward Mosul. (c)
Q:
II was quickly learning that my story, which I still thought of as a personal tragedy, could be someone else’s political tool, particularly in a place like Iraq. I would have to be careful what I said, because words mean different things to different people, and your story can easily become a weapon to be turned on you. (c)
Q:
“Be patient,” she told me. “Hopefully everyone you love will come back. Don’t be so hard on yourself.” (c)
Q:
“We are surrounded on three sides by Daesh!” ... But Kocho was a proud village. We didn’t want to abandon everything we had worked for—the concrete homes families had spent their entire lives saving for, the schools, the massive flocks of sheep, the rooms where our babies were born. (c)
Q:
I cried for Kathrine and Walaa and my sisters who were still in captivity. I cried because I had made it out and didn’t think that I deserved to be so lucky; then again, I wasn’t sure I was lucky at all. (c)
Q:
“I used to think that what happened to my sons was the worst thing a mother could bear,” she said. “I wished all the time for them to be alive again. But I am glad they didn’t live to see what happened to us in Sinjar.” She straightened her white scarf over what remained of her hair. “God willing, your mother will come back to you one day,” she said. “Leave everything to God. We Yazidis don’t have anyone or anything except God.” (c)
Q:
Justice is all Yazidis have now ... (c)

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It never gets easier to tell your story. Each time you speak it, you relive it. When I tell someone about the checkpoint where the men raped me, or the feeling of Hajji Salman’s whip across the blanket as I lay under it, or the darkening Mosul sky while I search the neighborhood for some sign of help, I am transported back to those moments and all their terror. Other Yazidis are pulled back into these memories, too. Sometimes even the Yazda members who have listened to my story countless times weep when I tell it; it’s their story, too”.

Nadia Murad - lost her mother and 6 brothers - was an Isis sex slave - she escaped years of living hell in 2015
became a refugee in Germany -

As a spokesperson.. she said: “my story is the best weapon I have against terrorism”.

Reading Nadia’s story is grueling and excruciating.

World thanks to Nadia for her bravery and service ... as a human rights activist.
Her voice is being heard.

Bless this woman for the difference she is making. (When at times she would have preferred to just crawl in a hole and die).

This true story is absolutely horrific - - devastating - sad - sad - makes you so goddamn angry.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes it is just hard to fathom all the evil in this world. The lengths people will go through, the horror they will inflict on others, for power and creating fear in my view, but claiming it is in the name of religion. Such clear writing, such a heartbreaking story, a story that is happening not just in Iraq but in other parts of the world now, and it seems always somewhere. This is Nadia's story, but also the story of her family, her village in Northern Iraq, her culture and beliefs as part of the Said community. Torn apart, murdered, abused by ISIS, friends, family gone, girls taken used and traded sexually abused as slaves.

Yet she rebels in small ways, trying to keep something of herself intact. She is a fighter, manages to do what others could not, live to tell the world her story, write her story, make it known to all, what she and her people have suffered. I admire her greatly and though this is a tough read in places, it is a necessary one, we who live in this world have a responsibility to witness events such as these. To at least, even if we haven't the power or means to change nor stop these things from happening, we can at least say, I can hear you.

Maps and beautiful pictures of the family she once had are included in the book. The map proved very helpful.

[Tahani Shihab · Rating 5 out of 5]

تقدّم نادية مراد في هذا الكتاب صورة مروعة عن المجزرة البشعة التي ارتكبها تنظيم داعش بحق رجال الطائفة اليزيدية في العراق. تحكي نادية قصتها ومعاناتها بعد أن أسرها التنظيم مع بقية الفتيات الأيزيديات. فبعد أن قتل تنظيم داعش الرجال الأيزيدين العُزّل، أباح لأعضائه وللمقاتلين ببيع وشراء الفتيات الأيزيديات واغتصابهم بحجة أنهم كفرة.

تتسائل نادية لماذا إلى يومنا هذا ما زلنا نجهل من قدّم التمويل المادي والمعنوي لهذا التنظيم الإرهابي؟.

ما قرأت كان مؤلمًا. هذا التنظيم لا يمت للإسلام بشيء. وجميع الأديان تتبرأ من داعش ومن عملهم المُخزي والدموي. لا أعلم كيف لم تُصب نادية بأمراض جنسية خطيرة؟ وكيف نجت من تلك الجراثيم العفنة التي غزتها واغتصبتها ليلًا ونهارًا دون رحمة؟.

تُطالب نادية بتقديم قادة تنظيم داعش للمحاكمة على ارتكابهم الإبادة الجماعية بحق الأيزيدين. وط��عًا هذا مُحال. فالدم المسفوك لم يكن أوروبي أو غربي، بل كان دم شرقي سواءً كان يتبع الديانة الايزيدية أو الإسلامية أو المسيحية!

رواية مؤلمة تستحق أن تُقرأ، كي لا يصدّق الناس أي تنظيم ديني سياسي. وكي لا ينخدعوا بزيف شعاراتهم الدينيّة البرّاقة.



اقتباسات


“ربّما يتحوّل البقاء على قيد الحياة أكثر سوءًا من الموت”.

“أن إجبارك على مغادرة منزلك تحت وقع الخوف هو أحد أسوأ أوجه الظلم التي قد يواجهها مخلوق. فكلّ ما تحب يُسلَبُ منك، وتعرّض حياتك للخطر كي تعيش في مكان لا يعني لك شيئًا وحيث لا يكون مرغوبًا بك، لمجرّد أنك قادم من دولة باتت ذائعة الصيت نتيجة الحرب الدائرة فيها والإرهاب الذي يعصف بها. لذا تقضي ما تبقّى من سنّي عمرك تتوق لما تركته وأنت تصلّي ألّا يتم ترحيلك”.

“في تلك اللحظة، أدركت مدى خطورة داعش. لقد أوصلوا رجالنا حد اليأس”.

“لم نعد بشرًا ـ لقد أصبحنا سبايا”.

“أنتِ كافرة، أنتِ سبيّة، وتعود ملكيّتك الآن للدولة الإسلامية، فاعتادي الأمر”.

“لا أفهم كيف يمكن لأي كان أن يقف ويتفرّج على آلاف اليزيديات اللواتي يتم بيعهن للتجارة الجنسية ويتم اغتصابهن حتى تتكسر عظامهن. ليس ثمة ما يبرّر هذا النوع من الفظاعة، وما من قضيّة سامية يصبون إليها قد تبرّر هذه الوحشية”.

“كل فرد من أفراد الدولة الإسلاميّة عاملني بوحشيّة تشبه وحشيّة سَلَفه، وكل جولة اغتصاب كانت تشبه سابقتها”.

“قصَصُنا قصصٌ تبدأ ولا تنتهي”.

“ليس أسهل من تحوّل قصّتك إلى سلاح يستخدم ضدّك”.

“أعلم الآن أنّني ولدت من رحم الجرائم التي ارتُكبت ضدّي”.

“أريد أن أكون الفتاة الأخيرة في العالم التي تحمل في قلبها قصّة مثل قصّتي”.

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much of this book is extremely hard to read. I am not the type who looks at a car wreck; I do not look, I flee. The August 2014 ISIS attack of the author’s northern Iraq Yazidi village and the sexual abuse and beatings that follow are described in excruciating detail.

For the Yazidi community and for Nadia, religion, ethnicity and family are one. They are inseparable, and so the book begins by explaining the myths, customs and beliefs central to the community. Understanding their beliefs is essential to understanding the choices they make. To those of the Western mindset, many Yazidi beliefs will be perceived as foreign and strange.

These two factors made reading the book difficult for me, but on completion, I am very glad to have read it. Being aware of what is happening in our world today is an individual’s responsibility. Media reportage informs but is insufficient; the book gives more depth and reveals the issues at stake.

We follow the attack on the village Kocho, the siege and the violence that follows—the men are summarily killed, the women, of which Nadia is one, are rounded up, sold as sex slaves, starved, repeatedly raped and beaten by Islamic State militants. Her perilous escape is suspensefully told. The fate of all those of her extended family is detailed too. The book concludes with internment in a refugee camp, emigration to Germany and tells of how she came to speak out against ISIS’ genocidal extermination of the Yazidi people.

The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, the author of this book, for "their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict." This, according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee announcement on October 5, 2018 in Oslo, Norway.

What could have been better? Political alliances in Iraq and Kurdistan are not adequately clarified. The situation is complicated, and it is hard to get a clear grip on. A list of the parties and their acronyms would have been helpful. The inclusion of maps too. Perhaps the book does have maps; I do not know.

The audiobook is read by Ilyana Kadushin. It is very well read. In the beginning her voice trembles but by the end gathers the force and strength that it should have. Foreign words, which many Westerners may be unacquainted with at the beginning, become recognizable and easily snapped up by the end. This is aided by the narrator’s clear pronunciation. Four stars for the narration just as for the book’s content. The audiobook should have been accompanied by a PDF file with maps and a party/acronym list.

This is not an easy book to read but is important and is compellingly told.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes it is just hard to fathom all the evil in this world. The lengths people will go through, the horror they will inflict on others, for power and creating fear in my view, but claiming it is in the name of religion. Such clear writing, such a heartbreaking story, a story that is happening not just in Iraq but in other parts of the world now, and it seems always somewhere. This is Nadia's story, but also the story of her family, her village in Northern Iraq, her culture and beliefs as part of the Said community. Torn apart, murdered, abused by ISIS, friends, family gone, girls taken used and traded sexually abused as slaves.

Yet she rebels in small ways, trying to keep something of herself intact. She is a fighter, manages to do what others could not, live to tell the world her story, write her story, make it known to all, what she and her people have suffered. I admire her greatly and though this is a tough read in places, it is a necessary one, we who live in this world have a responsibility to witness events such as these. To at least, even if we haven't the power or means to change nor stop these things from happening, we can at least say, I can hear you.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I won't put this in the military non-fiction category because Daesh are a murdering bag of bastards, only good for killing unarmed opposition, and the Yazidi didn't put up a fight. I'd call this situation a comedy of errors but there is really nothing funny about this tragic situation. It's a disaster that everyone contributed to, all the way down the line. Ms Murad starts her book with a little family background and fills us in a bit on Yazidism, a religion of which I was previously ignorant and now I find I am merely mystified (they pray to a peacock angel). Yazidism has no book and is passed on by word of mouth, but it has one great advantage over other religions: they don't want you. You cannot convert to Yazidism, apparently, so they don't want you. No evangelism. They are perfectly happy to live in harmony with their neighbours and produce children to help in the field but now we have too many mouths to feed so we need to grow more so we need more children to work the field...you get the picture.

Anyway, the head wizards over at the ISIS think tank decide that, since the Yazidi have no holy book, they are fair game for killing, raping, basically anything you want to do to them, so they surround the village with what amounts to lightly motorized infantry. This is where it could have got interesting, because the Yazidi are armed. It seems every Yazidi household has at least one firearm and they love to shoot them, just like every other place in the Middle East. I've heard them; they shoot at funerals, they shoot at weddings, they shoot when their soccer team wins a game. Totally ignorant of the laws of gravity, they shoot all the time. So what do the fierce Yazidi do with this armament? Some of it they turn over to ISIS, and the rest they bury! Then, in a scene eerily reminiscent of that other holocaust, they take their belongings to a collection point for selection. Women of ravishing age are put on transport. Any boy with armpit hair is sent off with the men to be machinegunned.

This is where Nadia's story begins, really. Obviously she survives, because she is pictured on the cover, but I won't tell you more than that. You will have to read it yourself, and really, you should read it. I wish the liberal fancy-boy Prime Minister of my country would read it, because maybe then he wouldn't be letting ISIS fighters back into Canada instead of putting a bounty on them like he should.

This book made me mad! At the United Nations for imposing sanctions that hurt only the people at the bottom of societal strata. At the USA for destabilising the region and then taking off at the high port, leaving weapons to the Iraqis which were then dropped and picked up by Daesh (Murad says ISIS had American weapons). I was angry at the Yazidi polygamous ways that enabled her father to take another wife to produce more kids and then house his first wife in a shed. And let's not forget a system that makes it practically impossible for a poor woman to get birth control. Or the other Muslim people who, while they maybe didn't exactly condone Daesh, didn't speak out against them. And I was especially angry at the Yazidi men who, having weapons, did not use them on those murdering black-clad monsters who had them surrounded. They might not be less dead, but they would have died fighting. They made it easy.

People in the Middle East, in general, have a tendency to be theatrically dramatic while we in the west tend to prefer a type of stoic approach to hardship. This is the only problem I had with the book: Murad seems to be either screaming, fainting or puking on every other page. Even considering that some very painful and wicked things were happening to her, it seemed a bit over the top. It certainly didn't ruin the book, which I endorse whole-heartedly.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful, poignant, guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes no matter how tough you think you are, and surprisingly well-written. The Last Girl is an extraordinary first-hand account of a brutal genocide of a small religious minority who had no one to protect them from the barbaric horrors of the Islamic State which grew in power and territory for several long years while moral leadership was absent in this world and this cancer grew unabated.

The story - and sadly it is not a story - begins with the Yazidis, a small religious and ethnic group in Western Iraq who lived in small villages in the shadow of Mount Sinjar. Persecuted by Saddam for years, they had hope when Iraq was liberated only to see it fall into chaos several years later. When Isis grew, no one stepped in to protect them and, even their neighbors turned on them, viciously. When Isis finally attacked, thousands fled on foot to the mountain where the terrain was so rough not even food could successfully be airdropped . Those who didn't flee where surrounded and either killed in mass graves or enslaved in slave markets and sold and traded again and again.

And, meanwhile, the entire civilized world could not muster the courage to do something about this evil.

It is a very personal tale of a survivor who lost all hope and journeyed through hell, escaping wounded in spirit, her family broken, and little to back to. You might think the world would become more civilized with each passing year, but barbarism, cruelty, and viciousness still exists wherever it's allowed to spring up.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

She is a good writer. And she has a thorough and horrific story to tell.

I find it endlessly ironic that there are so many books written and discussed about past genocides of 50, 70, 80 years ago- and so little for the ones of the recent past or the exact present. Like this record by Nadia of the Yazidi, her people and what ISIS has done to them.

And that refugees from situations like this one (or like the ones against the Kurds) or against Christians in Egypt and other locations Mideast, or Syrian minorities are treated as "like" and "alike" to those masses of refugees who merely are transporting for economic and other personal choice reasons. Because it is quite different. And why don't the countries (like Saudi Arabia) which have immense wealth and all kinds of uninhabited structures- allow them shelter until their lands are freed from the insane dictates? Mosul has been already.

But that's the state of the larger world now. Only there to save the instantly condemned and annihilated to hastily dug mass graves after the fact (mostly way after the fact) with crocodile tears of empathy. Always much later in measure of decades with lots of pretty fiction words surrounding the reality of their cultural ordeals.

The photographs in this one are 5 star- so brave for the survivors to expose themselves in such a manner. Not all will do that.

This Nadia tells it like it is. And felt. I can't imagine that the mental was any less torturous than the physical was. For all those girls, but for their entire extended families who didn't survive, as well. Can you imagine how Nadia's mother felt in her last hours!

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t think I can objectively review this book, and my hat is off to anyone that can. My initial reaction is what the fuck is wrong with people? How can a group of people be so broken and morally bankrupt? How can so many receive pleasure from inflicting pain? The lack of humanity and decency in this group is chilling/nauseating/terrifying/devastating. My secondary reaction is how are genocides still happening in today’s world, when it seems that there are eyes everywhere (though I do remember hearing about this on the news). This reaction is followed by shock, awe, disgust and a very healthy dose of “our problems here in Pleasantville aren’t problems at all”.

This memoir features a lot of repetition about the Yazidi religion and way of life, told in a very plain, factual style that often sounds as though the author is a young child. The beginning drags on and on. This does not matter though. What does matter is that this woman survived a genocide of her people, survived the murder of most of her family, survived being repeatedly sexually assaulted and raped, and went on to fight with a ferocity and sense of undying determination for the rights of others in similar predicaments. She relives the details of her captivity and rapes in order to help others, giving hundreds of speeches and providing testimony before numerous human rights organizations. I cannot imagine what it takes to survive her ordeal with any semblance of sanity intact, let alone use that unimaginable trauma to affect change and help others. What a fierce and selfless warrior.

The epilogue was such a strong conclusion, with many moving single lines of text, the most powerful of these being the final line of the book, which I am not including below. It may be the best final line I’ve read.

Here are some quotes from the epilogue:

There was no good reason to deny innocent people a safe place to live.

It’s a strange hollow feeling longing for a lost place makes you feel like you have also disappeared.

I now know that I was born in the heart of the crimes committed against me.

And I don’t take my freedom for granted.


Nadia Murad, you are an inspiration. You are proof of resilience and faith, of goodness and humanity. You are the embodiment of hope. May your life be filled with pure joy.

[Sahar Zakaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

مأساة أليمة وموجعة من المآسي التي يتعرض لها الأقليات في بعض الحكومات .. إبادة جماعية للإيزيديين تعرضوا لها على يد تنظيم داعش في العراق .. هوجمت قريتهم الصغيرة "كوجو" .. قتل كل رجالها وشبابها ودفنوا في مقبرة جماعية .. كما قتلت النساء كبيرات السن .. وسيقت الشابات والفتيات لبيعهن كسبايا .. أما الأطفال فتم ضمهم إلى الدعواش لإعدادهم عسكريا للإنضمام لجيش داعش ..

تروي هذه المأساة الإنسانية " نادية مراد" .. الفتاة الإيزيدية التي نجت من هذه المجزرة بعد ان تعرضت لأبشع ما يمكن أن يتعرض له إنسان من فواجع وأهوال .. قتلت أمها وستة من أخواتها .. وتم بيعها هي وباقي نساء أسرتها كسبايا .. تم الإعتداء عليها بالضرب والتعذيب والإغتصاب عدة مرات وأجبرت على إعتناق الإسلام .. وبيعت أكثر من مرة من آسر لآخر حتى إستطاعت بما يشبه المعجزة الهروب إلى كردستان العراق حيث أقيمت هناك مخيمات للاجئين الإيزيديين الفارين من جحيم الدواعش ..

تم إختيار نادية مراد لتروي تفاصيل هذه المأساة فى أحد المؤتمرات العالمية لحقوق الإنسان ليرى ويسمع العالم أجمع مدى ما تعرضت له هذه الفئة من ظلم وتشريد وقهر .. وأعلنت نادية مراد أنها كرست ما تبقى من حياتها للدفاع عن حقوق الشعب الإيزيدي وأنها تتمنى أن تكون الفتاة الأخيرة التي تتعرض لمثل هذا الظلم والوحشية.
.

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘The Last Girl’ is a well-written testimony as well as an autobiography. Nadia Murad is someone to be admired and praised for her courage and intelligence. What she endured, survived and overcame is almost more than one can bear to read. However, if any understanding of her ordeal and justice for her is to be obtained, we all must open our eyes and hearts and make the effort to take in her story. It is the only way we can give Murad the honor and love she deserves.

The publisher’s description is spot on (surprise!), so instead of my usual confused and outside-the-box ramble, I am including the publisher's ad copy:

"Nadia Murad was born and raised in Kocho, a small village of farmers and shepherds in Iraq. A member of the Yazidi community, she and her eleven brothers and sisters lived a quiet life. Nadia was in high school and had dreams of becoming a history teacher and opening her own beauty salon.

On August 15th, 2014, when Nadia was just twenty-one years old, this life ended. ISIS militants massacred the people of her village, executing men old enough to fight and women too old to become sex slaves. Six of Nadia's brothers were killed, and her mother soon after, their bodies swept into mass graves. Nadia and her two sisters were taken to Mosul, where they joined thousands of Yazidi girls in the ISIS slave trade.

Nadia would be sold three times, raped, beaten, and forced to convert to Islam in order to marry one of her captors. Finally, she managed a narrow escape through the streets of Mosul, finding shelter in the home of a Sunni Muslim family whose eldest son risked his life to smuggle her to the safety of a refugee camp. There, surrounded by bereaved and broken Yazidi families, Nadia decided to devote her life to bringing ISIS to justice.

As a farm girl in rural Iraq, Nadia could not have imagined she would one day address the United Nations or be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She had never been to Baghdad, or even seen an airplane. As a slave, she was told by her captors that Yazidis would be erased from the face of the earth, and there were times when she believed them.

Today, Nadia's story--as a witness to ISIS, a survivor of rape, a refugee, a Yazidi--has forced the world to pay attention to the ongoing genocide in Iraq. It is a call to action, a testament to the human will to survive, and a love letter to a lost country, a fragile community, and a family torn apart by war."

I recommend reading this book. Gentle reader, please please please pay attention. Politics threatens to drown out this important story. Do not let that happen. Get this book and talk about it. Those supporting the #metoo campaign in particular need to read 'The Last Girl'.

Quote from page 306:

"More than anything else, I said, I want to be the last girl in the world with a story like mine."


Assisting Murad in telling her story is Jenna Krajeski, a journalist. She is a 2016 Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan.


Video of Nadia Murad's return to her destroyed village:

https://youtu.be/JcPqUCJk1eA



The stories of other Yazidi women:

https://youtu.be/Te6HOtiBcf8

https://youtu.be/rC7u2QMmfXg

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wasn't an easy read for many reasons. It took a while to get all of the players straight in my head. First of all, the author comes from a very large family, plus her father married a 2nd wife and had more children. Then, there's the complication of her growing up in Kocho, Iraq and being part of the Yazidi religion. In an area with several different main religions, languages, and cultures all trying to live side by side.

It was a lot to absorb, but the things that go on are so compelling and utterly soul-shaking that it is worth the time taken. This is a book about genocide and having your family torn apart by ISIS, and being taken captive. Pure terror, and mind-numbing fear. Grief. This is an intense story, but I feel it's also an important one that needs badly to be told so that these people and their religion are not forgotten. Thanks for reading. A copy was provided by Blogging for Books for my review.

[Mikey B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a most powerful narrative of a young Yazidi woman in Iraq whose family was forced out of their home by ISIS. Her brothers were murdered in a ditch. The younger women were forced into sexual slavery – older women, like her mother, were killed.

So as can be imagined this is a very visceral and sad book. But the writing is straight-forward, succinct, and beautiful. The reader is taken into Nadia’s family, her home, and then her forlorn tragedy. At the end we get a better understanding of what it is like to be a survivor – and guilt when family, relatives, and friends do not make it. She has a rage and hate of ISIS, and also of the individual men who used their power to sexually subjugate her. Some of these men were “upstanding” members of the religious community who occupied nice homes that they took over from those who were forced to leave – and then brought in their sex slaves.

This book did remind me of Holocaust books that I have read in the past. Groups are selected for extermination by a very organized and armed group of people who believe that they are pre-ordained by their beliefs (Nazis, ISIS, Hutus...) to rid their world of inferiors. Genocides keep happening again and again – in our lifetime Rwanda, Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia – and now ISIS. It is also remarkable to me how religious fanatics use and believe their ancient texts to persuade “their people” to round-up and kill. They refer to ancient texts that justify misogyny, slavery, and other abhorrent practices.

Nadia was helped and rescued by Sunni Muslims who were not in ISIS. They came to her aid because of a shared view of a helpful and benevolent humanity. They felt and knew that Nadia’s abduction and sexual slavery was wrong.

Nadia has given us an impassioned story. We see first-hand what ISIS is doing in Iraq. Her life is now scarred, but we also feel her resiliency. She has become a major spokesperson for the human rights of the Yazidi people, in fact all those who have been oppressed and enslaved by ISIS. This personal history is heart-rending. The Yazidi people, who are neither Muslim or Christian, were marked for death in a part of the world undergoing vicious upheavals.

[Ashish Iyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book 3 days back. I can't able to review it. I can't imagine the horror Yazidi community went through. There are some books which can't be reviewed, this book is one of them. I come from the country where many invaders invaded us. Even my country was divided on the basis of religion line. I can't imagine what my ancestor went through. All i can say to Yazidi community is that we are with you. Wish our world was peaceful. Wish some religion didn't impose their religion on us.

Thank you Nadia Murad for writing this book. Thank you for telling your story to us. I always believe pen is mightier than sword. These stories are important. World deserve to know this and I hope there will be peace all over the Earth.

[Maria Bikaki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Συγκλονιστικό. Μια τολμηρή καταγραφή από μια θαρραλέα γυναίκα που κατάφερε να ξεφύγει από το πετρωμένο της. Ένας ύμνος για τη θέληση για ζωή και επιβίωση, μια μαρτυρία για τη στιγμή που ένοπλοι του ισλαμικού κράτους όχι μόνο αιματοκύλησαν το χωριό που ζούσε αλλά ταυτόχρονα σκότωναν τους άντρες που δεν ήθελαν να προσηλυτιστούν καθώς και τις γυναίκες που δεν ήταν σε ηλικία για να πουληθούν ως σκλάβες. Η Μουραντ βιάστηκε, κακοποιήθηκε, πουλήθηκε ως σκλάβα όμως στο τέλος κατάφερε να αποδράσει. Σήμερα πια ακτιβίστρια η ίδια αγωνίζεται για τα ανθρώπινα δικαιώματα καθώς και ενάντια στα εγκλήματα του ισλαμικού κράτους. Μια δυνατή αφήγηση που θα σας φέρει ένα κόμπο στο λαιμό και δάκρυα στα μάτια.

[الزهراء الصلاحي · Rating 4 out of 5]

مؤلمة للغاية!
للحد الذي يجعلني غير قادرة للحديث عنها 💔

[Anne Goldschrift · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bitte lest dieses Buch! Es ist so wichtig, den Opfern des IS nicht nur eine Stimme zu geben, sondern ihnen auch zuzuhören. Das Buch ist wirklich schrecklich und grausam, aber so so bedeutsam und lehrreich.

[Sol (unlibroparamii) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrible, terrible, terrible...
Tal vez para nosotros tan alejados, cultural y espacialmente, todo esto nos resulte increíble, mas una ficción que la realidad, sin embargo y lamentablemente para muchas personas esta es su terrible realidad. Es indignante, es indescriptible y genera tanta violencia mientra lo estas leyendo, que se hace necesario que nos paremos a pensar para no terminar siendo (aunque sea con el pensamiento) parecido a eso que nos esta causando tanto asco y horror. Todo lo que se cuenta en este libro es terrible.
Admiro a esta mujeres, niñas, adolescente, niños y hombres que pasaron por semejante violación a todos los derechos que puedan existir y sobrevivieron para seguir luchando y plantandole cara a todo el dolor generado.
Mientras leía pensaba que uno cree que nunca mas estas atrocidades se van a repetir pero de una forma u otra vuelven y vuelven y siguen presente en una época que se supone evolucionada, como siempre estos grupos llenos de....no se como llamarlos porque no merecen el termino seres humanos, personas.... estas basuras, intentan oprimir y suprimir pueblos y someterlos a sus deseos, despojándolos de educación, comunicación, religión, familia y por último de la sensación de ser alguien, es devastador, por eso vuelvo a repetir mi admiración especialmente a todas estas mujeres que siguen luchando y no se dan por vencidas.
Un libro muy duro pero creo que es necesario para acercarnos, informarnos y conocer aquellas realidades que realmente existen mas allá de las propias.

[Golakoo · Rating 3 out of 5]

باید از اسلام‌شناس‌ها پرسید کنیزی که در قرآن اومده چه فرقی با سبیه داعش داره؟! آیا رفتارهای صدر اسلام هم با زنانی که از جنگ به اسارت مسلمین درمیومدن هم همینطور بوده یا این تفسیر داعشه از هویت کنیز؟ قسمت دردناک کتاب بیش از همه برای من به جز موضوع تجاوزهای بی شمار به نادیا وقتی بود که به منطقه امن رسید و به جامعه و خانوادش نگفت که مورد تعرض قرار گرفته! چرا؟ چون دختر ازدواج نکرده باید باکره میبود و نبودنش طرد از جامعه ایزدی و همراه داشت. آخ این درد مشترک خاورمیانه ست. حتی اسیر شدن و بی دفاع بودن نباید باعث بشه بکارتت و از دست بدی. در اواخر کتاب اشاره میکنه که بزرگان دین ایزدی جلسه میذارن و دختران سبیه رو از جامعه ایزدی میدونن و نویسنده میگه من سراپا شور بودم و به مردمم هم چنان عشق میورزیدم. واسم سوال بود مگه غیر این و انتظار داشت؟! به نظرم کتاب هم واسه ما که با عقاید داعش و شرایط عراق تا حدودی آشنا بودیم یه جذابیتی داره و برای غربی ها که اسلام واسشون گنگه و تصوری از تندروی ندارن یه جذابیت دیگه داره. کاش واقعا این نسل کشی ها و تجاوزها تموم شه و دنیا روی صلح ببینه؛ هرچند بعیده.

[Dar vieną puslapį · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nadia Murad - mergina, kuriai teko patirti ISIS žiaurumus. Gilesnė viso pasakojimo dalis užkoduota knygos viršelyje - Nadiai ant kaklo matome povo pakabuką, kuris yra jazidų etnoreliginės bendruomenės simbolis. Jazidai turi savo tikėjimą, papročius, yra labai uždari ir į bendruomenę patenkama tik per kraują t.y. jazidu galima tik gimti. Be to santuokos su kitatikiais yra griežtai draudžiamos. Kita svarbi istorijos apie jazidus dalis - nuolatinė priespauda: Sadamo Huseino vykdyta arabizacija ir islamizacija, o galiausiai 2014 m. ISIS Sindžano genocidas . Jo baisumus ir teko patirti Nadiai Murad.

Nuo pat gimimo Nadia gyveno Kočo miestelyje Sindžane. ISIS grėsmė buvo tarsi nuolatinis pavojaus fonas, kuris galiausiai prasiveržė genocido pavidalu: vyrai išžudyti, senyvo amžiaus moterys taip pat, o jaunos, kurių tarpe ir Nadia, parduotos į sekso vergiją. Bėgti - beprasmiška, nes mergina praradusi nekaltybę tampa “susitepusia” bei
jazidų bendruomenėje nepageidaujama ir dėl negarbės užtraukimo šeimai gali būti net nužudyta. Tuo šantažuojamos ir gąsdinamos jaunos jazidės.

Kalbant apie knygą, manau, svarbu atskirti tai, jog vertinama ne pati Nadia ar skaudi jos istorija, o tai kaip pavyko ją atpasakoti bei atskleisti. Žvilgsnis į ISIS moters akimis - gana reta ir nauja perspektyva. Jau įprastais tapę galvų kapojimo vaizdeliai, o štai, kas vyksta su moterimis kalbama puse lūpų. Nadia šią tylą nutraukia ir peržengusi visus savo principus atvirai išsipasakoja. Pasakojime akivaizdu, kad mergina jauna: skamba daug priekaištų, nepasitenkinimo, tačiau brandesnėms asmenybės būdingo susitaikymo ir nekaltinimo nėra. Juk heroizmas nėra natūrali kiekvieno asmens savybė. Masei kaip tik būdinga bijoti dėl savo šeimos, savęs ir nesipriešinti, kad neatsidurti pavojaus akivaizdoje. Nadios patirtis tikrai skaudi ir tarptautines organizacijas apkaltinti neveiksnumu galima, bet jos jaunystės karštis labai juntamas ir kitokia nei jos matymo/mąstymo perspektyva net neanalizuojama.

Pats pasakojimas gana blankus. Istorija iš savęs yra puiki medžiaga knygai, bet išnaudota nevykusiai. Turiu įtarimą, kad prie to prisidėjo reporterė padėjusi Nadiai parašyti knygą. Literatūros čia mažai, o jausmo taip pat. Atrodo lyg skaitytum didesnės apimties laikraščio straipsnį. Empatijai čia vietos nėra, o ir didesnių jausmų skaitytojui nepaliekama. Pasibaisėjimas? Taip! Bet daugiau kažko nėra. Žodžiu, emocinis įtraukimas labai ribotas. Lyginu su Abramovič biografija ir akivaizdu, kad atskleidimas silpnas.

Knyga svarbi. Dėl to aš nesiginčiju. Pasaulis turi žinoti, kas vyksta ir pagaliau efektyviai spręsti šį klausimą. Pagarba ir Nadiai, nes buvimas jazide ir toks jos atvirumas sunkiai suderinami. Teko paminti įsitikinimus ir atsiverti vardant svarbesnio tikslo. Tiems kas domisi ISIS ir nori išvysti kaip visa ši organizacija atrodo iš moterų perspektyvos, manau bus įdomu. Gero skaitymo.

[Elham Fathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

خوندن كتاب تموم شد و من دارم با خودم فكر ميكنم اى كاش ناديا مراد فقط يه نويسنده بود مثل خيلى از نويسنده هاى ديگه و اتفاقاتى كه دربارش نوشته ساخته ذهن و تخيلاتش بود. اى كاش واقعيت نداشت.

"فكر مى كنم يكى از بى عدالتى هايى كه انسان مى تواند با آن روبرو شود اين است كه مجبور باشى به خاطر ترس خانه و محل زندگى ات را ترك كنى. هرچيزى را كه دوست داشته باشى از تو مى دزدند. زندگى ات را به خطر مى اندازى تا جايى زندگى كنى كه هيچ معنايى براى تو ندارد جايى كه كسى تو را نمى خواهد، فقط به خاطر اينكه از كشورى آمده اى كه امروزه آن را با جنگ و تروريسم مى شناسند. پس بقيه سال هاى عمرت را در حسرت آن چيزى كه پشت سر گذاشته اى مى گذرانى و در عين حال دعا مى كنى كه كاش تو را به آن جا باز نگردانند. "

[Hêmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

عێراق وڵاتێکی په‌رته‌وازه‌یه ، وه‌ک گۆمێک که هه‌ر تاقمێک مینا وشکه‌ڵانییه‌ک له‌و ناوه‌ سه‌ری هه‌ڵداوه. ئه‌وه‌ش ده‌گه‌ڕێته‌وه‌ بۆ ئه‌و کاته‌ی که‌ فۆڕمی ڕێکخستنی ده‌وڵه‌ت-میلله‌ت به سه‌ر دانیشتوانی خۆرهه‌ڵاتی ناویندا سه‌پا. فۆڕمێک که پێشتر، دوای هه‌زاران ساڵ له خوێنڕشتن و کاولکاری ، توانیبووی پێشکه‌وتنی ئابووری/کۆمه‌ڵایه‌تی و نیمچه ئارامییه‌ک بۆ ڕۆژئاواییه‌کان به‌رهه‌م بهێنێت به‌ڵام کاتێک خه‌ڵکانی زۆر و ته‌واو جیاواز له چین و قه‌وم و توێژه‌ جیاواز و ته‌نانه‌ت دژ به‌ره‌کان به هێزی سه‌ربازی ده‌خرێنه‌ سنوورێکی ده‌ستکردی داخراودا به ئه‌سته‌م ئاسۆیه‌کی ڕوون بۆ داهاتووی ئه‌و گه‌لانه ده‌بینرێت. عێراق له زۆر گه‌لی جیاواز ، مێژووه‌که‌شی له کێشمان کێشم و جه‌نگی سوننه ، شیعه و کورد پێک هاتووه ( وه‌ک چاوه‌ڕوان ده‌کرێت له هه‌موو شه‌ڕێکدا که‌مایه‌تییه ئه‌تنیکییه‌کان قوربانیی ده‌کرێن ).
گرووپه سوننه بناژۆخوازه‌کان هاوکات له‌گه‌ڵ په‌ره‌سه‌ندنی ئیسلامی ڕادیکال ، به تایبه‌ت دوای ۲۰۰۳ توانیان هه‌وادارانێکی زۆر له ده‌وری خۆیان کۆ بکه‌نه‌وه‌؛جارێک له ژێر ناوی "القاعده" ، جارێکی که "داعش" و هتد. دوای په‌ره‌سه‌ندنی "ده‌وڵه‌تی ئیسلامی" ، ئێزدییه‌کان یه‌کێک له سه‌ره‌کیترین ئامانجه‌کان بوون به شێوازی سیستماتیک کوژران ، ده‌ستدرێژی سێکسی کرا سه‌ریان ، ئاواره کران و له هه‌مووی گرینگتر ترسێکی مه‌زن له ناخیاندا چاندرا.

یه‌زدانییه‌ت ئایینێکی که‌ڤناره؛ تێکه‌ڵێک له ئیسلام،کریستیانی و ئایینه مێژوییه‌کان و ئادابی تایبه‌ت به‌و دینه. ئێزدییه‌کان خوێندنه‌وه‌یه‌کی نوێیان له چیرۆکی خولقاندن هه‌یه‌ و ئه‌وه‌ بووه‌ته مایه‌ی ئه‌وه‌ی ژماره‌یه‌ک له خه‌ڵکانی تر به شه‌یتان په‌ره‌ست ناو به‌رن. کۆمه‌ڵگای ئێزدی له کۆمه‌ڵگا داخراوه‌کانه؛ که‌س ناتوانێت ببێته ئێزدی و ئیزن نادرێت هاوسه‌رگیری له‌گه‌ڵ که‌سانی ده‌ره‌وه‌ی بازنه‌ی دین بکرێت. دانیشتوانی ئه‌م سنووره ئایینیه ، زمانی ئاخافتنیان کوردی و میراتێکی ئه‌تنیکی هاوبه‌شیان له‌گه‌ڵ یه‌ک هه‌یه ، هه‌رچه‌ند هه‌ندێک له‌وان خۆیان به کورد نازانن و پێیان وایه "ناسینه‌ی قه‌ومی و ئایینیان ئێزدییه". له‌گه‌ڵ ئه‌وه‌ی که سه‌دام ، پیاوانی ئێزدی که به هۆی هه‌ژاری ده‌چوونه ناو سوپای عێراق ، بۆ سه‌رکوتی شۆڕشی کوردان به کار دێنا به‌وه‌ش ڕازی نه‌بوو ئاسیمیلاسیۆنی ده‌ویست. ئه‌وان خۆڕاگرییان کرد ف داعش هه‌وڵیدا به‌ له‌ناو بردنیان کاری ناته‌واوی به‌عس ته‌واو بکات. به داخه‌وه‌ هه‌ڵسوکه‌وتی کوردانیش دوای ئێتۆنۆمی له‌گه‌ڵ تاکه کرێکاره به ڕه‌چه‌ڵه‌ک ئێزدییه‌کان جێگای ڕه‌خنه و شه‌ر‌مه‌زاری تونده

2014 ساڵ پاش له ‌دایک بوونی مه‌سیح وێده‌چوو خوداکانیش "شنگاڵ"یان له یاد کردبێت گرینگییه‌کی ئه‌وتۆی نه‌بوو. ۷۳ فه‌رمان ، فه‌رمانی قڕکردن و له‌ناو بردنی ئێزدیان ، که که‌متر که‌سێک دواهه‌مینیانی به بیر ده‌هات ، ژماره‌ی دانیشتوانی شوێنه‌واره‌ مێژوییه‌که‌ی که‌م کردبووه‌وه‌ ، په‌رته‌وازه‌ی کردبوون به‌ڵام هیچیان نه‌یانتوانیبوو شوێنکه‌وتووانی مەلەک تاووس و شێخ ئادی بسڕنه‌وه‌. له ناکاو داعش ۷٤مین کۆمه‌ڵکوژی جێ به جێ کرد

یه‌که‌م پرسیار که دێته پێش؛ ئایا ئه‌م کتێبه به ته‌واوه‌تی له لایه‌ن "نادیا موراد"ه‌وه‌ نووسراه؟ وه‌ڵام نایه ، دیاره که ئاستی زمانزانی ئینگلیزی ئه‌و ، هێند باش نییه که‌ ئه‌و کتێبه‌ی پێ نووسیبێت. ده‌توانین نادیا گێڕه‌ڕه‌وه‌ی سه‌ربورده‌یه‌ک بێنینه ئه‌ژمار که به یارمه‌تیی و هاوکاریی که‌سانیتر نووسراوه. ئه‌م فاکته هیچ له ناخ هه‌ژێن و ڕاست بوونی ئه‌م ڕیوایه‌ته که‌م ناکاته‌وه ، بڕوانه ته‌نانه‌ت قورس و قایمتریشی ده‌کات چونکه شێوازێکی دۆکیۆمێنترییانه‌ی ده‌داتێ که ده‌یکاته سه‌ربورده‌ و چیرۆکی گه‌لێک نه‌ک ته‌نیا تاکێک
له سه‌د لاپه‌ڕه‌ی سه‌ره‌تایی ، کۆمه‌ڵگای ئێزدی و شێواز و شوێنی ڕابواردنیان به کورتی ده‌ناسێنرێت که ڕه‌نگه‌ بۆ خوێنه‌ری کورد که‌م تا کورت دووپاته بێت به‌ڵام ده‌بێت سه‌رنج بدرێت ئه‌م کتێبه بۆ خوێنه‌ری جیهانی نووسراوه که زانیاری ئه‌تۆیان له‌و باره‌یه‌وه‌ نییه (ئێمه بۆخۆشمان تا ۲۰۱٤ شتێکی ئه‌وتۆمان نه‌ده‌زانی مه‌گه‌ر هه‌ندێک شێعره‌کانی شێرکۆ بێکه‌س که باسی ئایینی ئێزدی ده‌کرد ). له لایه‌کی دیکه‌وه‌ هه‌ر ئه‌و ڕووبه‌ره‌ فراوانه‌ی کتێبه‌که‌ هه‌وڵیداوه له‌خۆی بگرێت و تێکۆشان بۆ له‌خۆ گرتنی ژماره‌ی زۆرتری خوێنه‌ری ئاسایی بووه‌ته‌ مایه‌ی ئه‌وه‌ی هه‌ندێک له به‌شه‌کانی و بابه‌ته‌ په‌یوه‌ندیداره‌کان په‌رته‌وازه‌ بێته‌ به‌ر چاو و به باشی له مێشکی خوێنه‌ردا جێگر نه‌بێت. ئاماژه سیاسی و لێکدانه‌وه‌کانی نادیا ڕووه‌کی و ته‌نیا خوێندنه‌وه‌یه‌کی هێزه‌کانه

نادیا دووهه‌مین براوه‌ی هه‌ره‌ گه‌نجی خه‌ڵاتی ئاشتی نۆبێله‌. ئه‌گه‌ر له ماڵپه‌ڕی گوودڕیدز چاو له کتێبی براوه‌یتر "مه‌لاله یوسف زه‌ی" بکه‌ین ئه‌بینین که به ده‌یان قات زیاتر له کتێبی "نادیا" خوێندراوه‌ته‌وه‌. لای من پرسیاره ، بۆ؟
"میدیاکان ئه‌وان وه‌ک سیمبۆل و مانشێتێک لێده‌که‌ن که ته‌نیا به‌ چاوی دنیا و قوربانیانیتری بده‌نه‌وه‌ ئێمه‌ گوێمان له ئازاری ئێوه‌یه‌" ئه‌مه‌ یه‌کێک له ڕه‌خنه تووند و تیژانه‌یه‌ که ڕووبه‌ڕوی براوه‌کانی ئه‌و جۆره خه‌ڵاتانه‌ و که‌سایه‌تییه دیاره‌کان ده‌کرێته‌وه‌. نادیا بۆخۆشی ئاماژه���یه‌ک ده‌کا که کاربه‌ده‌ستانی وڵاتان دوای گوێ ڕاگرتن له چیرۆکی ئه‌وان ته‌نیا هاوخه‌می ده‌رده‌بڕن و هیچ به‌ڵێن و پلانێک بۆ یارمه‌تییدانی قوربانیان ڕه‌چاو ناکه‌ن (هه‌ر ئه‌و جۆره‌ی مه‌سعوود بارزانی دوای کاره‌ساتی ئه‌نفال له گفتوگۆ له‌گه‌ڵ "شێری له‌یزه‌ر"دا ئاماژه به‌و خاڵه ده‌کات)
چیرۆکی مه‌لاله (بێ ئه‌وه‌ی که داوه‌ری بکه‌ین له‌باره‌یه‌وه یان تیکۆشانه‌کانی نه‌بینین) خه‌یاڵه‌کانی ڕۆژئاوایه که ڕاست ته‌عبیر ده‌کرێت ، ئه‌و چیرۆکه به‌ جۆرێک ڕۆژهه‌ڵاتی ناوه‌ڕاست بۆ خه‌ڵکانی ڕۆژئاوا ده‌خه‌مڵێنێت که حکوومه‌ته‌کانیان ده‌یانه‌وێت وای نیشان بده‌ن؛ "خۆشی و ئارامی و پێکه‌وه ژیانی ئاشتیانه تا ئه‌و کاته‌ی ئیسلامییه‌ ڕادیکاڵه‌کان که‌وتنه گیانی خه‌ڵک"!!! به‌ڵام که‌س پێیان ناڵێت ئه‌گه‌ر ته‌نانه‌ت ئاواش بێت هه‌ر خۆی ڕۆژاوا بوو که به قورسی له تووندڕه‌وه‌کان پشتیوانی کرد تا دواتر له ده‌ستی ده‌رچوون. کتێبی "دوایین کچ" و ڕیوایه‌تی نادیا زۆر ڕیالتره. له‌م "شرق الاوسط"ه‌دا ئێمه هیچ کات له ئاشتیدا نه‌بووین ، جارناجارێک شه‌ڕ ڕاوه‌ستاوه و ئێستاش تا مل له قوڕی "دژایه‌تییه‌ هاوژییه‌کان" و جه‌نگدا ڕۆچووین. (لێره‌ش جێگای ڕقه‌به‌ری پ.د.ک و ی.ن.ک له‌سه‌ر جێی خۆیه‌تی ، به‌جۆرێک ته‌نانه‌ت دوابه‌دوای هه‌ڵاتنی نادیا له ده‌ستی داعش ، وه‌ک ئامێرێکی سیاسی به کار ده‌هێنرێت)
وه‌ک ئه‌وه‌ی به‌ختیارعه‌لی ئاماژه ده‌دات لێره پیشه‌ی سیاسه‌ت پێشبردنی کۆمه‌ڵگا نییه به‌ڵکوو دووباره‌ کردنه‌وه‌ی مێژووه. نادیا به درووستی ده‌ست ده‌خاته سه‌ر ئه‌و خاڵه‌ی که ئێمه له باشترین حاڵه‌ت و ئارامترین دۆخیشدا ، لانیکه‌م جۆرێک له بێ متمانه‌یی له به‌ینماندا هه‌بوو. ئه‌و نایه‌وێت چیرۆکی قاره‌مانیه‌تیتان بۆ بگێڕێته‌وه‌ ، ده‌گه‌ڕێته‌وه‌ و ده‌ستدرێژی ، سووتاندن و به تاڵان بردن و خایینه‌کان ده‌خوێنێته‌وه‌. "من مه‌لاله‌م" وه‌ک ڕووناکییه‌ک وایه هێند به‌هێزه چاوتان کوێر ده‌کات (لێده‌گه‌ڕێم بۆخۆتان بزانن سه‌ناعیه یان سرووشتی) به‌ڵام له‌گه‌ڵ نادیه‌دا بۆ نێو تاریکترین کرده‌وه‌کانی مرۆڤ سه‌فه‌ر ده‌که‌ن تا ڕووناکیی به‌دی بکه‌ن. تێده‌گه‌ن چۆن مرۆڤێک ، کچێک ی ئاسایی وه‌ک "نادیە موراد باسی تەھا" که گه‌وره‌ترین ئاره‌زووی ساڵۆنێکی مه‌یکاپه ، که به خه‌یاڵیشیدا نایه له گوندی کۆچۆ بڕوات له لایه‌ن که‌سانێک که تا دوێنێ دراوسێ و هاوکار و هاووڵاتی بوون ، تیرۆری ڕۆحی ده‌کرێت هه‌وڵ ده‌درێت ئاینده و ڕابردووی بسوتێنرێت . ئازایه‌تی نادیه له ده‌نگ هه‌ڵبڕینیدایه ، بوو به ده‌نگی بێده‌نگ کراوان. نادیه‌ داوای عه‌داڵه‌ت ده‌کا. به‌ڵام ئایا دادپه‌روه‌رییه‌ک ، دادپه‌روه‌رێک له‌م دنیا به‌دی ده‌کرێت؟ ئایا تاوانه‌کان سزایان به شوێنه‌وه‌ دێت؟
ئه‌مه‌ به‌سه‌رهاتی کاره‌ساتی "نادیه‌"یه ؛ له ڕۆحی خۆیدا چیرۆکی هه‌زاران ژن و کچی ئێزدی له‌خۆ گرتووه ئه‌وانه‌ی ده‌نگیان خامۆش کرا و قه‌ت ده‌رفه‌تی ساڕێژکردنی ئازاره‌کانیان پێ نه‌درا

Çayeki dagire saqî ; bila wek jinên kurdan şirîn û wek bextê wan reş bê

[booklady · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last Girl is the perfect book to read if you want to learn something about the Yazidis and the impact of ISIS on one culture.

Nadia Murad writes with passion about her people and I included the above link in hopes readers will in fact be provoked to read at least a little about this proud and fiercely independent ethno-religious group, who seem to have suffered at least as much as other small group battling to retain their identity in the Middle East.

The Yazidis are not Christian, Jewish nor Muslim, nor related to the ‘people of the book’ in any way, though they do believe in one God. In fact, ISIS treated them more harshly than they did Christians or Jews for this very reason. Yazidis are fiercely devoted to family, may not convert and nor accept converts. New members may only come from children of their own blood, so it is easy to see why they are so devoted to family and so profoundly mourn every death of their own.

Nadia’s life was scratch existence even before ISIS came into her village of Kocho, in 2014. Yet she loved it and had no dreams of leaving it or even big plans of changing things, only little hopes of day-by-day improvements through hard work with her family and community.

But as anyone knows who has read the horrific stories of what ISIS has done, Nadia’s life will never be the same. This is not an easy book to read, but it is very important. Now she lives to see justice done on behalf of her deceased loved ones as well as for all that she herself suffered as a sabiyya (sex slave).

This book helped me see a more in-depth and deeply personal picture than I would ever have been able to know any other way. Thank you and God bless you Nadia for opening yourself up about something which has cost you so much. Eternal rest to your family and may you find peace along with the justice you seek.

Thanks to Fr. John Stabin! It was his excellent review which led me to want to read this work.

[Kimia Karbasi · Rating 3 out of 5]

حس کردم لازمه یکم بگذره از تموم کردن کتاب و حال بدی که از خوندش داشتم ، بعد بیام نظرمو بگم ..
کتاب با جزییات نوشته شده جزییاتی که مطمئمم هر دختری با خوندش ، تا چند روز حال خوبی نداره ..
مسئله اینه که تمام لحظات داستان زندگیه سخت نادیا واقعیته و این بیشتر آدمو به هم میریزه
در کل نمیدونم پیشنهاد دادن کتاب کار خوبی باشه یا نه ولی برای کسی که قراره ریویوِ منو بخونه بهش میگم شاید اگه نخونه خیلی بهتر باشه ....بازم نمیدونم... حالم از خوندن این کتاب خیلی بهم ریخت برای همین به کسایی که روحیات حساسی دارن میگم بهتره نخونن..

[Swati]

Nadia's story was difficult to read, it was an upsetting and painful reading experience. I had to force myself to read it all the way through. It seemed like fiction, or a part of history long ago, but it was neither, it all happened in the last decade.

I feel everyone should read this whenever they can. Books like these can jolt us out of our bubble and show us the disturbing reality of the world we live in and what we humans are capable of.

Fortunately, Nadia managed to escape, but she is among the very few who are brave and lucky enough to succeed.