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Instead We Became Evil: A Palestinian Refugee's True Story of Survival and Perseverance
A powerful story of struggle, survival, and hope for the future is told by one of Denmark's most successful artists.
The violent , compelling debut , co-written with journalist Dart Adams , provides a complex portrait of one man and the various ways in which every social system that was supposed to help him failed him, while also delving into the psychology of immigrant gangs and the young men who fall into them. But ultimately, it's a narrative about tenacity , survival , and optimism for the future.
Sleiman was born in Lebanon during the 1982 bombardment and is a Palestinian . His family eventually moved to Denmark , but their new life there was far from perfect. Sleiman was subjected to domestic violence as well as social rejection as a Muslim immigrant. Angry and powerless, he found himself drawn to gang life .
Sleiman had dropped out of school and was one of his gang's most feared and revered members as a teenager. He was involved in hundreds of crimes during his peak, but after surviving an attempted assassination , he addressed his demons and permanently abandoned the gang life . Sleiman is now narrating his story in his own words in the hopes of discouraging others from following in his footsteps.
The violent , compelling debut , co-written with journalist Dart Adams , provides a complex portrait of one man and the various ways in which every social system that was supposed to help him failed him, while also delving into the psychology of immigrant gangs and the young men who fall into them. But ultimately, it's a narrative about tenacity , survival , and optimism for the future.
Sleiman was born in Lebanon during the 1982 bombardment and is a Palestinian . His family eventually moved to Denmark , but their new life there was far from perfect. Sleiman was subjected to domestic violence as well as social rejection as a Muslim immigrant. Angry and powerless, he found himself drawn to gang life .
Sleiman had dropped out of school and was one of his gang's most feared and revered members as a teenager. He was involved in hundreds of crimes during his peak, but after surviving an attempted assassination , he addressed his demons and permanently abandoned the gang life . Sleiman is now narrating his story in his own words in the hopes of discouraging others from following in his footsteps.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published August 9, 2022
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January 4, 2025
Instead We Became Evil caught my attention with its stellar title that becomes a recurring motif of Sleiman’s story. Sleiman is a Middle-Eastern refugee whose family fled to Denmark when he was a child. Instead We Became Evil is the story of Sleiman’s childhood, leading to his descent into Danish gang life as a teenager and young adult. The book shines in the first half with Sleiman’s personal accounts of abuse at the hands of his father and the racism that he and his fellow immigrants experienced.
Sleiman’s story takes place primarily in Askerød, a prominent housing project of Denmark: one of twenty-nine to be officially labeled a ghetto under Danish law (a law that is currently under challenge in the EU on grounds of racial discrimination). American readers will recognize life in Askerød to be similar to the projects of the United States, with Sleiman acknowledging in the book the significant role that LA gang culture played in his experiences with the gangs known as the “Bloodz” and “Black Cobras.” At its core, Sleiman’s is a story of the hardship of immigrant assimilation and the tragedy of a broken family who has known nothing but violence.
I tore through the first third of the book, which wraps with a fifteen-year-old Sleiman seemingly choosing to “become evil” to spit in the face of a community that already treats him as such. The second act is the bulk of Sleiman’s gang life, and this is where the story becomes hard to follow, ultimately leading me to feel that the book didn’t quite stick the landing. The chapters are short and oftentimes not connected, with odd time skips in between that left me disoriented and detached from the story for the bulk of the second half. This was disappointing, because Sleiman’s story itself is nothing short of remarkable. Additionally, Sleiman’s eventual musical career is touted on the back of the book, but then isn’t even mentioned until the final forty pages.
The book is published as being written by Sleiman with the help of journalist Dart Adams, but the majority of the book is very clearly written by Sleiman himself, with a random chapter towards the end suddenly switching to third person where apparently Adams is writing. My frustration lies primarily in the fact that Sleiman has a damn good story to tell. However, it’s hard to overlook the choppiness of both the writing and narrative, a problem that seemingly could have been fixed with increased guidance from Adams.
All in all, this is both a timely and timeless story of a refugee’s life that is seemingly earmarked for brutality from birth. It presents an interesting conversation around the violence in the Middle East and how escaping the region did little to heal the generational trauma that Sleiman’s family brought with them to Denmark. I was surprised and impressed by the forthrightness with which Sleiman addresses his life of crime. He pulls no punches, doesn’t make excuses for the choices he made, and is not afraid to speak about his regrets. I was impressed by the lack of romanticization of street life that is prevalent in American media. Sleiman’s story is equal parts thrilling and deplorable, but 252 pages is simply not enough time to cover 30 years of lived experience, ultimately leading to a conclusion that didn't do the meat and potatoes of the story justice.
Sleiman’s story takes place primarily in Askerød, a prominent housing project of Denmark: one of twenty-nine to be officially labeled a ghetto under Danish law (a law that is currently under challenge in the EU on grounds of racial discrimination). American readers will recognize life in Askerød to be similar to the projects of the United States, with Sleiman acknowledging in the book the significant role that LA gang culture played in his experiences with the gangs known as the “Bloodz” and “Black Cobras.” At its core, Sleiman’s is a story of the hardship of immigrant assimilation and the tragedy of a broken family who has known nothing but violence.
I tore through the first third of the book, which wraps with a fifteen-year-old Sleiman seemingly choosing to “become evil” to spit in the face of a community that already treats him as such. The second act is the bulk of Sleiman’s gang life, and this is where the story becomes hard to follow, ultimately leading me to feel that the book didn’t quite stick the landing. The chapters are short and oftentimes not connected, with odd time skips in between that left me disoriented and detached from the story for the bulk of the second half. This was disappointing, because Sleiman’s story itself is nothing short of remarkable. Additionally, Sleiman’s eventual musical career is touted on the back of the book, but then isn’t even mentioned until the final forty pages.
The book is published as being written by Sleiman with the help of journalist Dart Adams, but the majority of the book is very clearly written by Sleiman himself, with a random chapter towards the end suddenly switching to third person where apparently Adams is writing. My frustration lies primarily in the fact that Sleiman has a damn good story to tell. However, it’s hard to overlook the choppiness of both the writing and narrative, a problem that seemingly could have been fixed with increased guidance from Adams.
All in all, this is both a timely and timeless story of a refugee’s life that is seemingly earmarked for brutality from birth. It presents an interesting conversation around the violence in the Middle East and how escaping the region did little to heal the generational trauma that Sleiman’s family brought with them to Denmark. I was surprised and impressed by the forthrightness with which Sleiman addresses his life of crime. He pulls no punches, doesn’t make excuses for the choices he made, and is not afraid to speak about his regrets. I was impressed by the lack of romanticization of street life that is prevalent in American media. Sleiman’s story is equal parts thrilling and deplorable, but 252 pages is simply not enough time to cover 30 years of lived experience, ultimately leading to a conclusion that didn't do the meat and potatoes of the story justice.
Displaying 1 of 1 review