Father of Lions: One Man's Remarkable Quest to Save the Mosul Zoo by Louise CallaghanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Well written book, though a bit repetitive. More than the salvation of the animals and the efforts of Abu Laith, his children, various friends, neighbors and merchants, the book gives a description of life in Mosul at various times. There are chapters describing life when Saddam Hussein, himself Sunni, was in power. As the present day story unfolds, Hussein is gone and the Shia Muslims are now in charge. Their army has checkpoints throughout the city and life is very regulated and not always pleasant for the Sunnis. Life gets much worse, however, when the jihadists of the Islamic State take over Mosul with no resistance from the American trained and supported army.
If there was one weakness of the book, it is that time seems to fly and the number of years in which Isis held the town is barely noticed. Still, the description of conditions for the people of the city and the efforts of some to leave is very tangible. I too love animals, and was happy to see that despite all the barriers put in the way, Dr Amir, an Egyptian veterinarian living in Austria and working for an animal rescue outfit called Four Paws was successful in getting them out of Iraq. He brought a military group to protect him and his crew and through negotiation and incredible self-control managed an almost impossible mission. Nevertheless, considering the conditions for the people of Mosul so far as water and food etc was concerned, I'm afraid my thinking was more in line with Lumia's , Abu Laith's wife and mother of his 12 children. At least two of which were born during this oppressive time and one of which has been born since. That fact also is hard for me to grasp as well--not enough food, a huge family and you bring in more mouths to feed--indeed, you take food from them and give it to the animals? That part of the story just left me shaking my head. Well, written book, though.
This review was of an ARC provided by Book Browse to discuss in their book club.
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