The Mountains We Carry

by Zaid Brifkani

The story of a Kurdish family torn apart during the Anfal genocide committed by the Iraqi army against the Kurds in Iraq. The story takes you on a journey through the minds of three main characters as each tells the story from a different angle, all converging at one point of loss, pain, suffering, AND hope, strength, and perseverance.

Azad’s father was brutally executed by the Iraqi army. Since then, Azad has moved to the city of Duhok to pursue his education. In doing so he hopes to provide a new life for his family and his fiancée, Juwan, who are back in their home village. But as the Iran-Iraq War comes to an end, the Iraqi government launches the genocidal Anfal campaign against the Kurds. Fleeing separately across physical and emotional borders, Azad and Juwan find themselves in the crosshairs of the Iraqi army. However, the most dangerous threat is the one they least expect.

[An international sensation, currently being translated to multiple languages]

Genres: Fiction, Literature, Historical Fiction

484 pages, Paperback

Published September 29, 2021

Reviews

[Emily]

Whew! This was a hard read… not difficult as far as the writing of style, but the content was heavy. I feel the author did a great job portraying a people who have had many dark days. As to whether or not it an accurate historical portrayal, I would have to research the time period. The author jumped from character to character in the story, writing from each viewpoint. At times this was difficult to follow, but also made it an even more unique read.

[Blake Randall]

A captivating novel that really puts you through a test with your emotions as it goes on-- The Mountains We Carry is a phenomenal book that gives you a look (at least for me as a American citizen) at a world that most do not get exposed to. The characters are easy to attached to as most humans can relate to the emotions that they go through. For a first novel, I thought Zaid did a fantastic job! Intriguing to see what he can come up with next! Definitely recommend!

[Aryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is one of the best novels I have ever read. It’s written in a way not only it was extremely thrilling and kept me intrigued the entire time (especially after the first 3 chapters of the book), but it let me also cry as I realized how some people sufferd the extreme regime in the same city I lived as a child without self noticing it at the end of 80s in Northern Iraq. And it also remind me of the beginning of 90s when the Kurdish uprising were inevitably crushed by superior fire-power of regime forces; more than one million Kurdish people fled to Turkish and Iranian border terrified that Saddam's men would use chemical weapons against them again as they did three years before.
This thriller takes place in those years which determine the fateful future of a simple Kurdish family.
This fictional exciting story is written, in particular for non-Kurds, to highlight the nonfictional terrible time at the end of the 80’s in Iraqi Kurdistan. I recommend it to everyone.

[Ilayda · Rating 3 out of 5]

2/5 stars for the book, an extra star for simply being a somewhat autobiographical story written by a Kurdish author. I was super excited to find this book written by a Kurdish author, i’m somewhat going through a phase of finding books written by Kurdish authors and reading them. However, this book was so hard to get through from the start to the end. simply because of the writing style😭 This book had the capacity of being so profound and sad, but the writing style was so clunky, matter of factly and random that I really felt no connection to the story and had to force myself to not DNF. Still a win for Kurdish literature, just wish it was written better.

[Selva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zaid's 'The Mountains We Carry' is an extraordinary tale.

It's one of the best books I've read and now one of my favorites. It’s well-written and feels like a film. I read the novel in 3.5 days.

Zaid writes as an established author. Scenes are painted with rich imagery. Oftentimes you feel as if you're walking alongside the characters on their journey. Reading the novel, I often wept. The prologue alone made me cry.

Story details the history of the Kurds and their struggle - it follows a family during the genocidal attacks as they make their way to safety. Readers catch glimpses of the horrific atrocities, mountains of unimaginable pain, devastation/loss, and trauma Kurds have faced. It's not all darkness though. It showcases love, strength, and hope as well.

You get a good sense of what it means to be a Kurd: who the people are, where they come from, and why they may be in a country outside of Kurdistan today. The portrayal is rounded. Zaid doesn’t hold back and sheds light on both the good and bad.

I finished the story and had questions for my parents. My family walked a similar journey. Every Kurd needs to read The Mountains We Carry. It’s especially important for those who may not have a clear understanding.

I’m very proud of what the author has accomplished. It's inspiring and monumental.

The Mountains We Carry is incredible and will move you to tears. I love Zaid's driving message of humanity and highly recommend the book. I look forward to reading his next piece.

[Selin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

Really great book and mesmerising. Characters are complex & well written that you have a strong connection with them. Very detailed look into life of a Kurdish family, and many other Kurds, during the Anfal campaign in which hundreds of thousands of Kurds were killed. It also explores the state of the Kurds in Iran as well as Iraq. I really enjoyed reading this as it was very informative but also emotional, especially because it is based on true events that happened only 30~ years ago.

My favourite character was Juwan, as well as Dilveen. Many themes are explored in the story besides the main ones of family, war and displacement, but also domestic abuse, illegal immigration and people smuggling, and the plight of the Kurds, particularly from northern Iraq, a.k.a. South kurdistan.

My only gripe is it was a little slow in the middle because of the repetitiveness of moving constantly (though this was a big part of the story of displacement), and also the extra descriptions of things that didn’t need to be described to that extent.

Regardless though I really love this book & it’s an incentive to learn more about the iran-Iraq war, the gulf war and the emergence of the modern day autonomous region of Kurdistan. I recommend this book to those who are interested in Kurdish or Middle Eastern history & Kurds in general.

[Calvin Fontaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

My professor assigned this book for our class on immigrants in Nashville. Nashville, TN is home to the largest Kurdish population in the United States, with an estimated population of 20,000 Kurds.

This fiction novel depicted the struggles of rural Kurds in northern Iraq as they fled the genocidal Anfal campaign executed by Saddam Hussein and his Ba’athist regime. It follows Azad and his family as they move through Iraq, Iran, and Turkey, fighting for their lives and searching for hope and belonging in the darkest of times.

The plot was tragic and moving, but honestly, the writing was mediocre. Granted, Brifkani is a full-time physician and the book was published independently. By no means am I trying to belittle his endeavor to capture the sentiments and stories of Kurds in the 1980s and 1990s, but it detracted from my engagement with the book and my excitement to read it.

//

“Whatever our destinations, we will all carry mountains. Mountains of pain, sorrow, deprivation, and scars. Also mountains of hope, love, resilience, and determination. We will carry them wherever we go just as they carried us through both good and terrible days.” (463-64)

[Baraa Abraham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once I started reading this wonderful book I couldn't put it down and read it in 4 days even though my busy schedule I kept reading at breaks during meals and at bedtime.
I definitely recommend this book to be read by every Kurd in 4 parts of Kurdistan because it reflects the pain, love and struggle that the Kurd goes through all the hardships. It is a very touching story that gave me chills several times as if it was talking about me and my family. God bless you Dr.Zaid may Allah increase your likes in our society. Well done

[Matthew Oh · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get settled, but once I was fully engrossed in the story, I couldn't put it down! The Mountains We Carry doesn't try to give everyone a fairy tale ending, because that's simply not how life works, but provides a (sometimes brutally) honest depiction of life during Iraq's Anfal campaign through the eyes of everyday people. Yet despite the horrific circumstances its characters endure, the book is not devoid of optimism, providing a poignant picture of endurance through hardship and hope for tomorrow.

[Huda Hassan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this book with tears, as it also put me into tears several times throughout the whole story, it made my heart ache several times , i felt very connected to it, people may say that is because you’re kurdish and this is the thousands time if not more you read about what happened to Kurds throughout the history,, but I don’t care . You can tell if it’s a good story when you feel connected to it because it’s been written sincerely , that when the author wants a massage to be received by the readers , it will !! When the author means and feels every single word .
It’s a long detailed story with so many characters but yet not boring and very clear .
It felt very nostalgic reading it that’s why it’s very special to me and i will definitely recommend it to everyone.

[Noor · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mountains We Carry is an incredible story about war, pain, devastation, persecution, heart-wrenching loss, fear, and love. This profoundly moving and beautifully written story tugs at your heartstrings and invites you to experience different emotions throughout the story as the reader follows the story of Azad and his childhood love Juwan. Zaid does a great job describing the events in detail inviting you to feel the emotional rollercoaster between Azad and his fiancée Juwan. Their story is heartbreaking and yet hopeful. This debut novel by an author trained in transplant nephrology, and not literature, is amazing. This captivating page turner will keep you intrigued and asking for more. This is a fictitious story, but it holds a great deal of truth as Zaid pulls from his own childhood experience living under Saddam's brutal regime. Zaid is a gifted storyteller. I can't wait to see what he publishes next.

[Zahra · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mountains We Carry is a powerful and memorable story that takes its readers through mountains of pain, struggles, and love. This story is bigger than one single character and the author does an amazing job conveying it through the perspective of more than one character. As each character tells their story, the author grabs the reader’s attention and immerses them into the lives of the characters. This is a touching story of life’s unexpected turns and it is full of emotions that made me cry at many times. While this novel address main issues related to the time and place of the story, I think many readers can relate to the many universal human emotions addressed in this story, such as love and the desire for freedom. This is a must read!

[Areeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely powerful story of a young Kurdish man who finds himself responsible to take care of his family and secure his future with his fiancé after the execution of his father by the Iraqi army. It’s hard to put down the book after the third chapter. This book is very intense and consuming since you will experience an abundance of emotions ranging from fear, horror to deep love.

This is zaid’s first novel but he has full control of the story and love his style. Highly recommend this book

[Nuraldeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book that you won’t be able to put down.

This book has left me feeling many things. An emotional rollercoaster full of twists and turns, The Mountains We Carry is an incredible journey of longing, sacrifice, and the realities of war. As a young Kurdish American, this book has painted for me the pain and struggles of my people like no one has done before. It’s beautifully written and I hope to read more books from this author.

[Ashley LeFevre · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful book! I couldn't believe how connected I felt to the characters, even though their lives and circumstances were so different from my own. Brifkani did an amazing job of illustrating the struggle of the Kurds under the regime of Saddam Hussein, but more importantly, their strength and resiliency. This book is about independence and love, and taps into universal emotions that all of us have felt. I loved this debut, and I'm excited to see what comes next!

[Frances Garner]

Beautifully written story of a Kurdish family’s flight from Iraq. It is a journey filled with hardship, heartbreak and hope. The characters come alive on the pages and keep you hoping for them along the way.

[Zaid Altalib · Rating 5 out of 5]

I super enjoyed reading this book the second half I could not put it down and I kept reading through the night.

[Pawan Mohamad-Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let's see, where do I begin. This book very quickly became dear to my heart. In many ways this book was special to me. It felt like a void in my life and the understanding of my parents' journey was being filled.

My family immigrated to the USA in 1996. Since I was too young to remember our difficulties and hardships, all I had ever heard was a collection of stories and tidbits from family and other members of the community.
Zaid Brifkani does a wonderful job with this narrative, he's able to captivate the reader with the adventure and strife he illustrates in The Mountains We Carry. Brifkani does a wonderful job illustrating the diverse range of emotions the characters experience despite their circumstances being largely miserable. Along with the sad moments, there are still moments of joy, excitement, relief, festivity etc.

The characters in this book each contribute in their own way to the plot and emotions triggered. Although the characters are clearly fictional, they present themes and characteristics that we have seen present in many people I know in my personal life.

Many times, I've heard the people who've gone through these hardships say, "If our life was even a movie, many people would have difficulty believing we actually made it through all that". While reading this book I felt that. The series of events the characters go through is nothing short of unbelievable.

This Mountains We Carry from here on out will always be a meaningful piece of literature to many people. I strongly encourage this book to all readers.

[Daniel C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Mountains We Carry”, by Zaid Brifkani is a story of a Kurdish family trying to escape persecution during the Iraq-Iran war and the genocidal Anfal campaign of the Kurds that began in 1986 and lasted until 1989. was headed by Ali Hassan al-Majid, a cousin of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of the Ba’athist party. As a Westerner I found it to be provocative and educational. The pictures that we saw from CNN on the evening news never came close to describing the horrors the Kurdish people described in the book which describes man’s inhumanity to man under the veneer of religion. In fact the book made me think that the Kurds like Elie Wiesel, the Jewish-American writer, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor stated in his book, “Night” that ““God is dead, the God of love, of gentleness and consolation, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had, under the watchful gaze of this child, vanished forever into the smoke of the human holocaust demanded by the Race, the most voracious of all idols.” Or like John Lennon said “imagine no religion too”.
Zaid Brifkani tells such a moving story that it moved me to tears, real tears, on several occasions throughout the book. And he does not provide a romantic Deus Ex Machina to assuage my Western conscience. He is brutally honest. But at the end there is hope and the book ends in Nashville, TN in 2016. I highly recommend this book and look forward to read more from this insightful and educational author.

[Jihan Mohammed · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel narrates the tragic story of a Kurdish family that escapes the genocidal Anfal campaign. The Anfal campaign was carried out by the Ba’ath regime in the late 1980s against Iraqi Kurds. It was a systemic attempt to exterminate the Kurdish population in the northern parts of the country. In fact, hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children were killed, and more than 4000 villages were destroyed.

Who would enjoy this book?
1. All Kurds around the world can read this book and resonate with it for its tragedies, losses, miseries, hopes, and victories.
2. First-generation Kurds in the diaspora will particularly enjoy this book because a large number of them are refugees who escaped oppression. Thus, the story of Azad’s family resonates with theirs to a great extent.
3. Generation Z in the diaspora should learn a great deal about what happened to their parents and grandparents from this book.
4. Non-Kurds interested in learning more about the history of the Kurds in contemporary Iraq. The author has excellent skills in diving into detail, thoroughly describing the everyday life of the Kurds in the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, while reading the book, I often felt like I was watching a Netflix documentary. The author amazed me with his ability to describe the streets, the alleys, the mountains, and the houses (in the city vs those in villages) with so much accuracy.

[Omeed Adham Sindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mountains We Carry" is a historical fiction novel that explores the impact of war and conflict on individual lives. It is a poignant and emotionally powerful story that addresses important themes of loss, survival, and resilience.

A summary of the book, Azad's father was brutally executed by the Iraqi army. Since then, Azad has moved to the city of Duhok to pursue his education. In doing so, he hopes to provide a new life for his family and his fiancée, Juwan, who are back in their home village. But as the Iran-Iraq War ended, the Iraqi government launched the genocidal Anfal campaign against the Kurds. Fleeing separately across physical and emotional borders, Azad and Juwan find themselves in the crosshairs of the Iraqi army. However, the most dangerous threat is the one they least expect.

I was utterly blown away; the book was a roller coaster of emotions, and the stories were heart-breaking; as someone that isn't too in tune with his culture (Kurdish), it was a real eye-opener and ignited a yearning to learn more.

Rate: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Srwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend every Kurdish families should consider having these books for their children.

The “Mountain We Carry” is a story that blends true historical facts with fictional(or true) characters and events strongly detailed, and historically accurate setting.
Which provides readers a chance to see history from honest perspectives ,also the author offered entertainment value to time periods of history to make events, characters, alive. He is engaging the readers with the history in a unique way to make the story memorable.
I had a great feeling when my son was asking me “Mom! Is this event happening in the story, the same thing that happened to you, when you were forcefully fleeing to Iran in 1991?”
“The Mountain we carry”is matching every one of Kurdish parents who born in middle 80’s and below.
ان شاءاللە بە ئومێدی بەرهەمی زیاتر📚📚📚

[Loolav · Rating 5 out of 5]

The mountains we carry, a fascinating novel, about an ambitious person named Azad, who has big dreams, living in Kurdistan in time of war, when the Kurds were being brutally massacred by the regime, Azad had to flee away from his country with his family, facing so many obstacles and problems .. the novel combines the reality of life of Kurds during those times and how they suffered -the mountains Kurds carried- with fictional stories for each character in terms of love, ambition, rebellion, happiness and sadness.
Made me engaged with it all the time i was reading it, the best book i’ve read so far about Kurds, definitely recommend it!

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Mountains We Carry" by Zaid Brifkani is a heartfelt and beautifully written story. It's a rollercoaster of emotions, taking you through the lives of these fascinating characters. The author's ability to paint a picture with words and bring the characters to life is truly impressive. This book explores family, identity, and secrets in a way that's both relatable and thought-provoking. I can not recommend it enough!

[Gay Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This well written novel is a highly emotional reading experience. The story is vividly narrated by members of a Kurdish family in Iraq under Saddam Hussein and as refugees in Iran and Turkey. Their storytelling arouses sympathy for their sorrow over the death of loved ones, despair, anger, sadness, hopelessness, physical pain, sickness, stress under life threatening situations, food and water shortage, and moments of joy in their daily struggles for survival. Recommended.

[Anni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love finding these much needed historic novels written by the people who have actually lived there and experienced it. However I found it difficult to read because of the writing style, at times the sentences were overly simple and at other times it felt like the excessively added synonyms, phrases and idioms, were there to impress an English teacher.

[Isra Haji · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mountains We Carry is an incredible read and a page turner!! Many Kurds have experienced immense hardship from Saddam’s regime, and this book gives its readers a glimpse into the Kurdish struggle through Azad’s journey to reunite with his family. 10/10 recommend this book!

[Staci · Rating 5 out of 5]

A novel well written, and was eye-opening to the life experiences and struggles throughout the years for the Kurdish people. The story was emotional, informative, and beautifully written. The author did a great job at depicting the lives of the individual characters in the book.

[Ahmed Ibrahim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book, very insightful provided lots of information about Kurdish struggles during the era. The research was definitely done beforehand—very creative writing style. I would definitely recommend it and reread it!

[Avin Karim · Rating 5 out of 5]

An emotional read, finally a book written about the struggle Kurds go through to this day. Loved the storyline!