I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad by Souad Mekhennet - 5 stars

[Sushicat]

This is the memoir of Souad Mekhennet, a German journalist, daughter of a Moroccan father and Turkish mother. Driven by a burning need to understand how extremist Islam developed, she spent years as an investigative journalist, visiting the hotbeds of radical Islamist culture, asking the question we all want answered: Why?

She takes us along on her interviews with infamous people we know from the news, with people who were there when their friend or family member turned into this incomprehensible person, many of whom came from an immigration background, many of whom came from a broken home. And as we learn about these people, she compares her circumstances as the daughter of immigrants herself and where she could have been vulnerable herself if not for some difference made by individuals in her environment. She recollects her own reactions when confronted with racism and discrimination. Rather than pointing at things that went wrong, she places before us the facts, the hard questions that require answers from all sides in the conflict. She lets us draw our own conclusions.

What emerges is a tapestry of small, seemingly inconsequential personal events, which as a whole gives us an understanding of these developments and shows us that we all share in the responsibility. Each of us makes his/her own decision about what to make of our life, how to deal with the circumstances we are born into, whether to consider ourselves victims and harp on the injustices large or small we have to live with or whether to pick up the challenge and rise beyond those circumstances. But it makes a huge difference, whether the people around us reinforce us as powerless victims or believe in our potential. The more a person feels alienated from society, the higher the chances he/she will turn against society. In the way we deal with our minorities, be they ethnic or religious, lie the seeds for our future.

In illuminating the background of events, Souad Mekhennet gives us a lot of food for thought in this book. Questions about the meaning of democracy, about the role of journalism and social media, about how our beliefs shape our view of the world, about how to deal with those who have crossed the line, about how we deal with those that have become victims of our system.

[Nicole R]

Oooo...this may be in the running for my culture challenge.

[Sushicat]

Absolutely. I was still reading it when I added my recommendation. It’s on my top ten for this year.

[Anita]

Fantastic review. I love memoirs, and this one sounds superb. Oh my TBR sigh.

[KateNZ]

Great review, Sushicat. This sounds intriguing and hugely relevant