Scan barcode
codergrl's review against another edition
3.0
A heartbreaking story, beautifully told. Started a bit slow and for a while I wasn't sure where it was going but the second half really picked up the pace and made up for it.
teaforanxiety's review against another edition
5.0
Having read this book twice, my first time around, I found the book beautiful and poetic, with a message about how to deal with life. The second time, it was even more so, but it added a haunting element, and reminded me that it isn't how you /deal/ with life, it's how you persevere and make your life your own, no matter what happens. There is so much about this that resonates within me, and I want to read it over and over again so I can keep finding it's little details and surprises inside.
batata_fryy's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
msgtdameron's review
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
edwardsw's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
aloozahra's review against another edition
4.0
This novel is worth reading because it is a testament to the importance of literature and its ability to teach readers about historical and contemporary realities, although sometimes wrapped in a fictitious package. Through Jawad’s character, a young aspiring artist from Baghdad forced to continue his family's corpse-washing tradition, [a:Sinan Antoon|74305|Sinan Antoon|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1390004957p2/74305.jpg] does a wonderful job of introducing readers to some of the political and societal issues faced by the Iraqi people before, during, and after the U.S. Occupation, narrowing them down to how they affect the individual, the smallest unit of society. However, Jawad, as a first-person narrator, can only describe his surroundings insofar as he understands them himself, meaning that he does not necessarily understand the larger forces at work that he is embroiled in. This may require the reader to do some outside research to understand some of the events the author alludes to. That being said, the novel introduces the reader to many significant issues within Iraqi society. Most importantly, it provides the American reader in particular a wonderful opportunity to glimpse the life of an Iraqi, and possibly identify with that character as someone who also experiences love, loss, passion, loneliness, and many other human experiences.
andrew61's review against another edition
5.0
An astonishing book which charts the life of a very ordinary Iraqi man from the 1980's, as his older brother a doctor is recruited in to the military for the Iran Iraq war, until 2006 when he is coping with the sectarian violence in a Baghdad torn by the invasion. The narrator is Rawad whose father is a corpse washer who wants him to follow his career rather than his love of art. The Corpse washer is a beautiful and evocative role (of which I had never heard) similar to undertaker but with a religious significance as the body of the deceased has to be washed in a very ritualistic way to allow entry to heaven. The scenes where bodies are washed by his father and later Rawad are brutal in their depiction of the violence in the streets but wonderful in their beauty and respect of the body of the deceased, which contrasts the wonder of a religion in one respect with the inhumanity of the Shiite/Sunni battle and the horrors inflicted on fellow followers. It is a heartbreaking picture of a people and culture ravaged by a dictatorship and a subsequent needless invasion and the brilliance of the prose is that you see beyond the headlines to a people steeped in history, poetry, literature and art which makes the reader aware of the individual beyond often cartoon like portrayal of Iraqi's we see in much of the media. However it is more than that as it also tells of love, sacrifice, parental relationships, and the pain of loss in all forms. Definitely one of my books of the year and I cannot recommend it highly enough as a brilliant story of an Iraq we do not always see, the wonder therefore of fiction is its ability to allow the reader to imagine the fact of real life and humanise it.
hem's review against another edition
Over Christmas, I read [b:American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History|11887020|American Sniper The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History|Chris Kyle|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348628279s/11887020.jpg|16845778]. It left me feeling knocked off-balance a bit. While I made an effort to embrace Kyle's story as his own valuable experience in Iraq, the unacknowledged humanity of his enemies brought an ache, an emptiness that I couldn't shake. A bit of research led me to this, Sinan Antoon's award-winning novel. Proving to be as elegant as it is jarring, as unveiled as it is beautifully woven, an authentic, rich work, The Corpse Washer brings us Jawad, a young man with a name and a family, who looks Death in the face, day after day, from a profoundly different angle. Unforgettable.
matmatlepirate's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5