Syrian Notebooks

The force and clarity with which Littell renders the physical realities of war and mass murder are simply astounding. * Time * There are still some journalists, photographers and writers who were courageous enough to report from opposition areas and remember those early days of the revolution . There was never any magic or mystery to the emergence of Isis-it was born from levels of grotesque suffering that would be hard to imagine had they not been witnessed at first hand by individuals such as Littell. Reading his account, the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of climbing into bed with Assad becomes clear. -- Anthony Loyd * Times * His writings capture a beleaguered but defiant resistant movement . Syrian Notebooks are immediate and vivid . he has an eye for small, heartbreaking details. * New Statesman * Documents a pivotal moment in the conflict . Littell conveys his sense of horror in stark, fragmented prose. * Independent * Writing of this quality is rare, and Syrian Notebooks is a first-rate work of war reportage that may come to be seen as an indispensable piece of literature. * Flavorwire * Vivid testimony. * Independent * An important document of Syria's trial by fire. * Counterpunch * Syrian Notebooks is Littell's raw, day-by-day account of his time shuttling between houses and conversing with members of the opposition deemed to be terrorists by the government and rarely given a voice in the West.The book is not a sugar-coated portrayal of the alternative offered by those leading the armed rebellion. Although he is certainly sympathetic, Littell does not suffer from Stockholm syndrome, nor does he simply romanticize men with guns, as was common among those who embedded with US troops in Iraq. -- Charles Davis * Inter Press Service * Littell's burning anger animates his book. * The National * As a detailed testimony of a moment in history, Littell's account retains power and relevance. * Oldie * Littell's writing is precise, forceful, and free of ego. -- Hilary Plum * Bookforum *

Jonathan Littell was born in 1967 in New York of American parents and brought up and educated mainly in France. His novel The Kindly Ones, originally published in France as Les Bienveillantes, became a bestseller and won the coveted Prix Goncourt and the Acadmie Franaise's Prix de Littrature. Previously he worked for the humanitarian agency, Action contre la faim, in Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He now lives in Spain.