Blinded by the Sunlight : Emerging from the Prison of Saddam's Iraq

Rating:
Summary: a mixed bag
Review: At the centre of this book is an extraordinary tale of how a bunch of journalists got chucked into jail at the peak of the war. As a story that should have sufficed. It is genuinely fascinating in a way that makes you thing, what would I have done
in that situation? Why the author felt the need to stretch that out into a generalisation of the saddam regime, I don't get. Everyone he encounters has a story that dwarfs his entirely and thus robs his own voice of meaning. The sense you get is that he is only interest in iraqis for the way in which they can augment his own theorum and experiences. Their post war suffering goes entirely undocumented. this book is neither one thing nor another, not an account of the war or an analysis of the aftermath. It reads like an opportunity that could have been grasped but wasn't and therefore can tell us nothing enduring of the plight of the iraqi people. At worst, an ego trip; at best, a very limited view on one journalist's very limited world.

Rating:
Summary: A little praise, where it is due!
Review: Contrary to what other reviewers have said about Mr. McAllester's book, I found the resonance of personal trauma against the backdrop of totalitarian regime not only insightful, but also frighteningly similar to other scenarios from around the globe (the South African and Chilean situations come immediately to mind). While I was moved by the personal story, I was edified by the greater context against which his trauma occurred. And given the recent situation in the United States (Homeland Security, anyone?) -- also terrifyingly close to home!

Rating:
Summary: Was expecting more insight and intelligence
Review: I think that if you are looking for someone to justify the Iraq campaign now that the WMDs are known to not exist this is the book for you. In describing the life Iraqis led under Saddam's rule the author tries to convey that Iraq's future is more promising now than it would have been if Saddam were still in power. I did not find the author's reasoning to be convincing but maybe that is because this book was not well edited. I am not sure if Mr. McAllester really understands what is going on in Iraq or if the jumbled and at times contradictory analysis is due to poor editing. I think I would have preferred if he had concentrated on presenting his own rather incredible story about being a prisoner for eight days in Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. As it is this book is neither fish nor fowl and I did not find it to be satisfying reading.

Rating:
Summary: Don't get it
Review: I went to hear Matthew McAllester speak a couple of months ago in Chicago and I was impressed with his articulateness and was really interested in reading about his personal story. That personal story was barely present in this book and what was there was a jumbled mess. A weird stream of consciousness that will confuse you even if you're well-versed on recent Iraqi history. Did McAllester write this book, or did he just give his assembled notes to some editorial assistant who tried to write a story around them? I wanted to know more about his relationships with the other journalists, with his girlfriend, with his family. The attempt at political analysis is so clearly off-base I can't believe that even the author believes it. I don't get the disparity between the moving talk I heard and the boring mess that this book is. And I recommend that others don't get it at all. Total waste of time and money.

Rating:
Summary: was a fan, no longer
Review: Reading the reviews of this book it is remarkably striking that the ravi-est of reviews are coming from england where the author himself comes from. Could it that our transalantic cousins simply prefer this writing or could it that be his friends and family are trying to sway us into wanting to buy this book? Who knows. Fact is, it's a waste of time. Dull, obvious observations transposed with compelling personal fact. But ultimately has nothing to teach us from a conflict that badly needs to do so. I worked for several months in Iraq in the post war period and the Iraq I saw is not that that Matthew McAllester constructed around himself. I don't know where he was but I was in Iraq. Maybe he should have stayed longer. I worked in Kosovo and thought his book of that war fabulous. Maybe why this one is so disappointing. Or maybe it was too soon. Either way, as ever day goes by, his thesis proves more wrong by the day.

Rating:
Summary: It's about Saddam and the Terror-land he ruled over!
Review: This novel answers the question, "What do Iraqis think about Saddam, their government, and their country."

Matthew McAllester shares conversations with Iraqi civilians who lived under Saddam's rule since 1979. This book provides a glimpse of what the average Iraqi was thinking before, during, and after the war.

McAllester has to be a little crazy to go after a story so dangerous. I'm glad he took the risk, because I believe it makes for a great read. His story backs up the atrocities so many have already reported; Saddam's regime needed to fall. That is so obvious after reading this book.

There are a lot of negative reviews on this book. I have to assume others are not happy with McAllester's interpretation of what he discovered in Iraq. But this is HIS story, not theirs.