A spark of hope: Iraqi Girl

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Title: Iraqi Girl

Author:  John Ross (developer)

Publisher/date: 2009 Haymarket books

Iraqi Girl is a story of a very naïve and hopeful teenaged girl, who lives in  Iraq during the Iraqi war. She goes through a lot of hardships as the book progresses. Everyday she puts her life on the line just by stepping outside her house. Imagine the sound of bombs being a normal part of your day? As Hadiya grew she lost many of her friends including her best friend Hanan, whom had to leave or her and her family will.

            Her most important loss was her Grandfather. Hadiya loved her grandfather and admired him because she was the only one out of his many siblings to go to college and be really successful.  The only positive side was that he died of natural death unlike all the others. But this loss added to Hadiya’s anger as she slowly but surely loses all that she loves. The book ends with Hadiya finally become a “women” and goes off to college.

            “I feel that I have been sleeping all my life and I have woken up and opened my eyes to the world. A beautiful world! But impossible to live in (Field,34).” Hadiya says this quote after she talks about the depression she faces living like this. She’s feels this way because she knows how beautiful and wonderful Iraq could be and was. Right now Hadiya is under a lot of strain with her exams even though she is very good at school.

This quote is a good slice of this book because I feel it sums it up a lot. Hadiya was a very naïve girl who felt that this was something that could pass no matter the amount of emotional and physical scarring. This quote shows that Hadiya is beginning to realize that this situation is not going to resolve easily. After this quote she begins to mature and transition into women hood through her experiences of being a victim of a senseless war.