I read very view memoirs. I just don’t tend to like non fiction books. Every once in a while though a synopsis intrigues – so was the case with The Fox Hunt by Mohammed Al Samawi. I thank TLC Book Tours for sending me a copy at no charge for my honest review.
About The Fox Hunt:
• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (April 10, 2018)
A young man’s moving story of war, friendship, and hope in which he recounts his harrowing escape from a brutal civil war in Yemen with the help of a daring plan engineered on social media by a small group of interfaith activists in the West.
Born in the Old City of Sana’a, Yemen, to a pair of middle-class doctors, Mohammed Al Samawi was a devout Muslim raised to think of Christians and Jews as his enemy. But when Mohammed was twenty-three, he secretly received a copy of the Bible, and what he read cast doubt on everything he’d previously believed. After connecting with Jews and Christians on social media, and at various international interfaith conferences, Mohammed became an activist, making it his mission to promote dialogue and cooperation in Yemen.
Then came the death threats: first on Facebook, then through terrifying anonymous phone calls. To protect himself and his family, Mohammed fled to the southern port city of Aden. He had no way of knowing that Aden was about to become the heart of a north-south civil war, and the battleground for a well-funded proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. As gunfire and grenades exploded throughout the city, Mohammed hid in the bathroom of his apartment and desperately appealed to his contacts on Facebook.
Miraculously, a handful of people he barely knew responded. Over thirteen days, four ordinary young people with zero experience in diplomacy or military exfiltration worked across six technology platforms and ten time zones to save this innocent young man trapped between deadly forces— rebel fighters from the north and Al Qaeda operatives from the south.
The story of an improbable escape as riveting as the best page-turning thrillers, The Fox Hunt reminds us that goodness and decency can triumph in the darkest circumstances.
The Fox Hunt is available at Harper Collins
About the Author:
Mohammed Al Samawi was born in 1986 in Yemen. In his midtwenties, he became involved in interfaith groups promoting dialogue between Muslims, Christians, and Jews. In 2015, during the Yemeni Civil War, he fled from Aden to the United States. Since his entry to the United States, he has worked for several NGOs that promote peace and religious tolerance.
Follow him on Twitter.
My Opinion:
This is the story that kept me on the edge of my seat. Imagine being a country torn by civil war and you are a wanted man. The situation is deteriorating and you need to get out – but how? Oh, and that country is Yemen. The Fox Hunt is the memoir of the man in this story.
In this time of division and hate a story like this certainly offers hope. For the author of this memoir is a Muslim and he is helped by an international assortment of friends and associates of all religions and beliefs. They come together to help the PERSON remembering that a person is not the religion they practice but an individual.
Despite this book being nonfiction it reads like a first class fiction suspense thriller with a sense of humor. In fact it’s Mohammed’s humor that makes all of the horror palatable. His childhood is not easy and yet he shares the trials with quiet dignity. He is a truly remarkable young man. He is taught from an early age that Jewish people are the worst of the worst. Until one day he is given a Bible and he has to readjust his worldview – which he does. To an amazing degree.
I really enjoyed this book even given my general tendency to not read non fiction books. I think if more books like this were read and more people looked past labels like Muslim, Christian, Jewish and looked more at the person the world would be a much gentler place.
Rating:
4.5
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