The Silence and the Roar: A Novel

A heartbreaking, but beautiful, piece of literature. You see the mind of a dictator and the heart of of his victims laid bare. Truly an amazing read.

This was a very quick read. Interesting plot which could really be applied to many dictatorial regimes around the world.

An interesting short fictional book examining the meaning and possibilities of roar (e.g., sound, propaganda, forced civilian marches) and silence (e.g., repression, stillness, absence, death). Set in Syria, the book unfolds with life under a dictatorship and the web of lies and propaganda (i.e., the roar) spun and woven to elevate the status and position of the leader at the detriment of the people. The protagonist is an author who has been banned from publishing his works and is hence forced into "silence" through manipulation in various ways. I thought of this as a Syrian 1984. Thought provoking book.

Waste of good reading time. ER

This is a good short novel. It is is sparsely written, but creates a great sense of the suffocating physical heat of a middle Eastern country and the dead hand of a dictatorship.The hero Fathi, is a well known, previously encouraged and popular writer who has fallen out of favour with the regime. It's really a loud scream about the difficulty of staying true to an individual's artistic potential and yet fitting in with the prevailing worldview as well. The author describes the silent scream of a writer whose creativity is being strangled and denied as it does not fit with the party line. He is an individual who refuses to fit in, much to the annoyance of the regime. Meanwhile he watches endless marches and demonstrations in favour of the Great Leader...but who is marching against the great leader? The scenario here is not one of the milder versions we have in the West- about whether we have the The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear or not. It's about an existential choice of whether to write or not, and whether the silence of the grave is worse than the inner roar about being silenced by others. The supporters and fellow travellers of the regime are well described. They are humans who have either actively chosen or passively acquiesced alongside the regime, either for personal gain or an easier life. The question really comes about how far they believe the regime's own propaganda, and how much they find it convenient to go along with it, realising it is nonsense all the while. Anne Applebaum described these cognitive dynamics well in the Eastern European setting in Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956 This story feels like the Middle Eastern version of Winston Smith's experience in 1984 and like Winston the hero of this book seeks refuge in the love of a woman. The relationship is well described. Of course people know what the hero- Fathi- is thinking and is up to. Eventually he is led to a choice of whether to collaborate by helping the regime write its propaganda to to find a way out of the country. Can he be an individual within such a system? He's led to his choice by Mr Ha'el who plays the same role in this story as O'Brien does in 1984. Nihad Sirees has written a great book about what it is like to live under a totalitarian state. It's a work of witness to injustice shot through with a strong sense of affronted humanity.

A 1984-ish political allegory by a Syrian author. We’re in a dystopian society in the Middle East where The Leader, always capitalized, has created a society that not only worships him but exists to worship him. His picture and quotations from his speeches and poetry are everywhere. Government offices are literally wall-papered with his photos. “Any hint of individuality is a threat directed at the Leader’s supremacy.” Periodic parades with required participation by all males are constant. During these well-organized demonstrations the speeches by the Leader or those praising his brilliance are broadcast throughout the city full blast over speakers. Those not in attendance are required to view the speech on television with the volume turned up full blast. Because of the heat, everyone has their windows open so you can’t escape the ROAR of the title. The Leader and the ruling elite spend all their time watching re-runs of the parades and his speeches. No one can leave their house or enter any building without an ID card. Police goons are everywhere. Our main character is a 31-year-old man who used to be a columnist and a writer of novels with a political bent poking fun at those in power. He can write no more because of the complete control of the society by the Leader. All his former works are banned. He lives off his wealthy mother’s money. Yet the writer had been well known and the political leadership is not happy with his being silent. They want him now to write slogans and speeches for the establishment. His father has died but his mother is shortly to marry a high official in the government, a friend of the Leader. The author’s woman friend helps him see how this is all a set-up to force him to comply with their wishes. His mother is actually under threat of personal violence. What is he to do? I liked this story. It’s short and frightening. The constant tumult created by the regime comes across as well as the constant heat. No one appears to have air conditioning, just fans. He intervenes with the police beating someone up and gets his ID confiscated. He has to walk his way through a byzantine bureaucracy with goons and threats to try to get it back. His friend tells him don’t sass them back, just do what they say, but of course he can’t do that. Is this going to end well for anyone? We also get a bit of hot sex with his woman friend. And some philosophy about leadership – how Alexander the Great expected worship in the East but was not silly enough to expect that in Greece – although worshiping emperors eventually came about in Rome. We read the thoughts of Hannah Arendt about how the masses need a leader, but vice-versa too. In addition to three novels the author (1950 -) has written scripts for TV series The Silk Market and about Kahil Gibran. This book was banned in Syria and the author eventually fled Syria to live in Berlin.

A spine chilling and I suspect experienced description of a dictatorship. Very well written/ translated.

A straightforward yet powerful narrative of dictatorial excesses and oppression of a Middle-Eastern writer, this can be read as a snapshot of life in Syria under the Assad regime. Unbounded cruelty heaped upon a critic of the regime is only briefly lightened by the humour of the women in his life. In Syria, of course, life continues to be bleak with little hope of improvement. All that is left to a writer is allegory and allusion.

Poetic, contemplative and claustophobic novel detailing a writers life under dictatorship where constant worship of the leader is required. Here the people are depicted as if in a kind of of mass hypnosis. The narrator and his girlfriend find a way of small escape through intimacy and laughter. Overall it is quite Kafkaesque and brings to mind our social media idealisation/saturation which tends to cut those who don't follow adrift. A body can be imprisoned and tortured but can independent thought be channelled and ultimately policed? The narrator is left in a profound fix at the end of the novel and the reader is left to decide what ensues. This novel brings certain regimes to mind. I didn't feel the horror of hypnotised/enslaved minds was fully expressed inThe Silence, perhaps as the narrator does have the companionship of his girlfriend who sees what he does. I cannot imagine anything worse than living for example under a dictatorship with the fear of torture or death.

From the description of this book, I thought it was going to be just my cup of tea, but i have to admit that, although a short book. I just couldn't feel it enough to get to the end of the book. Disappointing, as I hate to start a book and not finish it. I will try it again in a few months but am not sure I will manage to finish.

This is fairly short book about a day in the life of a banned author in an unnamed Arabic country on the day of a parade. It is well written (and translated) and has a good flow to it. The book does not contain earth shattering revelations about the struggle of living under a dictatorship but does very well in giving a sense of how oppressive living in such conditions can be. The lack of freedom to really live the life he wants is offset with the escapism he finds with his girlfriend but the protagonist is merely treading water. The story is interesting and scenes created are detailed and really come to life. The best and the worst thing about the book is the ending. I won't spoil it here but when I finished the book I went to sleep almost angry, with my head spinning over various things, but having woken up I now think the ending is just right. Time will see if I change my mind again.