book review: "The Last Girl"...

... written by Nadia Murad. After reading a review, a request to the library resulted in them getting the book for me. When someone saw me with the book, they asked if it was good? I said 'no', then gave a brief synopsis. It is not something to be read for pleasure, but probably far more educational than you would expect, providing much more than you want to know. Hard to read and hard to put down.

Nadia lived in a small, fairly isolated village in Iraq. In a culture that is rapidly being destroyed, but  at the time was still intact and flourishing as many of the Yazidi would not leave. Family members would often leave to find employment, but others would stay in their area, marry others of the same background and continue their traditions. A small minority that the Muslims consider infidels, which resulted in the ISIS fighters believing they were worthless, but could be used.

When ISIS overran the village, they killed most of the men, disposed of bodies in a mass grave. Most of the older women and small children had no value, so they were killed as well. The young women were taken to be used as sex slaves, sold or given away, repeatedly raped, considered worthless, of no value so easily abused, and easily replaced.

After being assaulted by many men over time, she escaped. She had to be covered, head to toe every time she left the house, and not often left with the covering that was necessary (to become anonymous and not identifiable) to wear when out in public. At one point she was given to a man who left a door unlocked, and failed to take her clothing, providing the opportunity to gain freedom. She knocked on a random door in a random neighborhood and found help. The family took her in, assisted in getting forged travel documents and helped her get out of the country.

When she finally was reunited with brothers who had left home prior to the invasion by ISIS, she lived in a bare-bones refugee camp, first in a tent, then in shipping container, with relatives who had also found their way out of bondage. Eventually relocating in Germany, she finally spoke the truth of being brainwashed to believe she was worthless and damaged goods as a result of the sexual abuse, as well as being forced to convert to Islam. Nadia is now a United Nations spokesperson, sharing her experiences and helping to support their human rights programs. She "is the UN's first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivor's of Human Trafficking, currently working to bring the Islamic State before the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity."

At the end of the book, in the epilogue, is an explanation for the title. On the last page, in the last sentence of the last paragraph: "More than anything else... I want to be the last girl in the world with a story like mine."