Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq [Hardcover]

Farnaz Fassihi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 2008

Since 2003, Iraq’s bloody legacy has been well-documented by journalists, historians, politicians, and others confounded by how Americans were seduced into the war. Yet almost no one has spoken at length to the constituency that represents Iraq’s last best hope for a stable country: its ordinary working and middle class.

Farnaz Fassihi, The Wall Street Journal’s intrepid senior Middle East correspondent, bridges this gap by unveiling an Iraq that has remained largely hidden since the United States declared their “Mission Accomplished.” Fassihi chronicles the experience of the disenfranchised as they come to terms with the realities of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. In an unforgettable portrait of Iraqis whose voices have remained eerily silent—from art gallery owners to clairvoyants, taxi drivers to radicalized teenagers—Fassihi brings to life the very people whose goodwill the U.S. depended upon for a successful occupation. Haunting and lyrical, Waiting for An Ordinary Day tells the long-awaited story of post-occupation Iraq through native eyes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With the intriguing premise focused on the neglected citizens of occupied Iraq, Fassihi, the Wall Street Journal's senior Middle East correspondent, gathered numerous interviews throughout the war-torn cities and religious strongholds of Iraq. The author first came to international attention when a personal e-mail chronicling the rapidly deteriorating situation in Iraq made its way onto blogs in 2004; in this book, written in the same spirit as the e-mail, she dissects the convoluted conflicts and connections that closely bind the two major religious groups jockeying for control in the occupied land. She talks to a wide range of people, from staid government personnel to fiery clerics to zealous students, about the country's unstable political and social climate. Fassihi, of Iranian descent, cajoles the normally media-shy working and middle-class people of Sulaimaniyah, Baghdad, Kirkuk and Tikrit to speak on the before-and-after conditions of their civil freedoms. Through these conversations, Fassihi posits hard political and moral questions. (Sept.)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* As the senior Wall Street Journal Middle East correspondent, Fassihi is more than credible in her candid assessment of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. On the ground in Baghdad both before and after Saddam’s fall, she focused her attention on the most overlooked aspect of the invasion: the Iraqi middle class. In her interviews with Sunnis and Shias, the secular and devout, those who are pro- and anti-American, Fassihi provides a startling compendium on what could have gone right if everything had not gone so wrong. Her frustration with errors of estimation and planning made by the U.S. government is palpable as she records the deterioration of goodwill. Through her careful collection of interviews and investigations, readers finally understand how the occupation became a war fought by multiple factions. What is heartbreaking is that it could have been avoided, and that this fact is so obvious.“It’s astounding,” Fassihi writes, “that the Americans seem so oblivious to their surroundings, with an inherently selective eye for what’s occurring in Iraq.” This is not politics but reportage written, at last, in a way that anyone, regardless of national origin, can understand. --Colleen Mondor

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; First Edition edition (September 9, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586484753
• ISBN-13: 978-1586484750
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,243,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rebuilding Lives in Iraq, October 10, 2008

By 

Story Circle Book Reviews - See all my reviews

This review is from: Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq (Hardcover)

In her book, Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq, Farnaz Fassihi presents a heart-wrenching portrait of the Iraqi people as they come to terms with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the rebuilding of their war-torn country. Drawing on her experiences as a Wall Street Journal senior correspondent living in Iraq, Fassihi portrays a compelling story of the struggles of the regular citizens and their families. At first they cheer the Americans for tumbling a brutal dictator, but then weep in despair as the free life they dreamed about becomes a nightmare.

This book is not a discourse on military tactics and political blunders, but readers need to know that many of the Iraqi people interviewed relate disturbing stories with heavy overtones of anti-Americanism and criticism of the President, and at times, Fassihi finds herself voicing her agreement. Descriptions and conversations, framed by the author's own pain and compassion, focus on the lives of people she has befriended. Many are affected by the overthrow, occupation and subsequent collapse of an Iraqi society that blames not only the two major ruling religious sects (Sunni and Shi'ite), but also the foreign occupiers. In Fassihi's words, "Sometimes I find myself wanting to cry while I'm interviewing people and other times I feel detached, like a machine recording misery and death."

During all this turmoil, Fassihi finds love with a fellow correspondent in this war-torn land. When they are on separate assignments, she is tormented by fears of separation. Her family begs her to come home and give up her position as head of the Baghdad bureau of the Wall Street Journal, but she is drawn in by the plight of the Iraqi people and was even accused of being addicted to the job's constant threats of bombings, shootings and bloodshed. She is persecuted as a woman, shunned for being American, but loved because of her compassion for the people. Under threats of kidnapping, murder, torture, Farnaz attempts to take care of her workers and friends while dodging bullets and car bombs.

The Iraqi people dedicate their lives to regaining their dignity, preserving their art and culture, sustaining their religious beliefs and most of all hoping that some day they will indeed see an ordinary day. Their homes are bombed and searched while loved ones are forcefully detained and spirited away at the slightest rumor. Those detained often don't return, leaving families desparate to know their fate. If they do return, months later, the tales of torture, persecution and deprivations are horrendous. Fassihi's employee, Munaf, sums up their daily lives with the comment, "We are like animals in the wild. We eat, sleep and try not to get killed each day."

This powerful account of life in Iraq helps us understand why stability has been so elusive to the people of a beleaguered country. The details are rich, the story well written, and throughout the book, the true voices of the Iraqi people are heard because of the an empathetic, insightful woman who is not afraid to put herself into the middle of the story.

by Rhonda Esakov
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Iraq's war misery understood, October 4, 2008

By 

Sue (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq (Hardcover)

Farnaz's account of events are heart breaking. I have been following the incredible sad story of Iraq before the war started. No news of the war over the years have brought the sadness and misery of the war home so clearly. Farnaze's understanding of the culture, traditions and religion particularly makes her account of the events easier to understand. The fundamental factors which the war architects have so badly overlooked and foolishly underestimated and as foolishly they continue the rhetoric's for an even worst war with Iran.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DO NOT MISS Waiting for An Ordinary Day, September 19, 2008

By 

Sheila C. Cullen (Portland OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq (Hardcover)

Everyone should read this book for a beautifully written--vivid and nuanced--account of the situation in Iraq. It will break your heart, but it's essential reading for thinking Americans.