Roundabout of Death

“I tried to call my friends at the cafe, but nobody picked up…probably because the electricity was cut,” Jumaa says collectedly in the opening pages of Syrian author Khartash’s bleakly arresting look at Aleppo under siege. Slashed electricity, bombings, sniper attacks, burned-out houses, checkpoints (like the titular roundabout), and the killing of friends and relatives by combatants on both sides of the fighting—all are now routine, as readers are ushered into a landscape that feels surreal but couldn’t be more horrifically factual. A high school teacher currently unemployed because school has been suspended, Jumaa gathers regularly with friends at Joha’s Club, a sanctuary quickly reconstituted at the Island Cafe after the club’s destruction. There, Jumaa argues with his buddies, eyes the kiosk owners who have moved indoors, and muses, “Maybe today won’t be like all the others.” But every day is like all the rest, and the arrest of his son sends Jumaa on a fruitless mission to secure his family’s safety.