Baghdad Pride...
I laid down in bed and read this last night, listening to the Angels in America soundtrack, while Rachael drifted off to sleep and someone was off shooting up our apartment complex. While I originally was not planning on buying it, it was suggested1 to me by our comic shop owner. In the end Pride of Baghdad was a timely, poignant, stirring tale that I think will eventually be considered among the likes of Maus and Watchmen.
For those of you who don’t know, Pride of Baghdad tell the story of a pride of lions escaped from the Baghdad Zoo during an American bombing raid in 2003. Lost and confused, hungry but finally free, the four lions roamed the decimated streets of Baghdad in a desperate struggle for their lives. In documenting the plight of the lions, PRIDE OF BAGHDAD raises questions about the true meaning of liberation - can it be given, or is it earned only through self-determination and sacrifice? And in the end, is it truly better to die free than to live life in captivity?
A while ago my local comic shop owner2 wrote an essay on Pride of Baghdad that was originally distributed in all of our bags when we made a purchase. At the time I thought it was an over the top sales ploy in order to capitalize on the folley of ordering too many of these hardcovers. Now I see that it was an impassioned plea, and Newsarama just put it up on their main page as a featured review.
This is one of the only books to make me shed a tear, and is strongly reccommended in my eyes.
1 Slightly closer to forced...
2 Yes, the same one who forced this book on me...