I really enjoyed The Beekeeper of Aleppo so I requested this book, also about the Syrian war. I'm glad I did, it's a really moving story of life during war. Though slow at times I couldn't put it down.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read this book.

3.5 to 4 stars.
Thank you for letting me review this book. This is a very important book, I highly recommend it everyone, I enjoyed the writing style and the story at times felt bit slow was engaging enough.

This is a story about Sami growing up in war torn Syria. It travels through his childhood memories of friends, relationships, family and school. Like all the novels of recent times it is hard to read of the true life events happening in Syria, but this book, as good as it was, is nowhere near as poignant or engaging as The BeeKeeper of Aleppo. Would still recommend it, as well written and a different prospective.

This book gives you a really insight into the troubles in other countries and what you see on a daily basis and how hard it is to survive. A real eye opener.

I highly recommend you to not be moved by this amazing, horrific at times story , & how it is the true love of family & small familiar things that keeps body & soul together, & reading this makes one so grateful for all the freedoms we have & don't always fully appreciate .

A beautifully written book about life in Syria during the recent war. This fiction book brings the realities of the devastation in Syria to the forefront of your mind, it’s hard to believe it’s not really fiction, reading it from my nice safe house.

A very important book to try to bridge the gap between us.

Thanks for letting me review this book

‘Sami’s teenage years were about walking a fine line between different sets of expectations.’

Inspired by actual events, fictionalised to protect individuals, this is an account of growing up, of life in Homs in Syria. Of the impact of civil war. Sami grows up in Homs, with his family and friends. He attends school, has pets, and thinks about the future. But life in a country at war with itself is never comfortable or predictable. Life in Bashar al-Assad’s Syria is increasingly difficult.

‘A cat has seven souls in Arabic. In English cats have nine lives. You probably have both nine lives and seven souls, because otherwise I don’t know how you’ve made it this far.’

Sami attempts to evade military conscription and succeeds, for a while. But he is caught, imprisoned, and then undergoes military training. He leaves the Army just before the Siege of Homs begins. While most of his family manage to leave Homs before the fighting intensifies, Sami and his brother remain.

‘Fear is like poison. If you let it grow roots, you will be lost for ever.’

This is a story about survival, about lives torn apart, about experiencing the best and worst of humanity. We readers are observers, voiceless and unable to intervene. It makes for harrowing reading: both explicit and implicit damage.

‘There were things the camera couldn’t capture; there were wounds that didn’t show on the outside.’

There may be a happier ending for Sami, but not yet for the people of Syria.

‘When we were born, what did any of us know about what our lives wold be like? Nothing. We knew nothing.’

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

This book was beautifully written and heartbreaking. It was very engaging and tragic. It's a story of life in a country where war has its effects. It was so well written, very good plot an character development. If you like historical fiction, you should go for it.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this copy.

This is a beautiful and tragic tale of life in a war-torn country. As mesmerising as it is touching, this book engaged me from page 1 and kept me engaged right until the very end. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC egalley.

This is difficult reading , a really interesting book, much needed, but so heart wrenching to read, uncomfortable and so sad. But it needs to be widely read, if us in the west read these accounts, feel uncomfortable, get upset maybe we will start putting more pressure on our governments to do something. For now I am grateful these stories are shared, they must be shared and I thank the author for sharing such a beautifully written account.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

A very heart rendering story and one which you can relate to if you watch the news regularly. You could tell by the way it is written that there was a huge amount of truth in the story even before you read the author’s notes. I cannot imagine how Sami survived particularly the time in the army and it is homage to him for making the decisions he made and how he was able eventually to pass on the horrific details to another person. Spending time alone in Homs must have caused Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which must be rife in places like Syria and after reading this you wonder how people survive such a terrible life. Bringing up children in a refuge camp must be destroying for families and I think this was well documented in the story. We all know from the news the destruction of places like Homs but this book, for me, brought it into the forefront much more than any news bulletin would. It is beautifully written considering such a difficult subject – well done you. I am not sure about the title of the book but maybe there is a hidden meaning which I failed to understand as although cats are mentioned I thought from the title that they would feature more.

The Stray Cats of Homs is not a novel. It is a compelling, confronting read following the life of Sami, from an innocent boy growing up in Syria wearing a yellow penguin jumper his mother knitted him to a young man seeking refuge from the horrors and atrocities the 2012- revolution and war that obliterated his city.  It is an extraordinary tale, simultaneously heartbreaking and horrific, and puts a very human face on the crisis in Syria.
Sami is an ordinary boy, saving injured animals, an ordinary man trying to start a business under tighter and tighter restrictions issued by the ruling regime.  Sami is a reluctant soldier drafted into national service and a powerful witness to the horrors of war and the rise of IS.
As a Westerner, I acutely felt my privilege to live free and safe from this sort of conflict.  As a mother, the stories of the women and children brought me to tears.
Sami's story gives much needed insight into the Syrian refugee crisis and by extension the wider humanitarian cost of war.
It is not a novel.  As stated in the author's notes, it is a novelization of very real events, and pseudonyms are used to  protect the real Sami and his family.
It is not the sort of book I would usually read, but I think it is a must read for everyone to understand the blurred lines between what is right and the right thing to do.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for this ARC.

This isn’t the type of book I normally read. I did like this book, I found it sad, poignant and haunting as it’s based on a true story of Sami, and his family who lived in Syria during the military regime. It tells of Sami’s life when younger and then through his military subscription and afterwards, when he manages to escape to France. You see how the conflict affects all involved and when reading some parts of the book I felt as if I was on an emotional rollercoaster. Knowing what was told in the book had actually happened made this quite a difficult read in many places. 3.5 stars

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I enjoyed this story very much and felt like I knew each character personally due to the description of them. I enjoyed the storyline. This is not my usual genre but in this instance I am extremely pleased and grateful for opening up my mind to something totally different. Thanks again.

A truly moving story of a Syrian boy growing up in a normal family environment in Homs, his awful life situation throughout the conflicts, loss of friends and family and finally his escape to France. I cannot imagine how someone moves forward with their life following what is so clearly described in this book. It really makes one appreciate the simpler things!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance copy.

Based on the life of a real person, the story behind this book is as poignant as the story itself. A boy grows up in Homs, where the regime is something in the background, until the day his conscription is extended because of protests against the regime. Now he is forced to fight for the regime until his conscription ends and he can go back home to Homs - which is under siege. What he goes through there is unimaginable, and the fact that it is all based on truth is devastating. I hope this books allows people to understand what people in Syria are going through and why we should be sympathetic to refugees. Beautifully written, even in translation. One of those books everyone should read.

This book is quite different from all the other positions I read in the last year. The story follows the life of Sami a young man born in Syria during not the best years for his country.

It is a devastating story about how living during the war is like. The book shows the terrible truth of how the life of people, communities and whole cities is affected by it. Personally, as a person living in Europe and born at the end of previous century, I cannot even imagine having to live and survive in that kind of circumstance. It is heat-braking reading that even in today's modern world there are places on the earth where you cannot be ever safe. This position is important to read especially for young people who being engaged in their daily life do not think how it is like if they were born somewhere else where life isn't so easy.

The book itself is written well and it was interesting to read. Besides the aspect of war, the story also shows the reality of forced military service and living under the regime. The only thing I have to add is that the description provided was a bit misleading as I expected the book to focus more on the different subjects.

Thank you Netgalley for advanced copy.

Wow!

A bit slow to begin with but it really is the ante as you get further along in the book. So hard to imagine living in such horrendous conditions for so long and not knowing if you will survive day to day.

Perhaps it's because I spent some time in Syria in 2010, and also saw the remnants of bombed and shelled out buildings in Beirut on that same trip but the book really brought to life, the conditions these people had to survive.

We all hear about these things on the news but perhaps we never contemplate the true horror of living in a country at war. The fact he then goes on and is in Paris for the attacks there really remind you how recent these events occurred.

These are not atrocities carried out against people in history, these are atrocities that are on going in parts of the world even to this day. Will we never learn to live in peace among one another? Or is war just too profitable for the mighty?

The story of Sami growing up in Syria and how he is beaten and tortured whilst trying to avoid compulsory conscription. The book is beautifully written. I found this book very harrowing and emotional. A must read

This poignant book describes life in Homs, Syria, both before and after the bombing. It gives an insight into life in Syria from the 1980's to the present day. You really feel for Sami and his family as the country is torn apart.
It becomes apparent at the end of the book that Sami's story is based on a true account. A very enjoyable book that gave me an insight into life in Syria, a most misunderstood place.