I enjoyed this, though that is probably not the right word for the experience. The narrator discusses feeling fear of fear itself, an altogether more unnerving experience in its unpredictability. This psychological impact is portrayed effectively in this taut novel of a woman’s experience in post-2011 Syria. Suleima’s mixed heritage, split between two opposing sects and associated allegiances, heighten the tension in the narrative. Her story is at once an assertion of voice and a melting of boundaries, suddenly a chorus of the experiences of other women in similar situations at the hands of a male storyteller. What particularly stands out is Suleima’s emotional landscape in the wake of much loss, grief, and trauma; the unbearable madness of remembering even as it is impossible for any other place to feel like home.

I did not really care for this book, I found it hard to follow and I was not pulled into the book at all. I know a lot probably gets lost in translation so that may be part of it but this book was not for me.

While I enjoyed learning about Syrian culture and the oppressive regime in Syria through this work, I did not feel as if I could become invested with the characters or lose myself in this work. I found the writing at times to be confusing and Naseem's manuscript written very elementarily.

Let me begin this review by stating that this book was incredibly well-written. Wannous' writing style is very poetic/metaphoric. It allows the reader to really sink into the visuals that are being described by the author. Like, there was no action in the book itself, but I found it to be a relatively quick read, because the way it was written was so engrossing. The look into the protagonist's all-encompassing anxiety was so astoundingly realistic. I don't know how Wannous was able to so well encapsulate the feeling of panic, but she did. Suleima's anxiety was able to walk a line of obsessive, while also feeling right. This is mostly because we also get a picture of life in modern-day Syria. The oppressive, restrictive regime that was pressing down throughout the story was enlightening. Reading about it from the perspective of an anxious Syrian protagonist made it feel all the more visceral. Much of her anxiety was imagined, but there was a large chunk that felt appropriate. The characters were in constant fear of being taken into custody for no reason, friends and family simply disappearing, being taken advantage of by officers, and even friends and family turning on one another simply because of their personal beliefs. If anything, I'm glad that I read the story because it was fascinating and horrifying to glimpse into life in Syria.

I don't have much bad to say about the book. The main things that I didn't like was that it was a little confusing just because of the way it was set up and that nothing really happened plot-wise. Sometimes the parts relating to Naseem's manuscript would drone on, and I would forget if I was reading Suleima's thoughts, or the manuscript. The Frightened Ones is really a book within a book, within a book. From what I could tell, the book was written by Wannous about a woman (Suleima) writing a book of her thoughts, that is about Naseem's book. It is kind of a confusing set up. I also didn't like that nothing really happened throughout the story. The description made it seem as though something might happen? Like, you don't get any real storyline for the majority of the book. There is also no romance subplot. I thought that if nothing, at least we would get the romance between Naseem and Suleima, but you really don't. You get glimpses into their toxic relationship and that's really all. To be fair, Naseem sucked so I don't really want to read a romantic plot with him as the love interest.

In all, it wasn't a bad book. There are plenty of people that will certainly love this book. I can recognize the value that the work has. It felt like an important work of fiction that also housed some nonfiction elements. It offered a perspective that isn't very common in literature; therefore, it was effective in shedding light on the plight of people in Syria. But, it just wasn't for me. I made the wrong personal choice. If you like kind of slice-of-life and family history, then you'll probably enjoy this book. If you want a book that has some action in it, probably skip this one. There is very little that actually happens.

Not an easy read but I seem to gravitate towards them. I really enjoyed it though because it gave me a view into a world I am not familiar with. If you enjoy the different or are looking for something outside your normally genre pick it up. Happy reading!

I can clearly see the intent, but I feel like the novel falls just short of the mark. There's the impression of something that isn't fully realized; whether that's a fault in the translation or genuinely just a shortcoming of the work is always difficult to judge, but I didn't quite find myself moved. The allusions to "life in modern Syria" as promised in the description feel all too brief for me; the manuscript and Naseem seem to consume the majority of the book, but the manuscript writing is juvenile, and set in a stream of consciousness style that's more infuriating than insightful, becoming almost a chore to slog through with its intention of adding the most mundane details. Suleima is a strong narrator and although it's a bit pretentious, her sections where melancholic and wonderful, and speak to the reader on an emotional level - but as a narrator, she's highly underused. I want to rate this higher but just can't justify it since I didn't really enjoy it, though I kept finding myself wanting to.

This is not an easy read. Set primarily in Damascus, where Suleima meets Naseem at her therapist's office, it's very much a story of Syria and the impact of the civil war. Both Suleima and Naseem have mental health issues and when he sends her a manuscript detailing the life of a woman much like herself, the reader will begin to wonder which is the most unreliable narrator. The novel alternates between Suleima and the manuscript. Her family's history is tragic and reading what he has written amps up her anxiety. It's an interesting way to shed light on the problem but not a relaxing read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of world literature and literary fiction.

Thank you to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available August 25th 2020

Mind blowing and psychologically taut, Dima Wannous's "The Frightened Ones" is a provocative glance into the mind of a Syrian refugee. When Suleima receives an advanced copy of her past lover's novel, she is at once struck by the similarity between herself and the novel's protagonist. As the novel develops, the reader is drawn more and more to question the line between reality and memory, fiction and truth. The novel with the novel structure is used to deepen Suleima's constant tension and fear as she tries to keep her two worlds apart. I really enjoyed reading this innovative novel, especially the samples of Naseem's novel.

The Frightened Ones by Dima Wannous

Thank you Netgalley and Knopf/Doubleday for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was not an easy read but it was worth it to me. The English translation of The Frightened Ones is coming out on August 11, 2020.
Set in present day Syria, the story is about a young woman named Suleima and a man named Naseem, who meet in the lobby of their psychologist.
The beginning of the book is confusing and it took me a while to identify the first narrator and understand the timeline, because the narrator jumps between memories and dreams without warning.

Naseem and Suleima date for about four years when Naseem leaves and sends her his manuscript. Suleima narrates this book through memories of conversations with Naseem and with her thoughts about the manuscript. The alternating chapters are from his manuscript and the main character in the manuscript has similar childhood experiences as Suleima, which causes Suleima to question why Naseem sent it to her and why he wrote it.

Through these alternating chapters, the reader glimpses life in Syria before and during the civil war that started in 2011. Suleima's brother disappeared without a trace and she believes he is dead or being tortured. Suleima has anxiety and panic attacks that she describes often. She recalls Naseem's panic attacks that border on psychosis. Her family is divided by the war, and cousins she played with as a child now tell her she should die and rot in hell because of her heritage. Her mother reads the same page of a book over and over for days.

The major themes of the book are fear and anxiety, and trauma from long term war. The book is sad and striking.

I read an uncorrected proof so I can't quote directly from the book, but two parts really stood out to me. In one, Suleima is thinking about telling Naseem that he didn't have the right to use her story, but then she tells herself that Naseem will just say that it is the story of all Syrians, who are all frightened and copies of each other.
Another very heart wrenching moment is when Suleima describes seeing Naseem's tattoo of his name, birthdate, and address on his arm. He says he is afraid of dying in a shelling and being an unidentified body, so he got the tattoo.

The writing (and translation) is beautiful. I recommend this book if you want to learn about Syria and read an individual perspective on living there today.

Thank you so much to net galley for sending me a copy of this book. I really enjoyed this book. I would definitely recommend and I will read more by the authir

I honestly can't tell if this is a case of 'it's not you, it's me' or not. The synopsis was so thrilling, but the novel itself was so frustrating. The narration is in first person, and both Suleima and the narrator of Naseem's manuscript have this tendency to wander off into unrelated tangents and side streets in the midst of telling their stories in a sort of stream-of-consciousness way that I found irritating, but other readers may find captivating and fitting with the plot of the novel.
Not that there was much of a plot- this was definitely a character-based story, but we get so little about Suleima herself. It feels like her only qualities are her debilitating anxiety, and her usage of cigarettes and Xanax to escape her current reality. All of her other observations are about Naseem, and her extended family, further constructing her character as nothing more than a vehicle for an anxiety disorder. Which, again, may have been the point, and something others would find brilliant. I just found it weak.
The only thing I found clever was how Suleima's story blends so easily with Naseem's manuscript. Halfway through, I couldn't keep track of either narrative any longer, becoming confused when something in one narrative contradicted something from the other.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

'The Frightened Ones' is written from the perspective of Suleima, a woman in modern Syria who suffers from (chiefly) anxiety and panic attacks. In her therapist's waiting room, she meets Naseem, with whom she embarks on a relationship, and after he emigrates to Germany, he sends her the manuscript of his novel. 'The Frightened Ones' alternates with Suleima's story and excerpts from Naseem's book, about a woman named Salma who seems increasingly similar to Suleima.

I alternately struggled with and tore through this book. It was written in an engaging style, but I felt that it wasn't so well translated from Arabic that I couldn't tell it was translated, meaning I sometimes felt the construction was clunky and awkward (particularly the case when discussing specifics of language, such as letters, but that can't always be helped). I really enjoyed how Suleima reflected on and related to Salma's story, but I didn't feel that the character of Suleima was appropriately established early enough on that I could differentiate the two easily. Perhaps that was the point - to be confused as Suleima was - but I struggled to separate them to the point of losing the thread of the plot. I also found it difficult to connect to characters like Naseem, who were not fleshed out much, but I felt that represented the way Suleima was disconnected from the world around her (linked to her mental health) so I understand that decision.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed an insight into the life of a contemporary Syrian woman, who was impacted by the Syrian civil war but it wasn't the primary focus of her life or story. I enjoyed the anecdotes, which felt real and honest and human. I enjoyed the frank and honest discussion of mental health, without romanticisation or glorification, and her relationship to medication which bordered on the dependent. I particularly revelled in the end of the book, the culmination of the Suleima/Salma paradox and the threads coming together. I think if I could read Arabic, I would have enjoyed this book more--that's my own fault. 'The Frightened Ones' isn't a book I regret reading, but I don't know that I'll be hurrying to re-read it anytime soon.

This review contains spoilers.


I couldn’t put this one down. The Frightened Ones is about a Syrian woman who suffers from panic and anxiety because of fear. It is told in two voices: Suleima and Salma. Suleima is seeing a doctor because she thinks she might be losing her mind. We don’t learn her name until almost a third of the way through the book. Salma, whose name we don’t learn until almost the end of the book, has a life almost identical to Suleima’s, narrated in a “novel” written by a man Suleima meets at the doctor’s office - Naseem. Suleima says she wants to forget her memories. Naseem writes down Salma’s memories almost as a way to keep her from disappearing.

The further into this book I got, the more I sensed something was not quite right. I started to believe that Suleima and Naseem were actually the same person. And I suspected that Salma was also the same person. Toward the end I feel like every character in the story may actually be a fractured version of Suleima’s psyche, and that each one holds a fear of one of the attrocities they are subjected to during the war in Syria so that no single person will have to endure all of them.

This is the second book I’ve read about the war in Syria. The other was a collection of first person accounts of actual events. This one is fictional, about what such trauma can do to a person’s mind. I don’t know how it would be possible to remain sane in those conditions.


“I’m sick with doubt about whether I really exist, or whether I simply invented myself, just like I invented Naseem and maybe even you, too. This has nothing to do with the deaths that Naseem planned out for us, the ones he carefully devised down to the last detail, from cause and manner of death to the funeral, the mourners, the myrtle and the acrid smell that accompanies the procession on one’s final journey.
Wouldn’t you think your story—my story—would be the last thing to make me feel I actually exist? When I read about you, I saw my feet walking to and from Kamil’s office. I saw my persistent anxiety and dread. I found a sense of loneliness and of relinquishing everything beyond myself. Is there any sense in us meeting each other? Wouldn’t that be like keeping a journal—the very thing Kamil advised me not to do?
If we do meet, it will be a dark and desolate act, a moment to recall our whole lives, yours and mine. I’ll look into your eyes and see my own. I’ll glimpse all the memories I still dream of giving up. I’ll look into your fear, and see Naseem and his manuscript. I’ll split a Xanax with you, and I won’t ask how overwhelmed you feel, so as not to overwhelm you more. And you won’t ask me.”

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this advance reader's copy of the book.

The Frightened Ones dives into the life of Suleima, a woman who lives in constant fear. She fears fear and it controls her life to the point where she can’t complete everyday tasks without panic and medication. She meets a man, Naseem, in the waiting room of her therapist who she falls in love with, or rather she falls in love with the idea of him that she has created in her mind. Naseem gives her a copy of his incomplete book manuscript and Suleima starts confusing her life with the life of the narrator, believing Naseem has ‘stolen’ her life for his book. This leads her to question her existence and her memories.
Overall, I thought the book was interesting- it touched on the issues in Syria and the long term mental health effects of tragic events on families and individuals. I liked the concept of dual narrators- with Suleima’s perspective and Nasseem’s manuscript- as well as the subject concept but it just fell short. Since the two narrators- Suleima and Nasseem’s character, Salma, were intended to be very similar, it was a little hard to keep their stories straight. In the end, it was a bit of a letdown and abrupt ending.

I struggled to rate this one. Was it a book about having a fear of fear, a love story or an analysis of the result of the stress a woman faces in modern Syria?
There was two narratives. Suleima who suffers from a fear of fear and experiences panic attacks. She attends a therapist where she meets a fellow patient Naseem who provides her a copy of his incomplete novel which becomes the second narrator. Suleima starts to have another issue when she feels the novel is based on her life. But later she realises the woman in the book is not her but someone with similar experiences. Is this a comment that people in Syria experience similar trauma but it is different for each person?
What the book suffers from is the novel is not as well written as Suleima's narrative. A pity because the essence of a powerful tale is there.

The Frightened Ones was an interesting book on many levels. It focuses on trauma and memory and two characters trying to cope with events from their past following the Syrian revolution. I thought Wannous offered a very progressive and nuanced portrayal of mental health issues, and the blending of Suleima's tale with Naseem's novel works well, blurring the lines between reality and fiction even for the reader. I did struggle to get into this at first, but once I settled down into the story I started to enjoy it more. This won't be for everyone, though, either because of the subject matter or the narrative style. Nonetheless, I think it's a book that will repay re-reading. I imagine you would take away something different from it each time.

Wannous deals with the theme of Syrians' fear due to what they went through in the past years -and continue to go through, unfortunately- however my expectations were not met; the plot falls flat and is not convincing, whilst the character's journey remains meaningless and without purpose to the end.

This book was haunting. The prose was something I’ve never read before, and it kept luring me in time after time. The way we were given the tale from both Suleima’s and Naseems’s manuscript was something I’ve never seen done before and it helped bring this tale to life. I loved how Suleima was struggling to understand how she was in love with a person of her imagination and the way Kamil helped her through this was excellently portrayed. The ending was incredibly haunting, and I found it fitting this novel ended in a less ‘happily ever after’ way and more of something that leaves you reaching for more. Overall, this story was intriguing and fascinating, putting into perspective a harsh Syria and characters that are truly unforgettable.