Historical

Review: Pride of Baghdad

Jay
Cover of Pride of Baghdad, featuring art of a lion looking through twisted metal pieces that probably used to be part of a building.

Title: Pride of Baghdad

Author: Brian K. Vaughan (writer), Niko Henrichon (artist)

Genre: Historical Fiction

Trigger Warnings: Blood, gore, death, animal death, war, bombings, death by gun, rape

Back Cover:

In the spring of 2003, a pride of lions escaped from the Baghdad zoo during an American bombing raid. 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?

Based on a true story, Vaughan and artist Niko Henrichon have created a unique and heartbreaking window into the nature of life during wartime, illuminating this struggle as only the graphic novel can.

Review:

My husband has been pestering me to read this for a long time (I think a couple years at this point). I finally sat down and read it. It took me about half an hour, and I think this text conversation between my husband and I sums it up pretty well.

Screenshot of a text conversation. Person 1 says "I read Pride of Baghdad and it was so sad why did you DO that to me." Person 2 responds "It's a good read though, right? A tragedy unlike any other." Person 1 replies in all caps "I DID NOT KNOW IT WAS A TRAGEDY I NEARLY FUCKING CRIED" and then in a separate message in lowercase letters "but yes, very good read."

This is a sad book. A very sad book. If you do not want to see animals die this is not your book. If you do not want to cry or at least feel very much like crying this is not your book. It’s a good story but that ending will make you sob.

This graphic novel is based on a true story of four lions who escaped the Baghdad Zoo when it was bombed. The four lions (two lionesses, one male lion, and a cub) wander the bombed streets of Baghdad, seeing the horrors of humans at war without comprehending. Somehow that makes it even sadder.

This is a good book. The artwork was good (I was not a huge fan of how the artist drew the lions’ faces, but that’s a minor personal quibble), the story was good, I got a solid emotional connection to these lions, it makes interesting points about the nature of freedom and the horrors of war. Just … make sure you know going in that there are no happy endings here.