There was a line from Sonic Adventure 2 that really stood out to me. When Sonic the Hedgehog was asked who he was, he simply replied, “What you see is what you get, just a guy who loves adventure.” This simple line perfectly describes the character of Sonic and what kind of person he is. He loves adventure. It’s what he does. This is why the whole premise of Lynsey Addario’s book is interesting. It can be summarized by a very brief story mentioned at the end. As Addario was photographing many Syrian refugees, she would smile at them and say “Salaam!” to them. They would smile back and call her “Sahafiya” meaning “journalist.” In the book, after she mentions that, she says “Journalist. It is who I am. It’s what I do.” This brief detail at the ending of the book reminded me of that memorable scene from the Sonic franchise.
Now if I was going to be honest, I found Addario’s techniques in this book...questionable. While she did take some very good pictures, she often uses means such as lying or illegally entering places to get said photos. I am one of those people who typically prefer to follow the law and honesty. There is also the fact that I can’t relate to her situations in war zones. I’m fully aware that what she was doing was indeed important but I still don’t understand the purpose of this book for my photojournalism class. We weren’t doing pictures from foreign countries and I most certainly don’t plan on doing it anytime soon. And a lot of her strategies when talking to people involved with people who were experiencing trauma like a comrade dying. That being said, what I can relate to are her struggles in balancing both her career and personal life. As someone who plays two separate lives (one being in the real world and the other with a whole different persona online), I can relate to her struggle to juggle different lives. In fact, despite not enjoying it at first, I think I much preferred reading her discuss her personal life rather than what she was doing as a photographer. During those times when she gets personal, I forget that I’m reading this for a class and I am enjoying it. But once I get to the photographing parts, I immediately remember that this is indeed for a class and I’m thinking “why am I reading this in the first place?” It’s important, don’t get me wrong, but...it just was not interesting to me. As a book for my photojournalism class, it really was not helpful.
The photos were interesting but one of the photos that I really liked by Addario was not present in this
book (or at least I don’t think it was). It’s a picture of a man walking in the woods with a black horse. There’s just something about this picture that I really like. Perhaps the mystery of what lies in the woods? Or maybe it’s the sun shining on the left while the darkness of the woods on the right?
To conclude, would I recommend this to anyone? Eh, unless they plan on taking war pictures or pictures in foreign countries, probably not. It was a pretty meh book in my opinion. While her personal life did get interesting, the main focus, being photography, did not capture my interest.
