A powerful story of struggle, survival, and hope for the future is
told by one of Denmark's most successful artists.
The violent, compelling debut, co-written with journalist Dart
Adams, provides a complex portrait of one man and the various ways
in which every social system that was supposed to help him
failed him, while also delving into the psychology of immigrant
gangs and the young men who fall into them. But ultimately, it's a
narrative about tenacity, survival, and optimism for the
future.
Sleiman was born in Lebanon during the 1982 bombardment and
is a Palestinian. His family eventually moved to Denmark, but
their new life there was far from perfect. Sleiman was subjected to
domestic violence as well as social rejection as a Muslim
immigrant. Angry and powerless, he found himself drawn to gang life.
Sleiman had dropped out of school and was one of his gang's most
feared and revered members as a teenager. He was involved in
hundreds of crimes during his peak, but after surviving an
attempted assassination, he addressed his demons and permanently
abandoned the gang life. Sleiman is now narrating his story in his
own words in the hopes of discouraging others from following in his
footsteps.