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crafalsk264's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
In 1993, the author of this book was murdered by the Armed Islamic Group for his support of secularism and opposition for what he considered fanaticism. He had already lost his wife and children when they desert him to become fundamentalists. This book was the last written by Djaout and untitled at the time of his death. The story follows an Algerian bookseller, Bouslem Yekker, has a good life with a wife, son and daughter and friends who love books and knowledge almost as much as he does. In the late 1980s Islamic fundamentalism began to infiltrate the schools, the political organizations and mosques of Algeria. Using tactics most recently demonstrated by Hitler’s and the Nazi party, the country became more and more intolerant.
The book is a chronicle of how a society that valued the written word and its study for hundreds of years are now slipping into fundamentalism and books are one of the first tiers of democracy and civilization. Although Djaout wrote this in his home country of Algeria, it can be generalized to any country and any time. The slide toward fundamentalism is a constant temptation and intolerance is often its shadow or its midwife. Djaout had not titled this manuscript when he died. The tile was taken from the first line in the third chapter. There are so many quotes that to choose one is very difficult. One of my favorites appears below…
“Djaout posed the question in his novel – how long would you resist the change that he experienced? How long would you resist to keep your basic freedom of thought? The closing words of this novel written by Djaout shortly before being murdered: “Will there be another spring”?”
From…The Last Summer of Reason by Tahar Djaout
| Book Review in The Exiled Soul (https://theexiledsoul.com/2021/07/04/book-review- the-last-summer-of-reason-by-tahar-djaout/)
Recommend to readers interested in Africa, Dystopian, Books-About-Books, religion.
trulybooked's review against another edition
5.0
Normally, I wouldn't put a novel in my poetry section, but that is what reading this book felt like. There is a natural poetry to every line that stays with me long after I've put the book down. Reading up on the author and how he lived makes the story even more poignant. Quietly defiance even as he quails and despairs at the way that the world is changing, Boualem is someone who we can all see ourselves in and is a Shakespearean worthy character in his own right.
ajsterkel's review against another edition
4.0
This review is for the English translation of an Algerian book.
If I was one of those heathens who highlights in books, I would have highlighted every word in this one. The writing is stunning. I wish I had read this book sooner instead of letting it linger on my shelf for months.
I first heard of author Tahar Djaout several years ago, but The Last Summer of Reason is the only book of his I’ve read. Djaout lived in Algeria and was an outspoken critic of Islamic fundamentalism. In 1993, he was murdered by an Islamic group because he “wielded a fearsome pen that could have an effect on Islamic sectors.” The unfinished manuscript of The Last Summer of Reason was found in his home after his death.
This tiny dystopian novel (145 pages) reminds me of a philosophy book. There isn’t a lot of action. The author mainly uses the character as vehicle to examine complex ideas about religious extremism and creativity.
In an unnamed country, a bookstore owner, Boualem Yekker, is trying to survive. His country has been taken over by a group called the Vigilant Brothers, who seek to control every second of people’s lives. They even have laws about which foot a person has to put into bed first. There are no weather reports on the news because only God can predict the weather. Boualem’s family and friends have already deserted him to support the Vigilant Brothers. He knows it’s only a matter of time before he loses his bookshop and possibly his life. As the Vigilant Brothers tighten their stranglehold over the country, Boualem retreats into his memories to stay sane.
This book is basically a love letter to art, especially books. It proposes that society needs artists because artists are the ones who ask the hard questions. Art forces us to look inside ourselves and question why we believe what we do. Religious fundamentalism does the opposite. That’s why fundamentalists burn books and destroy art. Fundamentalists don’t like creativity. They believe there is only one correct way to live, and they are intolerant of anyone who lives differently. People like Boualem are not welcome in their world because they ask questions.
As the book goes on, the Vigilant Brothers become so powerful that they take everything away from Boualem. The only things they can’t touch are his memories.
The chilling part of this book is that it’s a dystopia, but it also isn’t. The author lived through the beginning of this dystopia. He died to prevent the events in this book from happening. Sometimes, the book feels more like a memoir than a novel.
The Last Summer of Reason is very real. It’s also hard to review because it’s unfinished. The author didn’t mean for readers to see it like this. But, it’s worth reading if you’re curious about Islamic extremism and the people who fight against extremist rule.
If I was one of those heathens who highlights in books, I would have highlighted every word in this one. The writing is stunning. I wish I had read this book sooner instead of letting it linger on my shelf for months.
I first heard of author Tahar Djaout several years ago, but The Last Summer of Reason is the only book of his I’ve read. Djaout lived in Algeria and was an outspoken critic of Islamic fundamentalism. In 1993, he was murdered by an Islamic group because he “wielded a fearsome pen that could have an effect on Islamic sectors.” The unfinished manuscript of The Last Summer of Reason was found in his home after his death.
This tiny dystopian novel (145 pages) reminds me of a philosophy book. There isn’t a lot of action. The author mainly uses the character as vehicle to examine complex ideas about religious extremism and creativity.
"Some men, citing divine will and legitimacy, decided to shape the world in the image of their dream and their madness . . ." The Last Summer of Reason
In an unnamed country, a bookstore owner, Boualem Yekker, is trying to survive. His country has been taken over by a group called the Vigilant Brothers, who seek to control every second of people’s lives. They even have laws about which foot a person has to put into bed first. There are no weather reports on the news because only God can predict the weather. Boualem’s family and friends have already deserted him to support the Vigilant Brothers. He knows it’s only a matter of time before he loses his bookshop and possibly his life. As the Vigilant Brothers tighten their stranglehold over the country, Boualem retreats into his memories to stay sane.
This book is basically a love letter to art, especially books. It proposes that society needs artists because artists are the ones who ask the hard questions. Art forces us to look inside ourselves and question why we believe what we do. Religious fundamentalism does the opposite. That’s why fundamentalists burn books and destroy art. Fundamentalists don’t like creativity. They believe there is only one correct way to live, and they are intolerant of anyone who lives differently. People like Boualem are not welcome in their world because they ask questions.
"Books have been the compost in which Boualem's life ripened, to the point where his bookish hands and his carnal hands, his paper body and his body of flesh and blood very often overlap and mingle." – The Last Summer of Reason
As the book goes on, the Vigilant Brothers become so powerful that they take everything away from Boualem. The only things they can’t touch are his memories.
The chilling part of this book is that it’s a dystopia, but it also isn’t. The author lived through the beginning of this dystopia. He died to prevent the events in this book from happening. Sometimes, the book feels more like a memoir than a novel.
The Last Summer of Reason is very real. It’s also hard to review because it’s unfinished. The author didn’t mean for readers to see it like this. But, it’s worth reading if you’re curious about Islamic extremism and the people who fight against extremist rule.
“The arrogant elimination of the Djaouts of our world must nerve us to pursue our own combative doctrine, namely: that peaceful cohabitation on this planet demands that while the upholders of any creed are free to adopt their own existential absolutes, the right of others to do the same is thereby rendered implicit and sacrosanct. Thus the creed of inquiry, of knowledge and exchange of ideas, must be upheld as an absolute, as ancient and eternal as any other.” – The Last Summer of Reason (Introduction)
sssnoo's review against another edition
5.0
‘Will there be another spring”? The closing words of this haunting novel by Algerian author Tahar Djaout. Written some time between 1990 and 1992 the manuscript was found after Djaout was assassinated by Islamists. He chronicals the rise of religious fundamentalim in Algieria through the eyes of a book seller. We Westerners think we know about Islamist societies, but this novel so precisely describes how such a transformation can happen, the consequences and the death blow to the soul that occurs. The book is so much more striking because it is a essay and premonition on the author’s own assassination. Originally written in French the language as it translated into English is so descriptive a reader feels emersed in the transformation of Algiers. I don’t have the words to even begin to describe a book where every sentence is so meticulously written I can close my eyes and feel transported.
Don’t just think of this a book about Islamists - it inimately describes how any despotic ruler or regime can devour a country before its citizens even recognize what is occuring. And book/art censoring and burning always accompanies these transitions.
Don’t just think of this a book about Islamists - it inimately describes how any despotic ruler or regime can devour a country before its citizens even recognize what is occuring. And book/art censoring and burning always accompanies these transitions.
mayamahdi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This book is beautifully written. It is full of figurative language and metaphors but it is not painful to read. Although the subject topic is bleak and difficult, this book is hard to put down. You crave the language and insight that comes of it.
prof_shoff's review against another edition
4.0
A very thought-provoking and eloquently considered novel reflecting on the losses we suffer from fundamentalism.
books17's review against another edition
2.0
This was disappointing. It made me sad because it's the sort of story I can imagine happening in real life, but that's about it. Really it doesn't really do anything or go anywhere and I think it gets shelved on the "I'm Probably Missing the Point" shelf.