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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
dark
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-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
Within ‘The Stone Face’ readers follow Simeon as he navigates the racial contradictions and existential confusion while living in Paris.
In the moments that Simeon indulges in the privileges that France offers; vibrant entertainment, boundless consumption and copious distraction, his bliss is narratively disjointed by the racial attacks that have foregrounded his departure from Philadelphia; reminding him of the oppression that makes up a necessary facet of his existence. Reiterating that relocation does not eradicate identity nor experience – not in the same way it has for other characters in the book such as Maria. As he notes in conversation with her, he is not capable of fleeing from responsibility; “Not Forever. Because of something inside”.
The number three dominates the book as the three racial attacks, each taking place at a different point in Simeon’s life, reflect the three different states he experiences as an expat in Paris (the fugitive, the white man and the brother). In the last third readers witness Simeon’s most noticeable evolution of consciousness as he tangibly departs from inaction. In a peaceful demonstration opposing the curfew imposed on the Algerians by the French Government, Simeon encounters a depraved degree of colonial violence, the physical and psychological ramifications of which prompt Simeon to confront ‘The Stone Face’ and his own detachment.
Overall, through Simeon and his interval in Paris, Smith reminds readers of the importance of intercultural solidarity and the necessity of trading comfort for justice.
adventurous
dark
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Amazing book.. wow
challenging
dark
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Strong character development:
Yes
this is how i imagined ‘blood of others’ to be 💯
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
This book should have never gone out of print.
Smith's work counters the view of France as free of racism and examines the racism in the US at the same time.
Look, if you like James Baldwin, check this book out.
Smith's work counters the view of France as free of racism and examines the racism in the US at the same time.
Look, if you like James Baldwin, check this book out.
Upon further reflection, this was a singular book, if a little sparse on Simeon's emotional experience, particularly given the various references to his "sensitivity." Simeon must leave America to escape his anger towards a racist system where he cannot be free in his own land, only to feel perfectly accepted and even courted in Paris, only to find out racism has many different facets and is not directed merely towards skin color but of heritage. Drawn to the struggle of which he is a part at home, he returns home.
I found Ahmed's recitation of feeling alive reminiscent of Sartre's Roads to Freedom trilogy, though I wouldn't consider The Stone Face an existential work. Though, if the tenets of existentialism are freedom, passion, and responsibility, perhaps it is.
I found Ahmed's recitation of feeling alive reminiscent of Sartre's Roads to Freedom trilogy, though I wouldn't consider The Stone Face an existential work. Though, if the tenets of existentialism are freedom, passion, and responsibility, perhaps it is.
The Stone Face is a flawed novel, one which would have moved me if I had read it thirty years ago, as a novel examining the milieu of black expats in the Paris of the early 1960s, the role of the exile--yet one padded by the influence of hard currency, it is a narrative exploration of racism, the treatment of Algerians in France, one torn by the infallible calculus of relativism, so it isn't a surprise that we have a Holocaust survivor, and a few disguised portraits of the Parisian African-American community including Chester Himes.
The novel is episodic and extreme. There isn't just a flashback to poverty and brutality, but that the protagonist loses an eye. He doesn't just empathize with the daily struggle of the Algerians, indeed he hears of their being genitally mutilated and personally witnesses their being beaten to death. It is a frustrated fiction but one in earnest. The novel has a restlessness, but a confident one.
The novel is episodic and extreme. There isn't just a flashback to poverty and brutality, but that the protagonist loses an eye. He doesn't just empathize with the daily struggle of the Algerians, indeed he hears of their being genitally mutilated and personally witnesses their being beaten to death. It is a frustrated fiction but one in earnest. The novel has a restlessness, but a confident one.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated