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jennisms's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
lexifram's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
drkottke's review against another edition
4.0
Selected for the Read Harder 2021 challenge to read a sci-fi/fantasy anthology edited by a person of color. This has been on the to-be-read list for a while, and was worth the wait, if for no other reason than to introduce me to a whole set of new authors to follow.
mburnamfink's review against another edition
3.0
As Americans, we invaded and wrecked Iraq, so the least we can do is read some Iraqi literature. As editor Hassan Blasim puts it, the Arab world has a dearth of genre literature. There is no Arab Tolkien or Asimov, no living or historical author who links the myths of the Muslim world to a modern retelling, or the present to the future. to paraphrase his introduction, the Arab imagination has been buried by authoritarian politics, religious fundamentalism, and foreign shock therapy. This 2013 collection, a decade after the sack by the latter day Hulagu Khans, Bush and Blair, imagines many futures for Iraqi in 2113.
The writers are exceptional, judging by the bios in the back. This is the creme of Iraqi literati, both in Mesopotamia and in exile. For all their literary skills, they are only okay at the art of speculative fiction. The best of the stories have the acid satire of Russian literature. The interesting ones find future peace in Iraq's history as the cradle of civilization. The average ones gripe about the injustice of occupation and sectarian warfare, and too many, roughly half by my count, fumble with the basic tools of speculative literature, getting so lost in imagination that they forget to add characters, or a plot.
I enjoyed reading this book, but I can't really recommend it either.
The writers are exceptional, judging by the bios in the back. This is the creme of Iraqi literati, both in Mesopotamia and in exile. For all their literary skills, they are only okay at the art of speculative fiction. The best of the stories have the acid satire of Russian literature. The interesting ones find future peace in Iraq's history as the cradle of civilization. The average ones gripe about the injustice of occupation and sectarian warfare, and too many, roughly half by my count, fumble with the basic tools of speculative literature, getting so lost in imagination that they forget to add characters, or a plot.
I enjoyed reading this book, but I can't really recommend it either.
callareads69's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
cally_mac's review against another edition
3.0
Some of these were 4 stars, others were 3 - so it's really a 3.5 (even though overly qualifying stars is a pet peeve of mine). Besides some particular standout stories, I also appreciated the project of this collection and want to see more like it.
alassel's review against another edition
4.0
I believe I saw this mentioned on one of the book blogs I follow, and as I'm trying to widen the range of voices I read I picked it up right away. The premise is simple and contained within the title - Iraqi writers wrote about Iraq in one hundred years, in a variety of genres, and their stories are collected here.
There is a lot to learn from these stories, not only about Iraq and its people but how they see Westerners, especially those who have waged bloody war over WMDs and oil over the past twenty years. Some stories reflected the tragedy of these battles, while others went for hope and justice instead. I appreciated reading all of them, including the ones that are not complimentary to the West and the USA, because these are important viewpoints to hear and understand and respect.
Okay, there was one story that I hated completely, but that's because it was a sort of surprise horror story and I really do not enjoy that genre at all, especially when I'm not expecting it. So let's count that one out.
I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand a bit more about the culture and writing of Iraq, and to those wanting to broaden the viewpoints in their reading material. Well worth your time.
There is a lot to learn from these stories, not only about Iraq and its people but how they see Westerners, especially those who have waged bloody war over WMDs and oil over the past twenty years. Some stories reflected the tragedy of these battles, while others went for hope and justice instead. I appreciated reading all of them, including the ones that are not complimentary to the West and the USA, because these are important viewpoints to hear and understand and respect.
Okay, there was one story that I hated completely, but that's because it was a sort of surprise horror story and I really do not enjoy that genre at all, especially when I'm not expecting it. So let's count that one out.
I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand a bit more about the culture and writing of Iraq, and to those wanting to broaden the viewpoints in their reading material. Well worth your time.
huskerbee's review against another edition
2.0
2.5/5. The premise is great and I'm mindful that it's a kind of writing I'm not used to (and also that they've all been translated), but I just couldn't get into a lot of these stories, which felt amateurish or stilted. The attempts to look back at the Iraq of "a hundred years ago" often came about through choppy exposition.
carduelia_carduelis's review against another edition
2.0
I picked this up after having read Hasam Blasim’s [b:The Iraqi Christ|16273471|The Iraqi Christ|Hassan Blasim|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1354806255s/16273471.jpg|22369826]. However, where that was full of magical realism, as well as powerful messages of what it’s like to be a civilian during the American and British Invasion of the early 2000’s, this collection felt somewhat lacking.
The difference being, of course, that not all of the stories in this collection are written by Blasim but are selected by him. The concept: envision the state of Iraq 100 years after the US occupation, is a really great idea but goes to show that, even given a platform, you cannot expect citizens of a continuously war-torn country to be able to shine a positive light on their future or just brush their current situation aside.
I’ve made a few comments on each of the stories, below. Spoilers, obviously.
Stories:
* Kahramana
Following Blasim’s optimistic foreword, the collection takes a swift about-turn and starts out off with a piece largely devoid of hope. Initially, things don’t seem too bad, a girl escapes a bad marriage and seeks asylum saving herself and her husband’s reputation. But it eventually falls through and we’re left with the image of her being dragged back across the border to certain death.
What was the message here? That even in 100 years, little will have changed? That oligarchs dominate, that women are still only as useful as their fertility? It’s a depressing start.
* The Gardens of Babylon
Blasim’s contribution is notable as it tries to drag the mood of the collection out of despair with a cutesy tale of writer’s block, psychedelic drugs, and biospheres. His metaphors were pretty heavy-handed but I appreciate the approach at something resembling speculative fiction. However, this is by far the weakest of the short stories I’ve read by him. See The Iraqi Christ for his standout collection of short stories that properly show his craft and ingenuity as a writer.
* The Corporal
Similarly to Blasim’s story, Bader’s entry is set in a utopian future that is still strongly focused on present-day Iraq - and religion? First we live through the present-day soldier’s journey to war and subsequent death. And then we watch him describe it first to God (who’s having a fruitless argument with Socrates) and then the citizens in Kut, 100 years after his death. It turns out that Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia are now the world’s most advanced superpowers: peaceful, harmonius civilizations, devoid of organized religion but still spiritual. The West, in the meantime, has now fallen to fundamentalist dictatorships. In some ways, it’s a little sad that the only way Bader can envision prosperity in the Middle East is with the fall of the West, most notably, the US.
* The Worker
This was an odd one. Another dictator, another starving populace, and then I think the last bit was narrated by either a robot or a bronze statue.. it’s not clear. Either way, another dystopian future: complete with dog eating, human trafficking, and stories of cooking and eating one’s own shit to stave off hunger.
Blasim’s vision of a collection of utopian sci-fi was looking like a joke at this point.
* The Day By Day Mosque
Another really odd one. In the future, there are people who harvest snot both for the benefit of the customer as “the sound of a man’s nose is a good indicator of his health and virility” and for The Inversion Project in the Gulf Of Basra. The actual usefulness of aluminum vats of mucus is never explained and the inversion project is loosely outlined as ‘converting South to North’ but will also invert people’s organs and fish’s gills and other nonsense. Perhaps the idea of this one is that the future has the privilege to focus on frivolities? I didn’t get it.
*Baghdad Syndrome
This definitely felt like the most complete and interesting story, and is my favorite in the collection. Like the first 3 stories this speaks of modern Iraq still haunted by its past - this time in the form of a mysterious syndrome that plagues its victims with visions and dreams of modern-day Iraq before robbing them of their sight - much like the great waves of blackouts the city experienced during the US occupation. It’s poignant and well written.
* Operation Daniel
This was also pretty nice. It imagines a future where China is the reigning superpower and now controls the Middle East, banning all mention or recordings of any language other than Chinese. This was a high impact little story, I enjoyed it.
* Kuszib
Haha, this one was weird. I thought it was going for a heavy-handed allegory about how we define civilized cultures and colonialism but, nah, it was just about sex.
I did enjoy some of the stories in this collection and it did, as Blasim suggested, keep the current plight of Iraq firmly lodged in my brain for at least a week whilst I was reading it but it’s not something I’ll be reaching for again.
Still, I'll be looking out for Blasim again in the future.
The difference being, of course, that not all of the stories in this collection are written by Blasim but are selected by him. The concept: envision the state of Iraq 100 years after the US occupation, is a really great idea but goes to show that, even given a platform, you cannot expect citizens of a continuously war-torn country to be able to shine a positive light on their future or just brush their current situation aside.
I’ve made a few comments on each of the stories, below. Spoilers, obviously.
Spoiler
Stories:
* Kahramana
Following Blasim’s optimistic foreword, the collection takes a swift about-turn and starts out off with a piece largely devoid of hope. Initially, things don’t seem too bad, a girl escapes a bad marriage and seeks asylum saving herself and her husband’s reputation. But it eventually falls through and we’re left with the image of her being dragged back across the border to certain death.
What was the message here? That even in 100 years, little will have changed? That oligarchs dominate, that women are still only as useful as their fertility? It’s a depressing start.
* The Gardens of Babylon
Blasim’s contribution is notable as it tries to drag the mood of the collection out of despair with a cutesy tale of writer’s block, psychedelic drugs, and biospheres. His metaphors were pretty heavy-handed but I appreciate the approach at something resembling speculative fiction. However, this is by far the weakest of the short stories I’ve read by him. See The Iraqi Christ for his standout collection of short stories that properly show his craft and ingenuity as a writer.
* The Corporal
Similarly to Blasim’s story, Bader’s entry is set in a utopian future that is still strongly focused on present-day Iraq - and religion? First we live through the present-day soldier’s journey to war and subsequent death. And then we watch him describe it first to God (who’s having a fruitless argument with Socrates) and then the citizens in Kut, 100 years after his death. It turns out that Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia are now the world’s most advanced superpowers: peaceful, harmonius civilizations, devoid of organized religion but still spiritual. The West, in the meantime, has now fallen to fundamentalist dictatorships. In some ways, it’s a little sad that the only way Bader can envision prosperity in the Middle East is with the fall of the West, most notably, the US.
* The Worker
This was an odd one. Another dictator, another starving populace, and then I think the last bit was narrated by either a robot or a bronze statue.. it’s not clear. Either way, another dystopian future: complete with dog eating, human trafficking, and stories of cooking and eating one’s own shit to stave off hunger.
Blasim’s vision of a collection of utopian sci-fi was looking like a joke at this point.
* The Day By Day Mosque
Another really odd one. In the future, there are people who harvest snot both for the benefit of the customer as “the sound of a man’s nose is a good indicator of his health and virility” and for The Inversion Project in the Gulf Of Basra. The actual usefulness of aluminum vats of mucus is never explained and the inversion project is loosely outlined as ‘converting South to North’ but will also invert people’s organs and fish’s gills and other nonsense. Perhaps the idea of this one is that the future has the privilege to focus on frivolities? I didn’t get it.
*Baghdad Syndrome
This definitely felt like the most complete and interesting story, and is my favorite in the collection. Like the first 3 stories this speaks of modern Iraq still haunted by its past - this time in the form of a mysterious syndrome that plagues its victims with visions and dreams of modern-day Iraq before robbing them of their sight - much like the great waves of blackouts the city experienced during the US occupation. It’s poignant and well written.
* Operation Daniel
This was also pretty nice. It imagines a future where China is the reigning superpower and now controls the Middle East, banning all mention or recordings of any language other than Chinese. This was a high impact little story, I enjoyed it.
* Kuszib
Haha, this one was weird. I thought it was going for a heavy-handed allegory about how we define civilized cultures and colonialism but, nah, it was just about sex.
I did enjoy some of the stories in this collection and it did, as Blasim suggested, keep the current plight of Iraq firmly lodged in my brain for at least a week whilst I was reading it but it’s not something I’ll be reaching for again.
Still, I'll be looking out for Blasim again in the future.