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bashsbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I must confess, I was never a huge fan of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I reread it over and over again in high school and college, and I could never get into it. Something about the text was too dense and archaic for me to connect to - which is not normally a problem I have with classics.
When I came across Frankenstein in Baghbad, I thought the concept of a surrealist look into early Iraq War era Baghdad was an interesting concept, but I was skeptical that I'd find the same stumbling blocks with this version as the original. After all, it takes place in a time and setting very different from my own, just like Shelley's original.
But Saadawi's work is different. I realized pretty quickly that this book is much, much closer to my time and place than I thought it would be. It demonstrates, with an unparalleled hand for metaphor, the monster that is the cycle of revenge which makes up the wheels of war.
When I came across Frankenstein in Baghbad, I thought the concept of a surrealist look into early Iraq War era Baghdad was an interesting concept, but I was skeptical that I'd find the same stumbling blocks with this version as the original. After all, it takes place in a time and setting very different from my own, just like Shelley's original.
But Saadawi's work is different. I realized pretty quickly that this book is much, much closer to my time and place than I thought it would be. It demonstrates, with an unparalleled hand for metaphor, the monster that is the cycle of revenge which makes up the wheels of war.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Body horror, and War
Moderate: Gun violence, Torture, Police brutality, Classism, and Misogyny
Minor: Sexual harassment, Car accident, Sexual content, and Suicide
-Suicide bombing, explosions -Corpses -Mutilationhoppskotch's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-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? Yes
4.25
Honestly, one of the finest adaptations of classic literature into modern sociopolitical contexts. I highly recommend this to anyone who either enjoys the creature feature genre or just in general is looking to expand their adult fiction and horror bookshelf. So many of the characters are complex that equally measures that they are written with deep respect to each person's humanity. That being said there are quite a handful of characters who I could have lived without but were essential for the plot and overall were enriching. An incredible dive into the moral and philosophical nature of death, murder, criminality, and victimhood within the context of war and loss. This has become one of my favorite books nearly overnight.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Body horror, Blood, War, Death, Violence, Vomit, Torture, Murder, Grief, Gore, and Car accident
Minor: Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Misogyny
jsuispoesie's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, War, and Violence
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Trafficking
addyruth17's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
The application of the ideas surrounding Frankenstein were intriguing here: vengeance, guilt and innocence, humanity's collective anger and grief. The rest of the book didn't really live up to the promise of this premise: I'd say there were too many plot lines and I wasn't very invested in any of them. The clunky translation also brought the reading experience down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol
Minor: War, Cursing, Grief, and Sexual content
tessieferro's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
“They all dreamed something about Hasib. Parts of one dream made up for parts missing in another. A little dream filled a gap in a big one, and the threads stitched together to recreate a dream body for Hasib, to go with his soul, which was still hovering over all their heads and seeking the rest it could not find.”
Beautiful, somewhat comical in a twisted way, an unexpected twist on an overused concept. Some parts fell short, but the concept made up for all of it.
Beautiful, somewhat comical in a twisted way, an unexpected twist on an overused concept. Some parts fell short, but the concept made up for all of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, War, and Body horror
cviii's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Violence, War, Classism, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Colonisation, Death, Dementia, Gore, Grief, Murder, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Xenophobia and Stalking
annemaries_shelves's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
As a retelling of Frankenstein and its philosophy - who is the monster, what does it mean to be a person and to purse justice, how do you reconcile your past with your future, the balance of nature vs nurture - Frankenstein in Baghdad did a good job.
I can see why people think it's brilliant and how it won awards, but for me personally, it's fine as a novel. Nothing too special in my reading experience.
As with the original, the monster is the most interesting character and we never get enough time with him. There are a lot of tangents and other character povs, which may be annoying to some readers. I enjoyed how all the characters added to the sense of place and time and the exploration of the American invasion of Iraq and subsequent impacts of war on society. However, this detracted from the framing device of the monster - an extra 20-30 pages with the monster's perspective would've been great.
My favourite characters were Hadi (his story and resolution made me so sad) and Elishva, whose enduring love for her long lost/dead son was bittersweet. I do wish there were more female characters pov than just Elishva, who was painted as the "crazy old woman." Mahmoud - my least favourite and most common pov - had a really awful perspective on women and "love" (aka obsession) that was delusional, disrespectful, and all too common among many men. He frustrated and engaged me as a character.
Overall, an interesting and thought-provoking read that probably won't stick with me too long. I'm glad I finally read this off my shelves.
I can see why people think it's brilliant and how it won awards, but for me personally, it's fine as a novel. Nothing too special in my reading experience.
As with the original, the monster is the most interesting character and we never get enough time with him. There are a lot of tangents and other character povs, which may be annoying to some readers. I enjoyed how all the characters added to the sense of place and time and the exploration of the American invasion of Iraq and subsequent impacts of war on society. However, this detracted from the framing device of the monster - an extra 20-30 pages with the monster's perspective would've been great.
My favourite characters were Hadi (his story and resolution made me so sad) and Elishva, whose enduring love for her long lost/dead son was bittersweet. I do wish there were more female characters pov than just Elishva, who was painted as the "crazy old woman." Mahmoud - my least favourite and most common pov - had a really awful perspective on women and "love" (aka obsession) that was delusional, disrespectful, and all too common among many men. He frustrated and engaged me as a character.
Overall, an interesting and thought-provoking read that probably won't stick with me too long. I'm glad I finally read this off my shelves.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Gore, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Grief, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Torture, Murder, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual harassment
sophee_568's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Let's start by saying that I have no idea how to rate this book. This was a challenging read because of the amount of violence and death. I am aware this book was purposefully written and it was a clever choice to convey the story through the known tale of Frankenstein and his monster. Essentially, this is a story about death, the meaning of justice, how different people view it, how they put it into effect, and the differences between innocence and guilt. Who has the right to decide what is wrong or right, or who is innocent and who is a criminal?
The story takes place in U.S.-occupied Baghdad. The story follows a cast of Baghdad citizens showing how they navigate a city torn by bomb explosions. It shows the growing disparities between Sunnis and Shiites paramilitary troops and the American military troops trying and ultimately failing to bring peace into the city. One of the characters is Hadi, a scavenger who spends most of his time at a local cafe telling stories about his life to anyone willing to listen. Hadi is the Frankenstein of this novel but an accidental one. He collected body parts of the bombing victims and stitched them together to form one whole body, which resided in his shed. What brought it to life was a wondering lost soul who needed a body. It rose from the table and fled into the night. From then on Hadi's creation, called Whatsitsname or Criminal X, decided his mission was to avenge the death of people whose body parts formed his. That mission turned out to be more difficult than it seemed because every time he avenged a person or failed to do so, the body parts started to fall off. That propelled him to constantly look for more body parts, which led him to start murdering innocent people. That's where the innocent vs. guilty debate comes in. How can you know if someone is innocent or not when you see them on the street? If you witness a shoot-out on the street you may think they are criminals, guilty of murder, but that label might only fit at that moment. Before that, couldn't they have been innocent people, leading ordinary lives, who were forced to engage in combat? Who is the real enemy? That is a nerve-wracking topic to explore. As Saadawi said in an interview: "The book is a manifesto against war. It is critical of the American occupation, the former regime, and the current regime." I think the main idea was for the reader to see how senseless and pointless war is.
All the characters in this story come from different ethnic and religious backgrounds but face the same problem of staying alive. They have all been traumatized by war. Elishva lost her son in battle, and Hadi lost his best friend to a bomb explosion. It is a horrible and scary life to live. By the end, many characters will have either died or moved away. Unfortunately, I didn't find myself emotionally invested in the story. Perhaps that is due to the number of characters or the constant switching of POV between the characters. The book is divided into 19 chapters, every chapter having 5 parts. I thought each chapter was going to follow only one character, but after the 5th chapter POVs were constantly switching. I would have preferred for the chapters to have only one POV.
One thing that bothered me was the lack of female characters. Elishva is the only female main character, and she is portrayed as 'crazy' because she cannot deal with her son's death. The way Mahmoud (also one of the main characters) thinks about and treats Nawal is awful. He seemed like a decent character until he forced himself on her. Not to mention the way he treated the prostitute he was with. Those instances made me feel uneasy.
Overall I am giving this book 3 stars because I wasn't that impressed with the execution of the novel. I probably won't read it ever again.
The story takes place in U.S.-occupied Baghdad. The story follows a cast of Baghdad citizens showing how they navigate a city torn by bomb explosions. It shows the growing disparities between Sunnis and Shiites paramilitary troops and the American military troops trying and ultimately failing to bring peace into the city. One of the characters is Hadi, a scavenger who spends most of his time at a local cafe telling stories about his life to anyone willing to listen. Hadi is the Frankenstein of this novel but an accidental one. He collected body parts of the bombing victims and stitched them together to form one whole body, which resided in his shed. What brought it to life was a wondering lost soul who needed a body. It rose from the table and fled into the night. From then on Hadi's creation, called Whatsitsname or Criminal X, decided his mission was to avenge the death of people whose body parts formed his. That mission turned out to be more difficult than it seemed because every time he avenged a person or failed to do so, the body parts started to fall off. That propelled him to constantly look for more body parts, which led him to start murdering innocent people. That's where the innocent vs. guilty debate comes in. How can you know if someone is innocent or not when you see them on the street? If you witness a shoot-out on the street you may think they are criminals, guilty of murder, but that label might only fit at that moment. Before that, couldn't they have been innocent people, leading ordinary lives, who were forced to engage in combat? Who is the real enemy? That is a nerve-wracking topic to explore. As Saadawi said in an interview: "The book is a manifesto against war. It is critical of the American occupation, the former regime, and the current regime." I think the main idea was for the reader to see how senseless and pointless war is.
All the characters in this story come from different ethnic and religious backgrounds but face the same problem of staying alive. They have all been traumatized by war. Elishva lost her son in battle, and Hadi lost his best friend to a bomb explosion. It is a horrible and scary life to live. By the end, many characters will have either died or moved away. Unfortunately, I didn't find myself emotionally invested in the story. Perhaps that is due to the number of characters or the constant switching of POV between the characters. The book is divided into 19 chapters, every chapter having 5 parts. I thought each chapter was going to follow only one character, but after the 5th chapter POVs were constantly switching. I would have preferred for the chapters to have only one POV.
One thing that bothered me was the lack of female characters. Elishva is the only female main character, and she is portrayed as 'crazy' because she cannot deal with her son's death. The way Mahmoud (also one of the main characters) thinks about and treats Nawal is awful. He seemed like a decent character until he forced himself on her. Not to mention the way he treated the prostitute he was with. Those instances made me feel uneasy.
Overall I am giving this book 3 stars because I wasn't that impressed with the execution of the novel. I probably won't read it ever again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, War, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol
mme_carton's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Police brutality, Sexism, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Medical content, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Torture
Moderate: Cursing and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Animal cruelty
spinesinaline's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
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? Yes
4.25
This book follows the original classic with a murderous creature formed out of multiple corpses. However in Saadawi’s story, these corpses are victims of suicide bombings, the story set in Iran following the USA’s invasion, and the creature sets out to seek justice for these parts of it’s self.
While the author doesn’t directly comment on foreign conflicts and warring governments, we see the horrific impacts of this violence on each character in the book and the larger implications and realizations are subtly pushed forward throughout the story for the reader to come to on their own.
Because of this more subtle undertone, it does feel that the descriptions of death and destruction are at times callous or impartial but I think the author’s intentions and style work beautifully in getting his point across.
While the author doesn’t directly comment on foreign conflicts and warring governments, we see the horrific impacts of this violence on each character in the book and the larger implications and realizations are subtly pushed forward throughout the story for the reader to come to on their own.
Because of this more subtle undertone, it does feel that the descriptions of death and destruction are at times callous or impartial but I think the author’s intentions and style work beautifully in getting his point across.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Suicide, War, Death, Murder, Gun violence, Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content