Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by carduelia_carduelis
Iraq + 100: stories from a century after the invasion by Ra Page, Zhraa Alhaboby, Mortada Gzar, Khalid Kaki, Ibrahim Al-Marashi, زهراء أزهر الحبوبي, Anoud, Hassan Blasim, Jalal Hasan, Diaa Jubaili, Ali Bader, Hassan Abdulrazzak
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.