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A review by naughty_librarian
Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
4.0
This was an interesting book, on several fronts. I don’t know much about Iraq, other than the U.S. going over there to blow stuff up, so this was a great opportunity to learn a bit more about some of the people and their perspectives and what life in Baghdad was like during all the turmoil.
I have not read the original Frankenstein, but I liked the premise of this book—the idea of turning the dehumanized parts of various victims of violence and making them into a person so that people would recognize the humanity. That was a really cool and poetic idea.
While all the characters in this book and their intertwined relationships makes you feel like you are getting to know a community, on the downside, it’s a lot of characters to keep track of. “Wait, which one is this? The junk dealer? The real estate guy? The coffee shop owner? The magazine editor? The magazine staff? The police? The government official? The writer? The old woman and her neighbors? Her dead son? Her daughters? The saint she talks to and prays to all the time? The cat? The film maker? The prostitute? The priest? The extended families of all these people?”
And also the book takes a bit of a turn from the assumptions I had about where it was going to somewhere that didn’t feel as satisfying as I thought it was going to be…
Still, an artistic story that surpasses the usual horror fare in characters, complexity and skill.
I have not read the original Frankenstein, but I liked the premise of this book—the idea of turning the dehumanized parts of various victims of violence and making them into a person so that people would recognize the humanity. That was a really cool and poetic idea.
While all the characters in this book and their intertwined relationships makes you feel like you are getting to know a community, on the downside, it’s a lot of characters to keep track of. “Wait, which one is this? The junk dealer? The real estate guy? The coffee shop owner? The magazine editor? The magazine staff? The police? The government official? The writer? The old woman and her neighbors? Her dead son? Her daughters? The saint she talks to and prays to all the time? The cat? The film maker? The prostitute? The priest? The extended families of all these people?”
And also the book takes a bit of a turn from the assumptions I had about where it was going to somewhere that didn’t feel as satisfying as I thought it was going to be…
Still, an artistic story that surpasses the usual horror fare in characters, complexity and skill.