A review by octavia_cade
The Devils' Dance by Hamid Ismailov

challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

I enjoyed this, but I have to wonder if I would like it better if I had more familiarity with the history and culture involved. There are really two stories going on here: the first, which frames the narrative, is a fictionalised account of the imprisonment and subsequent execution of the Uzbek writer Abdulla Qodiriy in one of Stalin's many purges of people who might have disagreed with him even once, or could potentially do so in the future. I've had a similar story published on the Soviet biochemist Lina Stern, who was also persecuted in this way (but who thankfully survived) so I was interested to read a longer and more writer-centric version. Qodiriy was apparently working on his own historical novel, also set in Uzbekistan, at the time of his arrest. This work has been lost, and Ismailov tries to recreate it, having Qodiriy plotting out the story during his detention... but the stories begin to blur together, as deprivation, torture, and fear make Qodiriy stumble through his own creation. 

It's very cleverly done - or at least I can see it's been cleverly done, even if I don't understand the extent of the cleverness. There's clearly a lot of historical and literary resonance here that I just don't get - time to add some central Asian history books to my to-read pile - and that's especially so when it comes to the poetry that's been included here. Uzbekistan, apparently, has a long and distinguished history of poetry, and of course I don't know anything about that either (I say with exasperation, annoyed at my own ignorance). Oh well, more background reading for me to do, then. As it is, there are times when I found this a little scattered, a little too fragmented... but I'm pretty sure it's my own lack of understanding that's contributing most to this impression.