Björn recenserade Die Orangen des Präsidenten av ʻAbbās Khiḍr
None
3 stjärnor
"I've lived for sixty-five years. And I keep seeing things that almost convince that we're not human. Guests, at best. Strange guests from nothing."
Harrowing (and partly autobiographical) story, told effectively enough, without either shying away from the horrors of Saddam's prisons (the big metaphorical one and the small literal one) or sensationalising them. I think the publisher may be hoping to sell it as a YA novel, going by the binding, and as such it's certainly no slouch. There are things in here that remain too undeveloped for my taste - Khider is fond of nodding to history, without ever doing much with it - and compared to, say, Hassan Blasim he only intermittently hits THAT spot. But the irony in the title runs throughout the whole book, from all the conquerors that have come and gone to the image of US soldiers retreating as Saddam takes back his …
"I've lived for sixty-five years. And I keep seeing things that almost convince that we're not human. Guests, at best. Strange guests from nothing."
Harrowing (and partly autobiographical) story, told effectively enough, without either shying away from the horrors of Saddam's prisons (the big metaphorical one and the small literal one) or sensationalising them. I think the publisher may be hoping to sell it as a YA novel, going by the binding, and as such it's certainly no slouch. There are things in here that remain too undeveloped for my taste - Khider is fond of nodding to history, without ever doing much with it - and compared to, say, Hassan Blasim he only intermittently hits THAT spot. But the irony in the title runs throughout the whole book, from all the conquerors that have come and gone to the image of US soldiers retreating as Saddam takes back his country after the first gulf war. Prisoners are told Saddam's birthday is coming up, they're asked to celebrate it, with the understanding that they'll be pardoned... and their reward is one orange each. Gee, thanks.