A satisfying adventure and, for some readers, a primer on timely history.
In Haddad’s historical novel, a young Iranian boy comes of age during World War II, a very turbulent time for his Middle Eastern homeland.
Sohrab Ahangar is born into a prosperous family in Tehran. His early childhood is idyllic, but Russia and Britain have staked out spheres of influence, north and south, in a country that’s favored by natural resources but defenseless. Then comes the Second World War: Iran declares neutrality, but as the conflict escalates and Germany invades Russia, Allied soldiers arrive to protect the Trans-Iranian railroad—a key strategic artery that Russia needs (along with Iranian grain) to beat back Adolf Hitler’s assault. Meanwhile, Sohrab’s father dies and his older brother, Arash, comes home with his German wife, Krista, to take over the family business. Then things get very murky indeed: One of the local “good Germans” is anti-Nazi engineer Franz Mayer and has a teenage son, Karl, who becomes good friends with fellow teen Sohrab. Arash has a plan to rescue the family fortune, but it goes awry as the Russians suspect him of being a German spy. Afterward, the Ahangar family scrambles to survive. There are many surprising twists that follow before the Ahangars finally discover who their allies are, and who are not. Along the way, Sohrab comes of age, which is a small, poignant part of the larger story. Readers last see him on a ship sailing to America to begin his studies at New York University, thanks to the largesse of a man he took a long time to trust. He reflects sadly and wistfully on the passengers he meets and on the new challenges the world faces, already on the horizon.
Haddad, who is Iranian,is a consummate writer, and many readers are likely to learn a lot about his country’s history from this novel, which is set in a time before it became a theocracy. One of the greatest tensions in the book, in fact, is between a past of oppressive piety and superstition and a present, signified by the Pahlavi Dynasty, which tries to pull Iran into a secular modern age; the author shows the struggle to be a wrenching one. Haddad also reverentially includes passages from classic Persian poets. The book, though fiction, is inspired by true events, and the use of photographs and photocopied documents gives it a strong sense of verisimilitude, which makes for a more effective story overall. Haddad also helpfully prefaces the work with a timeline of 20th-century Iranian history and an author’s note that further explains it. Some readers will consider his prose to be richly detailed and absorbing; others may think it somewhat over the top, as in this passage about a British officer: “Spencer’s fingers danced across the lock with a finesse forged in the dark arts of espionage.” Still, the characters are memorable and subtly drawn, and several scenes, including accounts of brutal interrogations and thrilling car chases, are truly gripping.
A satisfying adventure and, for some readers, a primer on timely history.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2024
ISBN: 9781732594357
Page Count: 313
Publisher: Appleyard & Sons Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A frank and open-minded account from Flemish journalist Joris of her venture into Zaire, formerly called the Congo, the infamous inspiration for Conrad's Heart of Darkness. As a child, Joris heard the tales told by her uncle, a Belgian missionary serving in the Congo. His visits were family milestones and the curios and gifts he sent back to Belgium became treasured heirlooms. But Joris the adult journalist wanted not only to follow in her uncle's footsteps but to see for herself what contemporary Zaire was like. A subtext here is a retrospective look at Belgian colonialism, notorious for its tragic failure to prepare the Congolese for independence, which, when it occurred, resulted in immediate chaos that led to the subsequent rise of Mobutu Sese Seko (president since 1965) and the ``Barons,'' who have brazenly used the country's great mineral wealth to enrich themselves. Joris first visits her uncle's old mission postings, where she meets his now-aging colleagues and learns that the Church is still one of the few ways out of poverty for bright young men, though many local churches and schools are closed down for lack of money. This poverty is a common theme of Congolese life, Joris learns, as she balances encounters with white expatriates with an excursion on the aging steamer that plies the Congo River from Kinshasa to Kisangani; a visit to Gbadolite, Mobutu's own Versailles; a trip to the southern mining province of Shaba, which in 1977 rebelled against Mobutu; and, on the lighter side but no less instructive, evenings in Maton, the famous entertainment district of Kinshasa. A deliberately impressionistic rather than definitive account, with Joris's perceptive insights and palpable sympathies for a long-suffering people making it more than just another travel book.
Pub Date: Oct. 13, 1992
ISBN: 0-689-12164-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
The rigors of Irish monasticism in the medieval period, well told by travel writer Moorhouse (On the Other Side, 1991; Hell's Foundations, 1992; etc.). The first half of the book is an imaginative reconstruction of life in an Irish monastery on the secluded rock-island of Skellig Michael from its founding in 588 to its dissolution in 1222. Moorhouse uses fictional vignettes to enliven the text. Each chapter is a well-chosen window onto a significant figure or event in the monastery's history—an 824 attack by Viking raiders, for example. In these fictional glimpses, we see the larger picture of Irish monasticism's evolution from a rigorously austere island faith to a less zealous, Romanized religion. Skellig Michael, perilously located on a sheer cliff rising from the ocean, began as one of the most ascetic of the Irish monasteries. Gradually, however, the population of monks began to dwindle, and the last fictionalized chapter shows the abbot and his aging disciples rowing their way back to the security of the mainland. The first half of the book is so intriguing and beautifully written that the second, a more traditional historical treatment of Irish monasticism, arranged topically, pales by comparison. Some of the discussions are absorbing, though; in one instance, Moorhouse explores the theme of syncretism, arguing that early Irish Catholicism, rather than eradicating pagan Celtic rituals, incorporated them into monastic life. This eclectic borrowing was able to continue for centuries because of Ireland's geographical remoteness from the centralizing forces of Rome. Due to accommodation with a Celtic spring ritual, Easter was dated differently than in Rome, a discrepancy that continued until Rome demanded conformity in the early 8th century. An uneven work, then, more fascinating in its first, fictionalized half than in the rigorous explications of the second, and one that might have worked better presented purely as a novel. (illustrations, not seen)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-15-100277-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1997
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