A delightful story loaded with important social and political observations.
A finalist in 199
4 for both the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Award, Paradise hides major themes and ideas within the seemingly simple story of Yusuf, a twelve-year-old boy in rural East Africa whose father sells him to a trader to settle a debt. East Africa is in turmoil–on the verge of World War I and the fighting which eventually develops between the Germans in Tanzania and the British in Kenya. Cities are growing, populations are moving, merchants are trading and selling, and colonialists from many countries are vying for influence.
When Yusuf is sold to his “uncle” Aziz, he leaves his remote rural village in what is now Tanzania and joins a trading caravan, traveling to the highlands and eventually on an ill-fated trading safari to the remote interior, discovering whole new worlds as he goes. In eight years of travel, he “progresses” from the countryside to a coastal city, from simple subsistence to the complexities of urban, mercantile life, and from his childish pleasure with a shiny coin to adult love.
As a young child/adolescent, Yusuf is an obvious symbol of Tanzania itself at this early stage in its history. Just as Yusuf must come of age, so also must the country as the various groups contending for influence make choices about how much they will accept, reject, or adapt to outside influences. As Yusuf comes into contact with tribal chieftains, Muslim traders, Indian shopkeepers, and German empire builders, the reader observes the impact of all of these groups both within Yusuf and within the loose, artificial borders of Tanzania.
Creating vivid images primarily through his selection of the perfect detail, Gurnah uses simple, poetic language to tell a delightful story loaded with important social and political observations, conveying clearly and objectively the historical background of the country in which the author was born. Dialogue is often filled with humor, and Yusuf becomes a real person, not a cardboard symbol. A novel which begins as a beautifully realized coming-of-age story develops into a story of high adventure, social and political realism, and eventually love.
Notes: The author’s photo appears on http://www.kent.ac.uk
Also reviewed here: DESERTION , BY THE SEA , THE LAST GIFT,
GRAVEL HEART
rtin Pearce, an Englishman nearly dead from thirst, staggers out of the desert and into the life of Hassanali, a shopseller in a village south of Mombasa, he sets in motion events and themes which echo throughout the novel. It is 1899, and Pearce has been traveling on foot for four days. Believing that “This [man] was a burden [God] had…chosen for him,” Hassanali enlists his wife Malika, and his sister Rehana to help care for him until a local British official brings him back to “civilization.” When Pearce returns to thank Hassanali, he becomes enamored of Rehana, and their eventual affair becomes a scandal in both the British and the Indian/Muslim communities.
imagine why this thoughtful and beautifully constructed novel by an author of immense talent is so little known and so little praised. It’s a very strong book, filled with sensual images, subtle feelings, vibrant scenes, carefully plotted intrigue, and clear messages. Its scenes of family life and strife in Zanzibar, contrasted with the “civilized,” bureaucratic, and officious behavior of the British at home and abroad, establish strong contrasts and illuminate the themes.
s connections there, and ultimately, the how and why of each man’s emigration to England. Coming from two different generations, each man has a different view of his former country, the older man having spent most of his life there, escaping to England when all other hope is gone, and the younger having left as a young student, but still longing for the connections he left behind.
“civilization” and enjoy the more “meaningful” aspects of a simple life, independent of the rest of the world. Richard, while staying in a Bangkok guest house, befriends two French travelers, Etienne and Francoise, and when “Daffy Duck,” an older resident, bequeaths him a map to Paradise, just before committing suicide, the three decide to find it. As a precaution, Richard draws a copy of the map and leaves it for the two Harvard boys, in case he does not return.
first big crisis, and on the beach, several crises occur simultaneously. The community begins to unravel into division, hostility, and eventually, chaos. Several characters, including Richard, start to hallucinate and lose touch with reality, with Richard associating life on the beach with the warfare he faced in Vietnam. Daffy Duck, the long-dead “friend” who gave him his map, becomes a major character in Richard’s daily life.
and realistically, and the naivete of the free-wheeling characters is plausible, making their conflicts inevitable and understandable. As Richard deteriorates emotionally, the reader empathizes with him while also seeing his weaknesses and self-absorption. The utopian subject and its inevitable conclusion are not new, but Garland gives them a fresh treatment here, creating a dramatic novel which updates the genre for a new generation.
The Leopard, an assassin who figures in a number of Silva novels, becomes a major player in this third Gabriel Allon novel, about the passive involvement of the Vatican in the Holocaust and its subsequent denial of all responsibility. Basing the novel on research by scholars like Susan Zuccotti (whom Silva credits in his acknowledgments) into the secret connections between factions within the Catholic Church and the Third Reich, Silva creates a chilling and utterly compelling story about the reasons that the Vatican might have feared the Jews were a threat to its own power and wanted to prevent the ultimate establishment of an Israeli homeland.
ith members of Crux Vera, an ultra-conservative organization within the church, with their leaders well entrenched in positions of power close to the Pope. These must publicly hide their involvement because the new, liberal Pope Paul VII is anxious for transparency and reconciliation with the Jews. When the Pope decides to attend a meeting with the head of a Rome synagogue to express his regrets for any Vatican failures in responding to the Holocaust, the Crux Vera goes into action, contacting The Leopard to be sure that their involvement is never discovered.