By the author of the Yacoubian Building, but in a very different style. There is something akin to Mahfouz in this substantial novel - maybe the host of characters, maybe the small street that all the book grows out from, maybe the glimpse into different socia classes. A very good read. An interesting, critical chronicle of the lives of the characters, and through them, a social history, a social critique, a critique of colonialism and empire. Also a history of the period just before Nasser and the Egyptian revolution.
An excellent writer. Worth rereading.
Saturday 30 January 2016
Borderland and Other Stories - Graham Swift
A very tight writer. Short stories exploring unobtrusive moments of significance in people's lives. He has the knack of switching voices as he switches stories and characters.
Natural Novel - Georgi Gospodinov
Even more meandering than his book I read earlier, The Physics of Sorrow. He has actually managed to create a novel essentially without a story. Endless short meanderings about many characters and subjects - toilets and bathroom history, flies, village life, language. The author also slips in and out of various personae. There is a loose thread of the story of main character's marriage and divorce. This provides just enough tension and continuity to tie everything together somehow.
You begin to see some themes, some motifs present in his other books as you read this one - homeless people, the marginalized, eccentric or downright crazy people leading strange lives in half-abandoned villages. Recurring images. Why? He is a very personal writer so it is hard to imagine the symbolism or significance.
You begin to see some themes, some motifs present in his other books as you read this one - homeless people, the marginalized, eccentric or downright crazy people leading strange lives in half-abandoned villages. Recurring images. Why? He is a very personal writer so it is hard to imagine the symbolism or significance.
Sunday 24 January 2016
The Stone Giant - Kazuo Ishiguro
Such a strange book. Set in England in the period after the Romans have left England, and everything has fallen apart. Almost like a bizarre venture into the fantasy-historic genre. King Arthur is mentioned; Sir Gawain in his old, rusty age appears; there is a dragon; the language is a bit stilted and fake. Couldn't finish it.
I wonder where that book came from... So unlike the rest of his work.
I wonder where that book came from... So unlike the rest of his work.
L'Identité - Milan Kundera
C'est la première fois que je n'arrive pas à finir un livre de Kundera. Pour moi, le focus était trop petit, trop recherché - le rapport minutieux entre un homme et une femme, le chronique de leurs inquiétudes et insécurités intérieures sous une petite vacance plannifiée. En général, ses livres écrits en français sont de plus petite envergure.
Saturday 16 January 2016
The Orphan Master's Son - Adam Johnson
A novel set in North Korea.
The first half follows the life of the main character, Jun Do, with bits from childhood to early adulthood. The book presents a frightening picture of life in North Korea - poverty, desperation, paranoia, the ever present Big Brother, the tenuousness of everyone's existence, from the bottom to the elite, other bizarre practices - building replicas of the the Wild West, luxury autos, kidnapping scientists and artists from other countries, the bizarre loudspeaker broadcasts that are apparently part of every environment. If this book is accurate, North Korea has gone much further than even Stalin.
The second half bends towards the demands of the American publishing industry, and introduces a convoluted love story. You learn some interesting facts about life in this section, but not as much.
For me, there is something particularly horrifying about this type of all-present, overwhelming system. (Stalin's system, also.) A ruling elite, a "government" can not care about you, can ignore you, can use you, but still you have yourself and your life that you lead; you have your reality, as miserable as it may be. In the Korean and Russian intrusive state model, you don't even get to keep your reality. You have your experience of misery, of struggle but it cannot be acknowledged. The State narrative of paradise, of caring, of the idealistic struggle must be internalized somehow or you die. Your tormentor, your exploiter must be called your Great Leader, must be thanked, must be worhipped. I can't imagine how dislocating, how disturbing at a fundamental level, that must be. Society and all human relations themselves become unreal. How do you recover from that?
The first half follows the life of the main character, Jun Do, with bits from childhood to early adulthood. The book presents a frightening picture of life in North Korea - poverty, desperation, paranoia, the ever present Big Brother, the tenuousness of everyone's existence, from the bottom to the elite, other bizarre practices - building replicas of the the Wild West, luxury autos, kidnapping scientists and artists from other countries, the bizarre loudspeaker broadcasts that are apparently part of every environment. If this book is accurate, North Korea has gone much further than even Stalin.
The second half bends towards the demands of the American publishing industry, and introduces a convoluted love story. You learn some interesting facts about life in this section, but not as much.
For me, there is something particularly horrifying about this type of all-present, overwhelming system. (Stalin's system, also.) A ruling elite, a "government" can not care about you, can ignore you, can use you, but still you have yourself and your life that you lead; you have your reality, as miserable as it may be. In the Korean and Russian intrusive state model, you don't even get to keep your reality. You have your experience of misery, of struggle but it cannot be acknowledged. The State narrative of paradise, of caring, of the idealistic struggle must be internalized somehow or you die. Your tormentor, your exploiter must be called your Great Leader, must be thanked, must be worhipped. I can't imagine how dislocating, how disturbing at a fundamental level, that must be. Society and all human relations themselves become unreal. How do you recover from that?
Friday 15 January 2016
Nocturnes - Kazuo Ishiguro
A collection of short stories where music plays a key role in each story. A very classical writer - restrained, subtle, indirect. A master of the complexities and subtle undercurrents of human interaction - hinting, pointing but never stating clearly, as things generally aren't clear. The stories just are - difficult to pin down, to grasp and explain. Several stories though, have a underlying theme of social criticism, especially of what could be described as American culture or values.
The Sirens of Baghdad - Yasmina Khadra
A novel set in Iraq. The story of a young man from an isolated village in Iraq. It traces the effects of the American invasion and occupation on his village, his family and his own life - the loss, the brutality, the humiliation, the cultural conflicts. Basically a story of the logic of radicalization of a young man at the hands of the West. Interesting to get a different perspective on this whole debacle.
And Other Stories - Georgi Gospodinov
A collection of very bizarre short stories from Bulgaria. Very creative, almost surrealistic at times. Even more out there than his novel, The Physics of Sorrow. Worth rereading.
Why Nations Fail - Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson
A brilliant analyses of the state of many of the world's countries based on the nature of the economic and political structures within the country, and also the relationship between the two.
They analyze many examples to back up their central ideas.
They analyze both economics and governments based on two polar opposites which are different aspects of the same dichotomy. Economically, there are inclusive or extractive structures operating. Politically, there are inclusive or exclusive/oligarchic/dictatorial structures in place. Inclusive economic structures encourage the dispersion of wealth through society, extractive structures concentrate wealth at the top. Inclusive structures encourage innovation, economic renewal/evolution and competition. Exclusive structures discourage investment and promote stasis and stagnation, as change threatens the economic and political elite. Same for exclusive/inclusive political structures. Oligarchic or dictatorial political structures can promote strong short-term growth as they can dictate where resources, both financial and human, are directed. The growth does not last, though, because of the tendency towards stasis and economic stagnation to guard positions of privilege.
They analyze various political and economic structures - colonialism and post-colonial government and economics, Stalin, Britain, China, and others - within their parameters, and a lot of it makes sense. I find I am seeing current events and history in a different light using these concepts.
There are also several sections on a question that has puzzled me for quite some time - how the British ended up developing this particular democratic system in combination with a strong economy. An interesting read.
Some other ideas worth considering - the importance of a centralized state as a prerequisite for inclusive economic and political structures. Centralized states can go both ways, but without centralized power there is no chance for inclusive structures. Everything is just chaos and infighting.
Another is the sheer chance of Britain and Europe developing the systems they now have. They talk about critical historical junctures, or moments of possible conflict - which forces win is not a forgone conclusion. If you are lucky, the inclusive forces win and life improves for most people. If not...
It also makes you realize that the continued existence of inclusive structures and economies is not a given; they can be slowly eroded by small changes in laws and regulations - I think you see this happening to a degree in the U.S. for the past decade or two.
The ideas in this book also make you realize the enormous difficulties of changing exclusive structures in failed and failing states, as these structures often have very deep historical roots. Our current structures are the result of centuries of slow change and growth - it is close to impossible to impose these in a country in a short time, especially if the elites benefit from the existing exclusive structures.
Another idea that strikes me is that most people on the planet live in extractive economic structures of varying degrees, and with no real political or social power. I can't imagine what it is like to live in a society where you are seen as something to be exploited (labour, taxes) and where the government has absolutely no care taking function. Pirate states...
They analyze many examples to back up their central ideas.
They analyze both economics and governments based on two polar opposites which are different aspects of the same dichotomy. Economically, there are inclusive or extractive structures operating. Politically, there are inclusive or exclusive/oligarchic/dictatorial structures in place. Inclusive economic structures encourage the dispersion of wealth through society, extractive structures concentrate wealth at the top. Inclusive structures encourage innovation, economic renewal/evolution and competition. Exclusive structures discourage investment and promote stasis and stagnation, as change threatens the economic and political elite. Same for exclusive/inclusive political structures. Oligarchic or dictatorial political structures can promote strong short-term growth as they can dictate where resources, both financial and human, are directed. The growth does not last, though, because of the tendency towards stasis and economic stagnation to guard positions of privilege.
They analyze various political and economic structures - colonialism and post-colonial government and economics, Stalin, Britain, China, and others - within their parameters, and a lot of it makes sense. I find I am seeing current events and history in a different light using these concepts.
There are also several sections on a question that has puzzled me for quite some time - how the British ended up developing this particular democratic system in combination with a strong economy. An interesting read.
Some other ideas worth considering - the importance of a centralized state as a prerequisite for inclusive economic and political structures. Centralized states can go both ways, but without centralized power there is no chance for inclusive structures. Everything is just chaos and infighting.
Another is the sheer chance of Britain and Europe developing the systems they now have. They talk about critical historical junctures, or moments of possible conflict - which forces win is not a forgone conclusion. If you are lucky, the inclusive forces win and life improves for most people. If not...
It also makes you realize that the continued existence of inclusive structures and economies is not a given; they can be slowly eroded by small changes in laws and regulations - I think you see this happening to a degree in the U.S. for the past decade or two.
The ideas in this book also make you realize the enormous difficulties of changing exclusive structures in failed and failing states, as these structures often have very deep historical roots. Our current structures are the result of centuries of slow change and growth - it is close to impossible to impose these in a country in a short time, especially if the elites benefit from the existing exclusive structures.
Another idea that strikes me is that most people on the planet live in extractive economic structures of varying degrees, and with no real political or social power. I can't imagine what it is like to live in a society where you are seen as something to be exploited (labour, taxes) and where the government has absolutely no care taking function. Pirate states...
Death and the Penguin - Andrey Kurkov
A very quirky novel by a Ukrainian author who writes in Russian. First published in 1996.
An odd story of a writer of obituaries caught up in some murderous account setting and struggle over the spoils of a post Glasnost world. A cast of odd-ball characters and a sense of everyone wandering through a circus show, blown here and there by winds beyond their control, as well as their own demons. The most intriguing character is the main character's pet penguin, adopted from a zoo when the post-communist zoo could no longer afford to feed the animals. Hard to say or what the penguin is. Unless he represents perhaps the author, sad and lost in a world he doesn't recognize.
More books in the series to read!
An odd story of a writer of obituaries caught up in some murderous account setting and struggle over the spoils of a post Glasnost world. A cast of odd-ball characters and a sense of everyone wandering through a circus show, blown here and there by winds beyond their control, as well as their own demons. The most intriguing character is the main character's pet penguin, adopted from a zoo when the post-communist zoo could no longer afford to feed the animals. Hard to say or what the penguin is. Unless he represents perhaps the author, sad and lost in a world he doesn't recognize.
More books in the series to read!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)