OBOC - Iceland

The very fact that I finished "Silence of the grave" in one day is enough evidence to show that Arnaldur Indridason has a winner here; and sure enough the book has won many crime fiction awards and the author is compared to many of his Scandinavian counterparts.

A skeleton is accidentally discovered outside the city which brings Erlendur Sveinsson to the case who concludes that the body must've been buried for quite some time. Erlendur like so many other leading fictional detectives is a lone wolf,  completely lacking in charm whose personal life in shambles. In this novel he is forced to confront his own past as he sits besides his junkie daughter  Eva Lind who is in a coma after losing a child, while at the same time unraveling the secrets of two other families each with their own tragic history as revealed by the grave.  We also get a glimpse of the changing face of Reykjavik from the time of the second world war.

The story is told in two alternate narrations - one in the present as Erlendur and his team track down available leads; the other is the sometimes hard to read story of the lady in green, a sad saga of soul destroying domestic violence and the effect it has on the family (some of the most well written passages in the book).

While i enjoyed the book, I have to complain about predictability. There were very few surprises or twists. Although I don't like trick endings, it seemed like this was a bit too easy to solve as the red herring was easy to spot. Even Erlendur's characterization is typical of so many of the detectives from the cold :) Makes you wonder what's with the weather that produces these types of detectives and an army of crime writers! Despite the predictability in the way the mystery is solved, the book stands out because of the author's ability to tell the story of the ordinary yet outstanding Icelandic mother surviving against all odds under some extremely difficult circumstances and the amazing backstory which makes this cold case come to life.

OBOC - Honduras

One of the most maligned careers during the last presidential elections was that of a "community organizer", but what does it truly mean to be one, especially in a country with no real democracy, facing abject poverty and subject to the whims and fancies of the super power(s). "Dont be afraid Gringo" by Elvia Alvarado has the power to do to community organizers what Indiana Jones did for archaeologists, or the Millenium Trilogy did for hackers - except that this one is all real, and unfortunately is not widely read or known!

Elvia is an extraordinary, courageous activist working with some of the poorest of Honduras attempting to do land recovery. The reason the book is such an interesting read is because Elvia has a unique way of analyzing both micro and macro level problems and shows quite a sense of humor and directness when articulating her views.

Through this book she sheds light on some of the real Hondurans living in rural areas on less than a dollar a day whose fate seems to be determined by the United States and the politics of Nicaragua. This is the time when Reagan was funding the Contras against the Sandinistas and Honduras was an important base for many of the American operations. Elvia doesn't hesitate to offer her opinions about Reagan (she had a funny piece where she concludes that Reagan must indeed be a Communist :)!) and American foreign policy, but like so many others in many parts of the world has a fondness for Americans, just not their Government. She also talks about the role of the Church, the local politicians, unions, aid agencies, non-profits, and the power of her analysis and the persuasiveness of her arguments are quite remarkable.

The book is not just about the macroscopic events, or even about blaming others for the plight of Honduras. She also narrates so many incidents from ordinary campesinos lives that it is an amazing insight into the lives of the ignored. She longs for a better future for her grandchildren as she doesn't have much hope that things will change much for her own children. Better education, healthcare, freedom, land ownership - these are all the things she is fighting for and has even gone to jail for.

She has been labelled everything from being a communist, to an atheist and an immoral woman, but she hasn't let any of those stop her. At one point she says how she has never met a Russian and has no idea how a communist even looks. After all the only Gringos she has seen were American soldiers. Although she feared them initially, she gradually comes to sympathize these soldiers as she understands that they are just doing the job that their government was making them do and most of them did not even understand why they were in Honduras in the first place.

This book is certainly worth reading for anyone associated with any kind of grassroots, progressive cause or anyone interested in understanding the plight of Hondurans or countless people all over the world whose life is determined by unseen political forces. The title of the book was a bit confusing for me when i first started to read, but it makes sense when she concludes the book with an appeal to the "gringos" of the world who are sympathetic to the Hondurans and asks them not to be afraid to take on their own governments if they see injustice being perpetrated.

OBOC - Haiti

"Masters of the Dew" by Jacques Roumain is one of the best examples of a peasant novel. The novel highlights the issues faced by Haitian peasants due to loss of fertile land, forest cover and hillsides, erosion, drought and is unfortunately relevant even today! Manuel the hero, returns after spending 15 years in Cuba and is shocked to see the homeland of his dreams (specifically his native village of Fonds-Rouge) reduced to this pitiable state. The issues are further compounded by a local feud that has left the village sundered into two factions. 

In Manuel we see a hero who is frustrated with his country men’s attitudes and he embodies a clash of traditions. In his quest to find water that can revive his village, he takes on the superstitions and religions (both Vodou and Christianity) as he refuses to accept the prevailing thought that the drought was God’s punishment and praying with all your heart can solve the problems. At the same time we also see the other side of Manuel when he lets his soul to be swept away under the vodou rhythms – proving he is not negating everything about his culture and roots. He is struck by the difference between Cuban and Haitian mindsets and this is obvious when he struggles to find a Haitian word for “strike” which is so common in Cuba. He succeeds in finding a water source, but the only way to get the water to the fields is by uniting the two warring factions and forming a unified coumbite. With the help of his sweetheart Anaise, and by tapping into the power of women he overcomes the obstacles and succeeds in uniting the village, but only by paying a very heavy price.

The plot of the novel is very simple and straightforward, and the translator must’ve done a wonderful job as it is quite poetic to read. The central theme is one of regeneration and growth and the book has so many metaphors around this theme. Also there is a strong link between land and sexuality – women exist to serve men (Anaise literally thinks of herself as Manuel’s servant), and so does land. It was a bit difficult for me to overlook that, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the novel. That way Roumain is like so many others before and after him (Fela Kuti comes to my mind – love his music and his liberating politics, but not his gender stance), focused on liberation in one sphere, completely ignoring the other.

As the title indicates, the book is a Marxist call to arms to the peasants of Haiti urging them to take control of their own destiny, and Roumain’s love of land and country makes this a compelling read.

OBOC - Norway

What a shocking coincidence! I just completed The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo and while the book's portrayal of neo-Nazis in Norway was eye-opening I was totally taken aback by the twin attacks in Norway this Friday! I, like so many others around the world have a utopian view of the Nordic countries despite the number of dark crime novels that the region has spawned. Neo-Nazism is a recurring theme in many of these novels and I always wondered why so much focus was given to such a minority. I can see how much fear, havoc and suffering can be caused by even one member of a miniscule minority. What was even more insightful was the first reactions to the tragedy in the world press, when so many people took a wild guess as to who caused this tragedy and passed that off as intelligent analysis - all because they had the means to do so. Anyway, here is my review of the novel which I found was hard to put down for the plot, the characters and the story telling.

I picked up Redbreast because I wanted a break from all the autobiographical, anti-colonial books that I was reading as part of OBOC. I just wanted to read a different genre and I've heard so much about Nesbo and his investigator Harry Hole that I thought I would give it a shot.

Harry Hole is a quintessential detective hero - broody, unkempt, lonely, dry wit but sharp as a knife and straight as an arrow. The story is sandwiched between 2 assassination "attempts" both foiled by Hole and there are 2 distinct tracks. One happens in current day Oslo where Hole is investigating the Neo-Nazis who are planning for an attack to ruin the Id celebrations of the Muslim minority. The other goes back to second world war and tells the story of the small minority of Norwegians who chose to fight alongside the German Nazis on the Eastern front. This is a story that is rarely told in Norway as it is still a fresh wound that no one wants to reopen.Most of the soldiers who fought on the Eastern front had to pay the price after the war when they were imprisoned. The Redbreast is about one such soldier who has still not forgiven the Norwegian historians for portraying them as traitors or the country's ruling elite for "abandoning" Norway at the time of need. Hole finds himself unraveling this story as he starts his investigation of the Neo-Nazis.

Along the way you encounter a number of minor mysteries which are like pieces of a puzzle that all come together at the end. Although not much is common between the soldiers of the Eastern Front and the Neo-Nazi Islamaphobes, Nesbo manages to raise the issue of Norwegian Nationalism in the '40s and today through both these lenses.

Although long it is a gripping book and as I said in the opening, in a case of life imitating art Breivik who I hear wanted to wear a uniform and read a speech at his hearing is eerily close to Sverre Olsen the Neo-Nazi in the Redbreast. Unfortunately there was no Harry Hole equivalent to prevent the massacre!

OBOC - Georgia

Granny, Iliko, Illarion and I hands down is one of the funnest books i've read as part of OBOC. Set during the second world war this is a semi-autobiographical account of Nodar Dumbadze's youth spent with his granny and two old men Iliko and Illarion as the title indicates. I picked up the book prepping myself for a Dostoevesky type read and what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be! The tone of the book is Wodehouseian with a lot of humorous reflections of mundane events but it is also mixed with nostalgia. Distinctly national in setting one gets a vivid picture of the Georgian countryside and Tbilisi.

As a mom I often read picture books for my little one and have always wondered why pictures disappear from books as one gets older. Granny and I has proved adding pictures to a novel can only enhance it even if it is meant for grown ups. Beautiful illustrations add great color to some of the rip-roaring anecdotes. Iliko and Illarion are straight out of Grumpy Old Men - the two of them get on each other's nerves but can't imagine life without the other. Constantly playing tricks on each other, they often involve the young Zuriko in their grand schemes. Zuriko is more than happy to participate especially if it gets him out of school. I especially liked the couple of pages where he describes a collective farmers meeting when they decide whether the office needs to be dismantled and moved nearer to the Chairman's house. I haven't let out a chuckle when reading in a long time. Some of the anecdotes in Granny and I actually made me laugh out loud.  Granny accidentally getting Zuriko's first love letter intended for Mary, Zuriko's first train journey to Tbilisi, and Seraponia who in my opinion is second only to Wodehouse's Empress!

Of course the book also has many nostalgic elements, death of Murada the dog and Pakizo the cow, Illarion losing one eye and having to face Iliko, Zuriko turning down Zira's love out of loyalty for Mary, and of course granny's death at the very end of the book.  Hats off to the translators who have done an awesome job in getting the humor and nostalgia across. I will now keep an eye out for other works of Dumbadze.

OBOC - Guatemala

Miguel Asturias is probably the most famous writer from Guatemala and was the obvious choice for OBOC. I did begin with his most ambitious but least understood work "Men of Maize". Once again it was a fool's folly on my part. There is a reason why wikipedia describes this book as the least understood book by Asturias. But i was intrigued by the history of the Maya Indians. Luckily good sense prevailed and i abandoned the book at around 20 pages and picked up "Son of Tecun Uman" an autobiographical diary of Ignacio Bizarro Ujpan which he wrote upon the request of anthropologist James Sexton.

Ignacio is "every Indian" and through his diary we get an honest, simple, engaging view of life in Guatemala in the '70s for Indians who were partially assimilated into the larger society. The appeal of this book is the mere fact that autobiographies are usually reserved for the rich and/or famous. Rarely we hear from society's otherwise voiceless. The story of Ignacio's could be the story of adivasis in India, Native Americans on a reservation today in America, or other indigenous cultures from around the world. What does it mean to live on a dollar a day? What kind of life do people on the fringe of society, mired in poverty lead? What kind of daily struggles do people face in these circumstances? How do they deal with death, sickness, natural calamities? Ignacio's story answers many of these questions. Although his situation is similar to that of Adivasis and Native Americans, it is also unique as defined by his culture, the social structure and the geography.

Broadly these were some of the themes of Maya Indian Society as described by Ignacio

1) Absolute Poverty - the biggest worry in Ignacio's mind is providing for his family especially his kids. Although he does manage to build a home with adobe walls, a sheet metal roof and a cement floor, everyday life is a lot of struggle. He sometimes worked as a contractor rounding up laborers to work on someone else's farm on a different coast. Most often than not he has no idea where his next dollar was going to come from.

2) Community ties - This was a big theme in his diary. Everyone in San Jose knew everyone else or so it seemed. People looked out for each other. Family is a loose definition but tight connection. Ignacio would go to lengths to help out a distant family member at great cost to himself.

3) Faith - Although very much Catholic, you could see that most Indians have not given up on their traditional beliefs and seem to have created their own version of a mixed religion. Ignacio seems to have lost a lot of faith in the current day Shamans, he still holds on to many seemingly superstitious beliefs.

4) Nature and its impact - Situated near Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, the lake is almost a central figure in this autobiography. Panajachel is even today famous for its natural beauty and many tourist brochures advertise both its beauty and the Mayan culture it supports. Ignacio briefly mentions the beauty but spends a great deal of time about the drownings in the lake, the spirit goddess who demands human sacrifices, the wind that blows announcing an impending death. These were the realities of his life. The other big natural disaster were the earthquakes. In the period covered by the book San Jose sees many earthquakes and aftershocks. Whole village sleeps outdoors in fear of aftershocks including Igancio's wife who had just delivered a baby.

5) Alcohol - The impact of alcohol on indigenous tribes world over is well known. Still I was shocked by how much alcohol was mentioned in this book. Men especially would drink for no apparent reason or  actually for any reason. Birth or death, harvest of crops or destruction of those, profit or loss, religious celebration or political reason - alcohol was often the answer. As a reader I was often frustrated at how much money Ignacio would spend on alcohol relative to his earnings! Towards the end of the book I was glad to see Ignacio join Alcoholics Anonymous and trying hard to kick the habit.

But the overarching theme of this book was survival. The legendary Tecun Uman is a National Hero of the Guatemalans. Following in his footsteps Ignacio is a hero in his own way. He constantly battles against natural calamities, the cards he had been dealt with in his life, his own flaws and preventable diseases like measles which is responsible for the loss of two of his kids and does all of that without much bitterness. He shows very high emotional intelligence, a sense of humor and tremendous curiosity. The sheer range of topics covered by his biography is daunting - shamans, politics, dreams,  religion, landless labor, economic conditions, changing face of Guatemala, soccer, frustrations of people,  fatalism and much much more.

Most indigenous cultures have been "studied" by anthropologists, their stories are usually hijacked and re-told by others. James Sexton by asking Ignacio to do a three part autobiography has helped create a valuable document for posterity. I am sure the next part Campesino would be an equally fascinating read.

OBOC - Guinea

With Tony Morrison and Henry Louis Gate Jr strongly urging lovers of literature to pick up "The Radiance of the King" by Camara Laye I could not overlook the book. Yes it is a different perspective and a very intriguing story but I am sorry to say that the book did not grip me like the novels of Chinua Achebe or Bessie Head.

Here is the plot briefly. The hero (you can't really call him that) Clarence is a white man who has ended up in some part of sub Saharan Africa. Why and how he got there or his purpose is not explained. When we meet him at the beginning of the novel, he is scorned by other whites, he is broke and unable to pay for his lodging but he still is full of self-importance considering himself worthy enough for an audience with the king. Although he has no specific skills he is supremely confident of finding employment as an advisor to the king. Unable to navigate the crowd and the "stench" of Africa he fails to get near the king when the king visits the North.

So with a beggar as a guide and 2 youths for company he begins a long journey to the South in the hope of meeting the King down south after literally selling his pants to pay for a meal. Suspicious of the beggar and puzzled by the maze-like forest he is not sure that his journey is going to be successful. This portion of the book reads like something out of Joseph Campbell's treatises on The Hero and his mythological journey.  At the end of the journey they reach this village where unbeknownst to Clarence he is sold to the Naba of the village as a "breeder". He settles down in the village with Akissi who keeps house for him and waits for the king.

When the king finally arrives we see a remarkable transformation in Clarence. We come to understand that the purpose of the quest which on the surface appears to be an audience with the king, is actually a journey of self-revelation (again very similar to the Hero's Journey) when Clarence finally sees himself with all his imperfections. Overcome by shame he is hesitant to see the king, but finds himself called for despite his odor and faults to stand in the radiance of the king.

The book concludes with Clarence "finally at the end of his seeking, and at the end of all seekings".  Yes it is an interesting premise - a white man disgraced in Colonial Africa undergoing transformation, coming face to face with his own faults and stench, but this book was hard labor! It is a story of quest and as someone who is vaguely familiar with quest stories in Mythology i was kinda prepared for this one. Still there was nothing to hold my attention and i found the journey to the South portion excruciatingly long. Maybe I will someday figure out why Tony Morr isson and Henry Louis Gate praise this work, but I would much rather read Chinua Achebe!

OBOC - Germany

"Born under a light bulb, deliberately stopped growing at the age of 3, given drum, sang glass to pieces, smelled vanilla, coughed in churches, observed ants, decided to grow, buried drum, emigrated to west, lost east, learned stonecutter's trade, asked as a model, started drumming again, visited concrete, made money, kept finger, gave finger away, fled laughing, rode up escalator, arrested, convicted, sent to mental hospital, soon to be acquitted, celebrated thirtieth birthday and still afraid of the Black Witch."

This is how Oskar Matzerath, the unlikely hero of Gunter Grass' Tin Drum sums up his life. Bizarre is the one word that comes to mind when I think of the novel. Controversial at the time of publication and a Classic today, it is hailed as the single most important book from Germany in the post-war period receiving a Noble Prize nod for the author. Is it a political novel? For sure, but it is also psychological, mythical, allegorical in style that to get to the political you need to peel through many layers of the onion.

Oskar Matzerath is an unlikely hero for a novel. At the age of 3 he contrives to not grow any further by getting himself into an accident. With a tin drum as his constant companion and a voice that can shatter glass we meet him at the beginning of the novel in a mental asylum. So the credibility of the narrator himself is in big question. His mother married to Matzerath a German who owns a store, carries on the side with her cousin Jan Bronski who is Kashubian and works in the Polish post office, so much so that Oskar has no idea who his real father is. Carrying this 2 father allegory further, Oskar constantly finds himself caught between Jesus and Satan, Rasputin and Goethe, just like Danzig itself is caught between Poland and Germany. Danzig is to Grass what Dublin is to Joyce.

If one is not willing to look for allegorical references I am not sure this novel will work. Oskar spends a whole lot of time observing the action from a different point of view, from under the table or from under the dais - again offering a view unlike no other about Nazi Germany. In some sense by deciding not to grow beyond 3 year he is able to absolve himself from all the happenings of that period with a child like innocence. Also his unique voice that shatters glass is on the surface a reference to Kristallnacht, I also thought it was an allegory to the purpose of this novel - shattering the myths surrounding Nazi Germany.

Gunter Grass' main point seems to be that the petit bourgeois cannot excuse themselves by blaming it all on one man - Hitler the monster. After all Hitler was democratically elected and grew in their own midst. At a time when the German nation was trying to distant itself from the past and heal its wounds, this novel seems to confront the past and reopen the wounds which explains the uproar caused by the novel.

While the horrors of the Nazi regime are described through Kristallnacht and the massacre at the Polish Post Office Gunter Grass also shows that innocence was a rare commodity among the complicit public at that time. Even little kids play some of the cruelest games. Oskar's mother is certainly not innocent and neither is Oskar who by his own admission was indirectly responsible for 3 deaths. There are so many gross scenes in the novel which were so hard to read, making me very uncomfortable (especially the eels scene and how Oskar's mom meets her death) but i guess that is precisely the point - this is uncomfortable public and personal history and everyone in their own sphere was culpable to some extent.

Gunter Grass appears to have a very pessimistic view of the future of Germany and there are several passages and references where the pessimism comes to the surface.  The Black Witch who is an evil figure in German folklore is mentioned often and as Oskar admits he is still afraid of her.

I've only scratched the surface of this novel. There are a lot more themes like the role of the Church, the post-war recovery and psyche etc.  I read an older edition and found out that a new revised translation has come out which is much closer to the original. Although the narration, the themes and the technique make it a challenging read it was a hard book to put down and I am glad that I didn't give up!

The Big Fat Royal Wedding

Thanks to news channels accidentally stumbling upon some real news to report like the Bin Laden execution, we were spared the excruciating details of William and Kate's 54th kiss, the dress she wore for the tea on the 9th day following the wedding, or their honeymoon plans. Now before you conclude I am some sort of a Republican riling against the Monarchists, let me remind you that the last time i checked I don't hold Her Majesty's passport, so it is not really upto me. My objections are more personal -  the princess dream which every girl is supposed to secretly harbor is now suddenly deemed possible , and the celebrity culture that to borrow the famous Taibbi phrase, like a “vampire squid” has ts giant arms wrapped around every single media outlet.


Don't get me wrong. I am all for two people finding happiness in love and choosing to solemnize their relationship and I wish them every happiness. What I object to is non-subjects being subjected to unwanted intrusions into their lives. In a weird case of reverse-wedding crashers, William and Kate crashed into my life and the only way I could get away from them was to unplug my TV, never launch a browser or shut my eyes in the supermarket checkout counter and close my ears in any gathering. I am fully aware that the couple in question are not to blame,after all if 8000 "journalists" felt the compelling need to land in London with their telephoto lenses (some of which looked like mini-telescopes that could actually gaze at some real stars), what can royalty do? It is after all not the 1800s when they could banish or cut their heads off. Suddenly one wedding to a "commoner" (i don't think she is from a council flat in manchester... still a "commoner" by royalty standards, i guess) made the royal family more accessible and get this relevant! Yeah, in the year of the Arab spring when autocratic regimes with long past "use by" dates were being thrown out by popular rising, an institution that is outdated by at least a century is deemed to have become relevant again!! 


Onto my second level of objection. As a woman and a mother of a little girl I have enough trouble from princesses of the Disney variety. I've written about this before. So I won't repeat it. I don't know Kate's biography, but suddenly her sole achievement as characterized by the media seems to be successfully snaring a prince, which after all is supposed to be every girl's secret dream! Now that is a message I don't ever want to communicate to my girl. Every time someone addresses my daughter as a "princess" i wince a little inside. That word is too closely associated with pink, tiaras and girliness of the kind that is 100% dependent on someone else. Relevant, role model, real - i don't expect any of this to come from today's mainstream media or popular culture. So i resorted to my trusted antidote -"The paperbag princess"! Mandatory reading according to me for every star-struck, princess possessed, celebrity crazy 4 year old or 40 year old.


So, Kate and William, I have one suggestion to make. Please announce the birth of your first child from the DRC or Haiti - two countries which can use some real journalists and media attention, and then the monarchy can truly claim to be relevant ... well ... almost!

OBOC - Ghana

Easy to read but difficult to stomach, I finished Amma Darko’s Faceless in under 4 hours and that is testimony to the power of simple writing and gripping storytelling. Set in some of the most notorious slums in Accra including one aptly titled “Sodom and Gomorrah” the story is about neglected street children and their struggle to carry on living in horrific conditions.  In a society where barenness is a sin and fertility is worshipped, irresponsible parents who have many mouths to feed do the unthinkable – push the older kids out of their homes to fend for themselves into a world where rape, prostitution, drugs and alcohol are rampant.

Faceless is Fofo’s story. Forced out of her home by her own mother Maa Tsuru who had to care for younger kids, Fofo is a resident of Sodom and Gomorroah. Her sister Baby T who was sold into prostitution in Agbogbloshie  is found brutally murdered and all leads point to Poison the uncrowned king of the streets known for his brutality. Fofo seeks the help of Kabira one of the 4 women belonging to the organization MUTE (an alternate repository of knowledge not found in books) to unravel the mystery. With support from the local media, the women of MUTE succeed in solving the murder and also rescue and rehabilitate Fofo.

As you can see from the plot, it was a very hard book to read, especially some passages where it is very hard to imagine a world like Sodom and Gomorrah. There is an amazing passage in the book when Kabira meets Fofo after she spent a couple of nights away from the slum in the safety of Dina's (the founder of MUTE) home. Within the security of Dina's home Fofo is finally able to drop her guard as getting through the day is no longer a burden. Fofo transforms into the fragile, shy, adolescent 14 year old girl that she really is. Kabira's own "lucky kids" who take for granted parental love and security are in complete contrast to Fofo. Their biggest challenge is convincing their mom to buy the latest Lord Kenya album, while Fofo's challenge is avoid getting raped by Poison. 

Despite the bleak theme, I couldn't put down the novel because of the writing. Simple, yet brilliant, Amma Darko manages to inject humor when she can, and has successfully portrayed wide ranging characters in such a short novel. From the wise old Naa Yomo a treasure trove of information, to Kabira's mildly chauvinistic husband Adade, to the policeman who is making do with what he has, to the extremely resourceful women of MUTE, and Sylv Po the radio personality, and Creamy, Kabira's beaten up old Beetle there were so many small characters who managed to stand out. This is slum dog millionaire but without the Bollywood/Hollywood glitz and glamor.

In the end the novel raises some profound questions - who is responsible for robbing the childhood of millions of children? Should the parents be held accountable? What about the state? What kind of a society are we becoming if we allow a modern day Sodom and Gomorroah crop up in a city? What about corporations that come in and uproot people and push them to the fringes when they try to grab resources? And finally what about god? How does he fit in? The white man's god who doesnt even look like the people who worship him, can he understand their plight? And what can one say of the institution that came in with god's words in one hand, and guns in the other? To the western world, the face of Ghana is probably Kofi Annan. Amma Darko portrays the faceless of Ghana - one crime solved, one girl rescued but countless others who have no representation.

OBOC - Gabon

Daniel Mengara's Mema is a tribute to his mother, a woman of extraordinary courage who is ready to wield the machete and take on her entire community to hold onto her son. At the same time, Mema is also the story of a culture in transition, one that is face to face with the new world where "people no longer knew their own wisdoms, because the wisdoms of the white man had prevailed".

Notorious for her big mouth and her fiery temper, she was both "admired and loathed, respected and feared" by her own people. Mocked for her barrenness, she was also accused of witchcraft as she managed to subdue her husband completely. After many a struggle she finally manages to bear children, but then calamity strikes her. When her husband's health takes a turn for the worse, she decides to take him to the mimbiri medicine men much against the wishes of her husband's family and other members of the community. The plan backfires as her husband doesn't return from his trip to the world of the dead. Adding to her misery she loses two daughters on the day following the death of her husband.

So her son Daniel is forcefully taken out of her home by her husband's nephew Zula who was an important figure from Beyok as he was trained in the white man's ways. Mother and son are separated for 5 years during which Daniel is educated in Beyok, after which Mema rises once again and takes back her son. Guided by the fable of Osuga Zame and its wisdom "Ntol osu, ntol n'vouss" (Elder ahead, elder behind), Mema fully understands that the child who saves the family is not necessarily the oldest. Sometimes the youngest has to take over the role of the elder.

Mema strives and saves money to ensure that Daniel can learn and "become someone in the white man's world". As the white man's wisdom becomes inevitable, Mema extracts a promise from her Osuga Zame to never forget his people and his wisdom.

This book is proof that Daniel Mengara has not forgotten, for her, he remembers, just as he had promised.

OBOC - France

With such a rich literary tradition picking a writer from France was extremely difficult. In fact my love for historical fiction was largely due to Dumas. So while I could've gone Dumas, Proust or Hugo, I went with the little known (to me), Noble Prize winner J.M.G. Le Clezio and the book "Desert" which introduced him to the English speaking audience. This decision was largely based on one interview with Le Clezio that I heard on BBC.

Strongly repulsed by colonialism and its effect on Africa, Le Clezio's empathy lies completely with the colonized nomads. In Desert he uses two stories set in completely different times to describe the impact of colonialism. One is set in the early 1900s and is the story of Nour and his forced migration with the rest of his Tuareg tribe - the Blue Men. Directed by their spiritual leader "Water of the eyes" to head further North, the tribe is driven by thirst, hunger and the longing to find a land that will shelter and protect them. The other story is that of Lalla set in the 1970s. Lalla lives in the Project - somewhere in Morocco and is a descendant of the same tribe as Nour. Orphaned, brought up by her aunt, Lalla is drawn to the desert and resists everything that is thrown her way including a forced marriage. Escaping to Marseilles, she joins the ranks of the shadow of immigrants who flood France from her ex-colonies and ekes out a living as a cleaner. Discovered by a photographer she finds glory and fame as the model Hawa, but the wealth and fame mean nothing to her. Drawn back to the desert she returns to give birth to her child. Two other main characters in the novel are Hartani - the mute shepherd who is Lalla's only friend and lover and Naman the fisherman who is a fascinating story teller.

Desert is a slow moving novel and often it feels like reading poetry. The novel is extremely visual as Le Clezio paints a picture of the desert landscape, its people, the relation between land and the creatures that live off the land. Although intuitively Blue is the last color one associates with the Desert, that was the color that flashed in my mind's eye as I read the novel - be it the Blue Men, the Blue Sky, or the distant Blue Ocean.

The novel would have been a very hard read if I had not listened to Le Clezio's interview in the BBC world book club. That gave me a great perspective of where he is coming from. His compassion for the Third World, the disenfranchised, the nomads of the desert or the immigrants in France is deep rooted. Even as a child he had been impacted by the effect of colonialism on the locals in Nigeria.  Unlike Lalla or the Hartani who clearly know that their home is in the desert, Le Clezio himself is of mixed nationality  - born in France to parents with Mauritius origins, living in New Mexico, with a love for Sweden, he is in some sense an exile himself finding his home in the French language.

This book is not for everyone. It is by no means an easy read, and Lalla at first glance can be a hard character to identify with. Personally the book struck a chord with me because this is in some sense a book that deals with migrations, separations and finding one's place in a globalized world.

OBOC - Finland

"To understand Finland and the Finns one needs only read one book: Under the North Star by Vaino Linna". With such an illustrious endorsement what more does a book need to be picked for OBOC! The book is the first part of a trilogy which traces the lives of the Koskelas from the 1880s to just before 1916 with the other two parts continuing to the 1950s and through their lives we also get to understand the history of Finland.

Apparently every Finn, even those who have never picked up the book knows the opening sentence "In the beginning there were the swamp, the hoe - and Jussi". Jussi is the tenant farmer of the parsonage and patriarch of the Koskelas. He and his wife Alma clear a portion of the swamp to establish their croft. As tensions mount between the land owners and the crofters, socialism comes to the masses through Halme the tailor who successfully organizes a worker's association in the village to fight for the rights of the evicted. Historical leaders of Finland's socialist movement like Hellberg and Salin make guest appearances in the novel.

While the masses are trying to get their head around Socialism the upper classes including the clergy are focused on the language issue and Finland's relationship with Russia. Although Finland at that time was an autonomous grand duchy under the Russian empire, Swedish still held its stature as the language of the administration, and of the elites. Finnish spoken by the majority of the population was predominantly the language of the peasants although with the birth of nationalism, Finnish gained in stature.

All of the above history is the background for one of the most well written story i've read in a long time. The book triumphs because of its portrayal of the residents of a small rural village of Pentti's Corners - how the microcosm of their day to day life reflects the macroscopic events happening far beyond their boundaries. It is fundamentally a novel of hard working people surviving through hard times with a hope for a better future especially for their kids. Rural Finland at the turn of the 19th century is captured so well - the power of the Barons and the Clergy, the plight of the tenants, the clash of the young and the old, the sometimes trivial jealousies and contests, even the awkward adolescent escapades of the young ones, the struggle of women, the clash of the classes(Suometar reading elite Finns and the readers of The Worker), and the hierarchy even among the crofters are narrated with so much empathy and some well-timed humor.

I am also amazed by how much this one novel educated me on Finnish history about which I knew next to nothing! Change of this magnitude (language issue, land ownership, electoral and parliamentary reform, women's suffrage) comes slowly but surely and Pentti Corner instead of being a passive recipient of change handed down from the top, takes an active part in bringing about that change.

Despite the grim existence of the tenant farmers, the novel is an optimistic one. Akseli, Jussi's oldest son, emerges as the hero towards the end and would be the central character for the sequels. Under the North Star ends with Akseli's wedding to Elina and the couple ready to take on the world.

And yes, while all this appears to be a tale of "And they lived happily ever after",  I said the book is optimistic, didn't say it was a Fairy tale. Linna instead chose to close with "Finland's summer is beautiful. But so very short", which makes you want to pick up the sequel which I think portrays the civil war. I dread to think of what would happen to Akseli's family, but for now I am happy to bask in the summer however short and move onto France! Some day I will come back to discover the (mis)fortunes of the Koskela household.

OBOC - #50 - Estonia

I have reached a minor milestone. This is the 50th country for me as part of OBOC and this also wraps up the E's. Overall I am happy that I have kept it up - both the reading and the writing although I should pick up my pace if I intend to complete this project before I hit that milestone :)

I picked "The Czar's Madman" by Jaan Kross for Estonia as it was often cited as the most famous novel from Estonia! The novel which is set in the 1880s is about a nobleman Timo Von Bock whose life is analyzed by his brother-in-law Jakob. The novel is written like a journal - Jakob's journal. Timo married Jakob's sister Eeva who is a peasant girl to prove to everyone that all men (and women) are created equal in the eyes of the God and class differences are just artificial. Eeva who is rechristened as Katy proves to be a fine choice indeed as she shows uncommon character, class and intelligence thereby validating Timo's theory. Their life is suddenly interrupted as Timo is arrested for being a traitor and is thrown into prison by Czar Alexander. After 9 years he is "released" from prison but placed under house arrest on the grounds that he is "mad". The reason for his imprisonment is a letter that Timo wrote criticizing the Czar about the way he runs the country. Writing such a letter which is brutally frank can be the act of only a "madman".

Jakob attempts to understand Timo to determine if he is indeed mad. Although together they plot his escape from house arrest many times, Timo refuses to flee. Was he a highly principled nobleman or was he truly mad? This is the question that Jakob (and hence the reader) is left with.


I love historical fiction as I find it is one of the easiest way to get into history! So i was all eager to read this novel, but I didn't get as much pleasure out of it as I have derived from other works of historical fiction. Firstly having no background on Estonia and its relationship with Russia, it was a bit difficult to get into. Secondly, after a point the writing seemed repetitive and drawn out. The Afterword provides some explanation on the historical accuracy of the novel. I should say I loved the character of Eeva though and it was beautifully done by the author! The novel which was written in 1978 is also a metaphor for life under the Soviets. This is Kross's letter to Brezhnev highlighting how poorly the Communist Party was running Soviet Union! History does repeat itself after all!

OBOC - Ethiopia

Back again after a long silence. I do realize that I had slowed down to a crawl this past month as I am approaching my half century (much like some of the cricketers i loathe who play excessive defense as they get closer to their 50), but that's what happens to a hobby - it receives low priority when other things takeover.

Anyway Notes from the Hyena's Belly by Nega Mezlekia was the book I chose from Ethiopia and it is a memoir of a boy who saw his country devastated by war and poverty and his almost miraculous escape to the West. Growing up in Jijiga during the rule of the seemingly immortal Emperor Selassie, Nega had a pretty normal childhood with a loving family - not rich but comfortable enough. His biggest challenges at that time were mastering the Amharic alphabet which consists of 268 characters and Kinae a form of poetry and staying away from the headmaster's "persuader" (whip) and the Hyenas which wander around looking for prey.

His first exposure to inequities is when he meets other school kids from Western Ethiopia where the feudal lords ruled over the landless with an iron hand. To Nega it is a shock that the infallible emperor was hand in glove with these lords and actually worked to cover up the Great Famine of 1973. When the Leftist Junta overthrew the Emperor, Nega's life took a huge turn for the worse as his father who was clerk under the Emperor's Government was summarily executed on account of his "ties" to the old regime. Two parties emerged in this turmoil - the EPRP which wanted power for a civilian government and the Meison which supported the Junta each perpetrating atrocities of their own. Caught between Scyllla and Charybdis, Nega and his friend Wondwossen run away to join the Somali Rebels trying to control the Ogaden desert.

Nega survives the drought and the brutal regimen under the Rebels but unfortunately his friend does not. With his life going nowhere under the rebels he miraculously escapes and returns to his village to join his Mam an exceptional lady who kept the family together despite the calamities that struck them one after the other. By mere chance he gets to go to a prestigious school in the capital Addis Ababa, but finds the entire experience distasteful. The capital is full of drugs and prostitutes and one always had to be on the look out for both the parties which were still out seeking revenge. He also sees his country's defense budget skyrocket at the expense of everything else especially agriculture. Ethiopia is transformed from being the pride of the horn of Africa into a casualty of cold war strategies as support from USA and the then Soviet Union alternates. Minor tribal incursions reach mammoth proportions when small tyrants, feudal lords find themselves armed to their teeth with support from superpowers.

Finishing up a degree in Agriculture he gets an opportunity to pursue his studies in the Netherlands. For once in his life he decides to put himself first and grabs at the opportunity. Hoping to return to Ethiopia when normalcy returns, he finds that that day has not arrived as he immigrates to Canada where he finds a second home away from home.


The Red terror under the Junta is said to have claimed nearly 200,000 lives. So it is a miracle how Nega managed to survive, succeed and share his story with the rest of the world! This memoir is valuable not just for the political history of Ethiopia, but also for the cultural traditions which have been beautifully described by Nega. Rich with folklore from his childhood, and descriptions of the nomadic lifestyle, the landscape, the different tribal cultures, which all form the background of his harrowing experiences this book is worth reading for understanding Ethiopia beyond the headlines.

OBOC - Egypt

Alaa Al-Aswany was a guest on World Book Club and I remember making a mental note that the Yacoubian Building will be my pick for Egypt and it was. It has to be one of the most popular books from the Arab world and what amazes me is how the book is still published in Egypt. Let me explain - my impression of Egypt is that it is a very conservative country, ruled by an autocracy with not much freedom of expression or a completely independent press and the only outlet for all the underlying suppressed passion/ tension was the football field.

And then here is a book (from an author who is not new to dissent and courage) which doesn't portray a favorable picture of Egypt and also talks in no uncertain terms about many of the taboos in Egyptian society - corruption in political life, homosexuality, police brutality, emergence of extremist Islam and Jihadists, poverty, economic stagnation, brain drain, disenchantment. Maybe my perception of the Egyptian autocracy is misguided, after all the book is still published and widely read in Egypt and everywhere in the Arab world!

The Yacoubian Building which is at the heart of the novel is an actual building that is located in downtown Cairo which the author has fictionalized for his story. We trace the changing face of Egypt over the years through the changing face of the building and its occupants. What was once a luxury accommodation for foreigners and the upper echelons of Egyptian society, after the 1952 revolution transformed into a housing for the military families who typically came from rural areas of Egypt. As the wealthy and educated elite started to leave Egypt following the revolution and the failed promises, the roof of the Yacoubian building which housed 2m X 2m storage rooms became homes of the urban poor who were often migrant workers eking out a living in the city. The roof dwellers form what is equivalent to a slum community in many cities around the developing world

Besides the building itself there are a number of characters whose lives are intertwined with each other and the building and through them we get a glimpse of Egyptian society - Corrupt politicians (Hagg Azzam), disenchanted youths who fall prey to militant Islam (Taha), young women who find that performing sexual favors for their bosses is the only way to hold onto a job (Busayana), fairly open homosexual elites (Hatim) and former members of the ruling class who look back with some fondness on French culture and pre-revolution days (Zaki Bey), migrant workers, small businessmen, hustlers and so on. With so many characters he has still succeeded in adding layers and depth to many of them

The book is definitely a criticism of the one party system that exists in Egypt and also shows the disenchantment of the population with the unfulfilled promises of the revolution. Its treatment of homosexuality is considered ground breaking in Arab culture. Mostly very bleak, the book ends on a hopeful note with the unlikely union of Busayana and Zaki Bey despite their age and rank differences- symbolizing the union of old Egypt with the new one perhaps? Or am I just reading into it too much for allegories? Although I found some sections of the book to be a bit dragging, it was completely worth the effort and I can see why it gets the praise it gets

OBOC - Eritrea

When I hear news about celebrities from Madonna to Angelina adopting children from impoverished African countries I always try to imagine what must be going through the child’s mind – would the child think he/she is lucky for escaping from poverty or will he/she long to trace back his biological parents and through them his/her cultural heritage. Hannah Pool answers some of these questions in her book “My Father’s Daughter”. Although her white adoptive parents were no movie stars, they did adopt this “orphaned” child from Eritrea and gave her a new life in Britain.

Despite being a successful journalist/writer for the Guardian with a loving adopted family and a well adjusted life in the UK with all its imperfections, Hannah never stopped wondering about her biological mom who died following child birth.  Thousand questions flooded her brain when one of her brothers contacted her through a letter which led to a meeting with a cousin in the UK after which she decided to take the plunge and visit her family, including her father who was still very much alive and not dead as presumed in Eritrea.

Overwhelmed by the discovery of numerous "cousins" and aunts and uncles and the agonizing preparation (should i wear long skirts, how long, kind of head cover etc) she lands in Asmara and is greeted by an entourage of emotional Eritreans all claiming some relationship to her. Relying on two of her brothers (a statistician and a teacher) for translation she has a hard time navigating through her family and finds that the British stiff upper lip comes innately to her rescue. The meeting with her older sister with whom she strikes up a warm relationship despite the language barrier leaves her wanting for more. Initially she finds it condescending that her brothers "took care of her" but slowly she lets go of that feeling and starts to bask in its warmth. Although she gets along with her father, there is the nagging question in her mind about why she was given up for adoption and that acts as a barrier in her relationship. 

When it is time for her father and her sister to get back to their native villages, she decides to follow them much against the advice of everyone. It is the trip to Keren, her father's and sister's villages and her own birth place that is the most poignant and well written portion of the book. She encounters for the first time the poverty of Eritrea which she has read so much about, but didn't really "see" in Asmara the capital. She compares and contrasts her own life with that of her two relatively middle class brothers and that of her sister. Did they think she was lucky to be adopted by a white couple? Would she trade her life of luxury for the sense of belonging to a family? Sitting on the bed that she was born in and seeing for the first time truly the hard life that members of her family face day to day she finally understands her father's motives behind giving her up for adoption. The few days she spends in the villages of Eritrea became instrumental in her own internal journey which gave her a sense of belonging that she so longed for all her life.

In the end the book stands out for two reasons

1) She successfully captures in some beautiful passages the complex world that is Eritrea - the wedding ceremonies, the patriarchial customs, the food (injera bread and shoru and the coffee), rural Vs urban life, role of expats, returnees, the UN's presence, the war with Ethiopia, struggles of the youth etc

2) Going from being an orphan to a member of a large family, her effort to reconcile her Africanness in Britain and her Britishness in Africa is one of the most honest pieces of writing that I've seen. A secular, liberal career minded woman, with a middle class accent and appropriate Britishness still stands out in her adopted country because of her skin color and her African origins (which she tried hard to distance herself from). She now finds herself in a religious, conservative, traditional, patriarchal society and manages to stand out despite her pigmentation. How does she deal with that and all the baggage of guilt and anger that she has carried with her all her life is the crux of the book.

The book is an emotional roller coaster and although sometimes she spells out her vacillating thoughts, panic and doubts in excruciating details overall it is an amazing read.

OBOC - El Salvador

If many of the books from Africa that I’ve read so far portray the Clergy in a not so favorable light, then pause for a moment, before you paint all Clergy with one broad brush. (After all “the danger of a single story” is the inspiration behind this blog). While many people know about Pope John Paul’s role in supporting Solidarity in Poland, not many are aware of the role played by the Church in Central and Latin America in standing up to the dictators.   

One of the most famous martyrs from El Salvador was the Archbishop Oscar Romero who was assassinated by the Military Dictatorship. Just recently, 30 years after the tragic event, the President of El Salvador Mauricio Funes publicly apologized on behalf of the State for this assassination. These events in history were brought to my attention thanks to Democracy Now and as I read more about Oscar Romero, I was struck by the contradiction here – “Godless” Leftist Guerillas supported by the Clergy opposing a military dictatorship supported by none other than Jimmy Carter’s (whose religious views are widely known) Government and all the others that followed. One of the longest civil wars in LatAm that led to 75,000 deaths finally ended in 1990.

One Day of Life by Manlio Argueta is a novel that follows the life of one woman – Guadalupe “Lupe” Guardado – as she tries to get through one day. Set just before the break out of the Civil war, Argueta depicts life under the government’s paramilitary organization as experienced by peasants struggling to get through their lives one day at a time. Not only was the book banned in El Salvador, but the author was also exiled for his political views. 

Lupe’s husband Jose is involved in organizing farmers in his village and is therefore forced to live in the hills and visit his family only during the nights, just like most of the other men. Her son Justino joined the ranks of the murdered and her son-in-law that of the “missing” as they had the nerve to protest against the economic conditions facing the peasants. Her grand daughter Adolfina at 14 had personally experienced these inequities and at that tender age taken part in protests and witnessed massacres of students in a bus. At the end of the novel Jose is apprehended and severely beaten by the authorities beyond recognition. Lupe and Adolfina are summoned to identify the beaten man as he had uttered the name “Adolfina” before losing consciousness. Although Adolfina fails to recognize her grandfather, Lupe does, but in a remarkable show of emotional restraint claims to not know the dead man, just as she had promised Jose who had foreseen this tragic end.

While the story is mostly narrated by Lupe as she gets through her day, there are periods of reminiscences which reveal much about the political climate. The transformation of the church from one that had turned a blind eye to the plight of the peasants to one that was instrumental in creating awareness of their rights (parallel to Oscar Romero's own transformation), the persecution of the clergy for their support of Unionization, the overall Red scare,  are all described by Lupe in plain simple direct words. The psyche of a soldier who has grown to hate his pigmentation (neither white nor Indian) and how his hate is channeled by the authorities who recruit and train these disillusioned youths to form death squads from within a community is made known to the readers in a monologue by one Private Martinez who is Lupe's neighbor. This is one of the best chapters in the book according to me, offering amazing psychological insights as to how self loathing turns into hatred for everyone else as Martinez compliments the British colonizers for doing away with Indians unlike the Spanish colonizers!

Lupe is an embodiment of patience and restraint and despite suffering insurmountable losses she maintains her poise. By not shedding any tears at the sight of her dead son and husband she in her own way resists the authorities. Her granddaughter Adolfina on the other hand at 14 has been actively protesting the authorities heralding perhaps the new wave of feminism.

Despite the review, I should concede here that reading the book was not easy and at certain points i felt that it was rambling and I could not wait for the day to end. It was only after I put the book down, and thought about it did i see the true merits of the book. One day of Lupe's life was enough to give me a mini-history lesson of El Salvador which makes it a perfect book for OBOC!

OBOC - Equatorial Guinea

“Shadows of your black memory” by Donato Ndongo is often described as a coming of age story.  An unnamed protagonist’s story is told in alternate chapters in first person and the unusual second person narrative (like a story telling Vs stream of consciousness technique - a style that I am becoming painstakingly familiar as I am struggling to read Joyce – will save that for another post).  Set in the waning period of Spanish Colonialism this is also the coming of age story of Equatorial Guinea as it moved towards Independence.

When the story begins we come to know that the protagonist who is now a young man has decided not to pursue priesthood but go to law school. The rest of the novel is the protagonist’s reflection of his childhood and formative years as he tried to navigate the tribal culture and religion on the one hand with the dominating isms of his life – Colonialism and Catholicism under the towering presence of two strong patriarchs – his father who has embraced the Colonial way of modernism and his uncle Tio Abeso still strongly entrenched in traditionalism rejecting the white man’s religion and his ways.  Inexplicably, the father despite embracing modernism doesn't sever ties with Tio Abeso and in fact lets him lead his son into traditional tribal rituals thereby amplifying the conflict. On the shoulder of this hero falls the burden of bridging the chasm between the two. 

The third important patriarchs in the novel are the catholic priests who appear to the young boy as the most powerful beings on the earth. He is constantly reminded of the greatness and the power of the white man’s God and therefore the white man himself who has invented countless things in the world, in contrast to the black man who has not invented anything.

Despite Tio Abeso’s determined attempts to preserve the tribal knowledge and culture, the boy understands that Father Oritz’s way of life was arriving to dominate Tio Abeso’s world. Witnessing the clash of these 2 big traditions in the verbal duel between Tio Abeso and Father Oritz he understands that he can never completely embrace or abandon one over the other but will always have a mixed identity….. “convinced that although you would one day cross the ocean and go beyond, you would always have the spirit of the tribe within you, the blood of the tribe, you would always hear the tribe whispering to you”

Almost all of the African novels that I’ve read have this element of a journey/ transition from the traditional to the “modern” world and this question of one’s identity and the conflict arising from this mixed identity is at the heart of these stories. Ndongo’s achievement is describing these conflicts and pangs so beautifully with an almost neutral tone. As Africa itself struggles to break free from the shackles of the past the poetic words of the protagonist as he explains his decision to not pursue Priesthood seems to apply to the entire continent. "I need you to understand me. I dont aspire to be anything but a man among others, to find peace, without mystifications. Neither half a man nor a superman. I don't want veneration or dishonor; I don't need to feel guilty about anything, and I don't want anyone to laugh at me."