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.