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!