Thoughts on our travels through Asia from Turkey to Sri Lanka

World Book Group Edinburgh, first UNESCO World City of Literature

From Greece we moved into Asia, starting with Turkey. Our intention was to read our way along the east coat of the Mediterranean and into Egypt, returning to Asia after an extended sojourn in Africa. This section is therefore written in two segments.

Turkey - "The Other Side of the Mountain" by Erendiz Atasu (Score 7.1)

The first few pages of this book are very difficult, with much cod-philosophy. It begins to improve quickly with a statement by Kemal Pasha (Ataturk) - how I wish this Blog could support diacritics so that I could write names such as Atasu and Ataturk correctly. He said "Don't ever bear a grudge against a nation. Our foes are not people, but politics". This is one of the wisest statements I have ever read by any politician. Referring to page 83 and Cybele - Do the Turks think that they are indigenous to Turkey. They are not; they came fro the steppes as conquerors. Although I did not find this book a page-turner, it was nevertheless a most enjoyable read. It gives a good insight into Turkish attitudes, and the suffering of their refugees - no different from any others (leave the question of Armenia to others). Neither was their occupation by Britain and France particularly gentle. Raik's snobbish comments (page 180) about people who don't speak standard Turkish makes him seem very real, and fallibly human. Have the peasants been failed as a result of the greed of the emergent Turkish middle classes "pulling up the ladder" after they themselves have climbed a bit further up to the next platform? Or is it an inherent lack of desire to leave their land and age old way of life, or lack of education? There certainly seems to be a feeling that remote areas are "less Turkish" (and therefore less capable!) because they speak local dialects. This seems to be a universal problem - there are similar attitudes throughout the United Kingdom. The final section seems to be a desire for a lost golden age. Do such golden ages ever exist? All ages seem to look back to a better life. The author seems to feel that the Turkish revolution has failed to deliver a good life for all the peoples of Turkey. The problem of the nomadic peoples is perhaps unresolvable. Many of them are not in fact Turkish

Syria - "Just Like a River" by Muhammad Kamil al-Khatib

I enjoyed this book, and in particular the complex interplay between the very believable and human characters. I felt with them as they struggled to come to terms with each other, and sympathised as their lives and dreams fell apart. No-one wins in this novel. I found a number of points of interest from the description of the society - The respect terms were much more meaningful than our simple Mr, Mrs and Miss - Army life seems undisciplined and therefore seems to lack the institutionalised bullying which seems to be widespread in the United Kingdom army, and brings such shame on it - Soldiers come to work and take the bus home at night - The drift from country to city seems to be a major problem.

Lebanon - "The Rock of Tanios" by Amin Maalouf

This is an excellent book, and I thoroughly recommend that you read it. The action starts in the 1830s in a small feudal domain in the area once known as The Levant. The Sheikh seems at first to be a fairly honest lord of the manor, taking his due from the villagers, leading them in wartime, but giving them his protection in return. However, we find that the Sheikh is not above exercising his feudal privileges, and in particular his droit de seigneur, in the same way as any mediaeval lord would have done. The village of Kfaryabda is Druze, rather than Roman Catholic, but the same rule applies. The Sheikh's exercising of these "rights" may (or perhaps may not - that is the mystery) have led to the birth of the eponymous Tanios. The "Great Game" begins to be played out in and around Kfaryabda, with the Egyptians taking over the area, supported by the local overlord, the Emir, with his co-operation being assured by taking members of his family hostage. Thus Britain's route to India is blocked. We see the first hint of tragedy to come when the English Consol (cunningly, a Catholic) presents the gift of a beautiful hunting rifle to the Sheikh's proud son, Raad (page 103). Shortly after this we see the Patriarch's pride beginning to lead him to take actions which, inevitably, have consequences far beyond anything which might be imagined. The assassination of the Patriarch concludes the first part of the disaster hinted at on page 103. Things progress. Tanios and his father, Gerios, escape to Cyprus, they are tricked by an agent of the Emir into boarding a ship to return to The Levant, Tanios is prevented from boarding by a Turkish official because of superstition. Gerios is executed by hanging. The war goes on and rebellion spreads. The Tanios finds himself tasked by the English with taking an ultimatum to the Emir - he must either abandon his support for the Egyptians, or go into exile. Later, when asked to judge and condemn Roukoz, Tanios experiences at first hand the problems of rank. At the beginning and at the end Tanios has chosen to disappear. Perhaps, like all heroes who have disappeared, he will one day return to save his people

Israel - "The Blue Mountain" by Meir Shalev

The early section of this book had me thinking that I was really going to enjoy it. However, pretty soon it became rather a chore to keep reading it. It was a difficult book to follow and, in the end, rather disappointing. On page 57 murder is committed (probably several) in a very matter of fact way, with no condemnation from the author. This happens long before the Holocaust. Page 89 "The bull of memory heavy on my shoulders". Page 106, near the bottom, there are some unusual results of laughter. There is lots of biblical imagery, for example on page 254 "Cows as meagre as those in Pharaoh's dream

Palestine - "The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist" by Emile Habiby

On page 12, Abjar anticipates Louis XV. On page 111, the conversation between Walaah and his mother as she tries to persuade him to come out of the cave is one of the most eloquent statements I have ever read of a people's right to be free and to govern themselves.

From here we returned to Asia after our tour of Africa.

Yemen - "The Hostage" by Zayd Mutee' Dammaj (Score 5.6)

The introductory sections are long, but I found them useful in aiding my understanding and appreciation of the background to the events in the novel.

Saudi Arabia - "Adama" by Turki al-Hamad (Score 6.0)

The description on page 5 of the city being like something from the Arabian Nights is good, as is the crowd of people preparing noisily to leave the train like a genie leaving a bottle. It must always be a mistake to try to try to reason with people of strong fundamental religious belief, for example, will you ever persuade them even to consider the possibility that evolution may have led to humans, but is not incompatible with belief in a creator. He need not have created anything in the simple ways imagined by relatively unsophisticated nomads several thousand years ago. In this book every look is "penetrating". There is a lack of imagination here. The author gives good physical descriptions of the main characters. The "Shahda" also played a major role in "The Translator" where Rae hesitated to become a Muslim so that he could marry. Hischam's constant travail as he tries to reconcile his love of, and duty to, his parents with the risk he is putting them in when he joins the revolutionary group is intense and believable. The political discussions at the start of chapter 17 were heavy going, but helped in understanding Hischam's thoughts. The description of the start of the Baath party was interesting. Is the way in which Muhdi does all the work fore the three men and her father fairly typical? What will the family do when she gets married? Will the future wife of the older son take over? It seems to be not too different from many Western families. The episode on the roof is typical brother behaviour at that age. Muhdi clearly is not happy about the distribution of labour which is in place. When he got on the bus to go to college and enrol, and the odour hit him, it brought back my memory of the smell of a similar situation many years ago when I was a student on holiday, boarding a bus from Thessaloniki to Athens. Unfortunately I didn't get used to it. Luckily the memory didn't last as long as the actuality. It is interesting that he paid the fare at the end of the journey rather than when he boarded the bus. Hischam seems to enjoy making girls blush. Is this an adolescent fantasy.

Jordan - "Pillars of Salt" by Fadia Faqir (Score 6.5)

This is an easy reading and very interesting story of village life in Jordan, post First World War. There are good descriptive passages, and some flashes of genius. Despite the rape of Mahan’s friend by her brother, and the death of her husband in a slaughter carried out by British troops, this is a book with a generally positive outlook and good feeling. Nowadays our press would probably call Mahan’s husband Herb a terrorist. I don't think he is anything of the kind. He is a brave man, seeking honour, who goes on horseback armed only with a rifle and a dagger to do battle against the British invaders of his land who have no right to the country. (Hands up all those who cheered for the Indians against the cowboys.) His resistance is futile since he and his compatriots have no chance against machine guns and armoured cars. The ultimate irony is that the British destroy him and his comrades by bombing, using planes which he can barely comprehend. My sympathies in this book are 100% with the insurgents. The birth of Mubarak among the orange trees is a wonderful moment. Mahi is doing her best to give the trees new life, and brings her own new life into the world among them. I have been so caught up in her world that I am caught unawares every time the action returns to the asylum. The episodes with The Storyteller tend towards mythologising the story of Maha as though it were taking place in a dream world, and as if she is more than a normal human being. The pointless brutality of shaving off Um Saad's hair is horrific, and seems to be done in an attempt to defeminise her. I think that Daffash is the most unscrupulous character we have met so far in our travels - he is truly evil.

Iraq - "Naphtalene" by Alia Mamdouh (Score 4.5)

The episode in the public bath (page 22) seems like complete pandemonium seen through the eyes of a child. On page 34 the father seems like a complete bully. This is not our idea of a policeman. Will he redeem himself later? Then we get a description of the grandmother, a wonderful, kind, loving person like my own granny, except that she is slim (mine was chubby - more to cuddle when you are a child). This book is rather disjointed and discordant. The frequent changes of viewpoint from "I" to "you" and back again seem to make no sense. It seems to me that the book is all first person and that "you" is used where another writer may have used "one". It seems like a trick for the sake of it, and adds nothing. Much of the text seems meaningless - or am I missing something? For example, on page 27 we have "She filled your head with the dark side of death, as if she were opening up all the holes in all the heads, land and souls". On page 79 we read "She had no double wings, but she did have a skull like my father's pistol". What are these all about? Is it a problem caused by translation, first to French, and then to English? Is there an imperfect understanding of the original text somewhere? I guess the mention of "trilling" at the wedding may refer to "ululating". I really think this book suffers from translation in a number of odd turns of phrase. For example, on page 91, Huda falls, picks herself up, and strikes her face. Why? On page 101 we have "chests awaiting meters of pardon and health. This is rubbish. Other than this type of thing my memory of this book will be body odour. The author constantly reminds us how smelly everyone is. There is mush meaningless and contorted language in which I can see no figure of speech which might help to explain what the author is saying, for example the last paragraph on page 182. The only thing which I can think is that she may be trying to evoke a sense of fear and uncertainty. I have spent a long time saying simply "Don't waste your time reading this book".

Iran - "Reading Lolita in Tehran" by Azar Nafisi (Score 8.5)

In complete contrast to the above, what can I say about "Reading Lolita in Tehran"? It is simply magnificent, and is one of the most enjoyable books which I have read. It is not literary - there are no long, lingering descriptions of landscape, no painting of portraits, and yet everyone who appears in this book is a living, breathing person. Their tribulations in the Islamic Republic come across so clearly. Their feelings and their fears were mine while I was engrossed in the reading. I well remember from my youth the shocking reports from Iran on radio, on TV and in the newspapers. I remember the dreadful photos of cranes, those symbols of progress throughout our world, being pressed into service as gallows, with clusters of people being hung from them like some dreadful fruit. I don't know where the ayatollahs and their cohorts get their idea of Islam, but I would like to think it is a dreadful perversion of the true meaning of the Koran. The episodes from the Iran-Iraq war, with the images of peasants and children clearing minefields by walking across them until they stepped on a mine are the most chilling images which I have retained from that whole period. And I haven't even touched on the treatment of women. At the end of it all I still find it a book vibrant with hope for the future. It is the only book I have read which has persuaded me to read others by different authors. I have seen "Lolita" from a new perspective and, from merely having "The Great Gatsby" and "Daisy Miller" on my "to read" shelves, I read them both within a week of finishing "Reading Lolita in Tehran". I thanked the fates that there are no posses going around the United Kingdom telling us who to read and who not to read.

Uzbekistan - "The Railway" by Hamid Ismailov" (Score 5.4)

This book seems to start as a picaresque novel, not quite in the vein of Roderick Random, Don Quixote etc, but tending in that direction. It is full of humour, making considerable fun of the petty bureaucrats, mostly petty criminals, who have floated to the top of the local hierarchy like scum on a stagnant pool of dirty water. At this stage (about page 50) the railway has not yet played a big part in the story, although the engines are frequently in the background. I can sympathise immensely with the embarrassment of the boy in Chapter 10. I won a small bursary to Allan Glen's in Glasgow (enough to pay the fees, but nothing else). My parents were really strapped for cash and could not afford to by the official school uniform. So I had an ordinary deep blue blazer with a badge which my mother sewed on by hand (the background colour was sufficiently different from the blazer colour to be obvious, at least to me). I don't remember anyone ever making fun of me for our relative poverty (everyone was too well brought up in those days for that to happen), but I felt that I stuck out a mile. Page 53, madrasas in the United Kingdom (possibly elsewhere in Europe) are being accused of teaching sedition. On page 58 the fear and wonder of the nomads being confronted by a train for the first time is well described. In Chapter 16, from page 88, what is the point of all the repetition? Have I missed something? Page 130 - I have been finding the book tedious for some time now. Page 162, the story of the ark, and why cats and dogs hate each other - the cat reported to Noah the plans of the dog and bitch for offspring (which could have eventually sunk the ark). On page 168, where did the Koreans live on Sakhalin? I understood that it had been part of Japan before the Second World War. Later we find that they were driven by famine to flee to Russia in about 1905. After that 175,000 were resettled in Uzbekistan where their descendants still live (Google it for details).

Afghanistan - "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini (Score 8.3)

It is clear at the beginning of the book that life in Afghanistan, or at least in Kabul, was very different from what we hear about it after the mullahs took over - though perhaps not for the servants who lived in the mud huts in the gardens of the better-off people. Amir's relationship with Hassan seems to be a bit undecided. He seems to be jealous and resentful when Hassan does better than him (for example, at stone skipping). I think that a real friend would be happy at Hassan's success. Amir clearly feels guilt about having "stolen" his mother from his father since she died giving birth to him (though obviously he cannot have any responsibility for this). I sympathise very much with Amir about football. I was always the last kid picked and, if there was an odd number of us, I had to watch the jackets. However, I cannot, at least at this stage in the book, sympathise with him as a person. He is very self-centred and uses Hassan when he has nothing else. He does not even express reasonable thanks when Hassan saves him with the threat of the catapult. The rape scene is difficult. Amir is only 12 years old and the bullies are huge. If he had moved to protect Hassan he would have been raped too. While I want to condemn him as a coward and a betrayer of Hassan, I find it difficult to do so. However, I feel certain that Hassan would have attempted to save him if things had been the other way around. Hassan has neither the courage, nor the moral fibre, of Hassan, and his guilt makes him take it out on Hassan who suffered the rape in the first place. Amir's betrayal of Hassan over the money and the watch is surely unforgivable. But - would Amir have been a better person if his father had been a better father and shown him fatherly love? Although his father is not a loving father to Amir, he clearly feels "noblesse oblige". The episode where he faces down the Russian soldier, who certainly would have killed him, shows him to be either very brave or very foolish. He was putting honour before the future of his son. Afterwards, if Baba had died, the Russian soldier would still have taken the women. Contrast Baba's behaviour with that of Amir when he failed to even try to defend Hassan in the alley. On page 106 when Amir is in the fuel truck, how can he bear to think of the happy times flying kites with no remorse for what he has done to Hassan and Ali? Amir's speaking to Soraya is another example of his "me first" attitude. He is fully aware of the likely effect this will have among the Afghan community, but does it anyway. Has Soraya's reputation been saved by the timely arrival of her mother, or is Amir again going to be consumed by guilt when it is much too late and the damage is done? On page 192 I was shocked by the murder of Hassan and his wife. Sohrab, their son, is now an orphan. What hope is there now for redemption for Amir? Will he go to Kabul, find Sohrab, take him to America and adopt him? On page 204 Farid the driver makes a very interesting point about Amir always having been a tourist in Afghanistan. I have met people who have lived in Edinburgh for years about whom the same could be said. Amir is back in Afghanistan! Will Assef (the rapist of Hassan) be found to be the Taliban official who buys the children from the orphanage? Of course he will - as inevitably demanded by the dramatic needs of the story. The wonder is that Amir did not recognise him sooner. On page 299 I felt the palpable shock felt by Amir when he opened the bathroom door and discovered Sohrab's body in the bath. it was so unexpected since we seemed at that point to be moving towards a happy ending. Ultimately we have had a realistic (instead of a syrupy) ending, but it gives considerable hope for the future of the "family".

Pakistan - "Kartography" by Kamila Shamsie (Score 7.8)

This book starts out looking like a feel-good story about two children growing up together. However, about page 39 we find bigotry, tribalism or racialism rearing its ugly head yet again with the cursing of the migrant Muhajir refugees. At the bottom of page 73 we have the Sunni versus Shia thing again. On page 243 we read "It was that gorgeous moment of sunset when the most vibrant colours in the world are pulled towards the sun. Finally, much later, what an unexpected ending!

India - "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy (Score 7.5)

Right from the beginning we are in a world of vivid description. I like the image near the foot of page 1 where we read "The old house on the hill wore its steep, gabled roof pulled over its ears". The author plays games with language, inventing new compound words which immediately have clear meanings - "furrywhirring" and "sariflapping" in connection with the baby bat in the church, and "dullthudding" to describe soil hitting a coffin lid. I love her use of language and the inventive images which just keep coming. On page 37 we have "Rahel's new teeth were waiting inside her gums, like words in a pen". From page 73 onward the simple description of the lives and attitudes of the Paravan is all the more effective by being non-judgmental. The most frightening and powerful thing is that the father seems to accept his pariah status and is angry at his son for kicking against the traces. I like the concept on page 117 of the baby Mol's body noises being messages sent from one organ to the other, with the body setting up a government to run itself. On page 156, holding up a silver crucifix on a chain of beads ... "She held it up to the light. Each greedy bead grabbed its share of sun". Velutha, the "Untouchable" is like a favourite uncle with the children. Throughout the book we keep getting brief intimations of horrors to come, bringing an end to happiness. We are also aware of how Estha continues to have nightmares and fears about the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of the man in the cinema when the family went to see "The Sound of Music". What a dreadful juxtaposition. On page 223 "She saw a wisp of madness escape from its bottle and caper triumphantly around the bathroom. On page 230 we see another example of a people's culture being lost because of the march of "modernity" and "internationalism". These Kathakali dancers could well be the last in a long family tradition. The dance has become a spectacle for the tourists, most of whom will not have the background to understand the story and its meaning. The murder of Velutha by the police, brought about by the lies told by the children's grandmother, is an example of mob lynching. It reminded me of Paul Simon's "He was my Brother" and of many books and films set in the deep south of the USA. In contrast, the final chapter is one of the most beautiful things I have ever read. It was a brilliant move to put this episode, out of sequence, right at the end.

Bangladesh – “A Golden Age” – by Tahmima Anam (Score

This book is a very much delayed find as an entry from Bangladesh. I will add text here once I have caught up with the book.

Sri Lanka - "The Sandglass" by Romesh Gunesekera (Score 5.0)

If this had been the first book I had ever read by Gunesekera and probably would not have read any more. Luckily it was not. It is a reasonable enough story, but it did not grip me. I couldn't really relate to the characters or to their problems. It starts as being a simple, easy read about a Sri Lankan family (minus dead father) who have moved to England. Before that they lived in a large, ex colonial house on a narrow strip of land surrounded, apart from a small contact area with the outside world, by land belonging to the mysterious and vengeful Vatunase family. There is one nice image at page 209 where "The sea puckered; its blue skin wrinkled by the lives of all those who worried at its fathomless face". The horrors of the insurrection, war and repression are all in the background, only hinted at occasionally. The effect on the family of the actions of the various Vatunase are what gives the story its coherence.