August 4, 2012

Marc Aronson feels a bit unsettled when it comes to loving Israel.

Helen and her Middle East Reading Challenge never ceases to inspire me to read books about that particular part of the world. Fortunately for me, my local library has no shortage of these kind of books. Therefore, whenever I go prowling through their shelves I’m always finding something that grabs my interest. Of course, when doing so I always come across books from recognizable authors like Edward Said, Jimmy Carter, Bernard Lewis and Alan Dershowitz. But among those books from familiar authors are those from authors who are completely unknown to me. One such author is Marc Aronson. I came across his 2008 book Unsettled: The Problem of Loving Israel last week during one of my library visits. Although I didn’t realize it until began reading it, Aronson wrote the book primarily for a teen audience. Even so, I was surprised to find that Unsettled could still serve as a light but reasonably informative introduction to the modern State of Israel and the challenges it faces today.

If a young reader or even an older one who wanted to learn about the Middle East asked me for a list of recommended books I’d probably include Unsettled. Taking an introductory approach with his book, Aronson assumes the reader has little if any familiarity with the subject matter. In doing so, Aronson has written a book that even more experienced readers might learn a thing or two, and in the process fill a few massing gaps in ones Middle Eastern knowledge.

As for me, I liked his historical overview of the modern State of Israel, especially its founding and early history, and especially within the larger context of world history. I’m also pleased with the core of this book, which is his love-hate relationship with the Jewish State. As an American Jew with Israeli relatives, he feels an understandable affinity for Israel and the role it serves as a perpetual safe haven for Jews facing persecution or heaven forbid the horrors of another holocaust. As a strong proponent of human rights, he deplores mistreatment and marginalization of the Palestinians and knows if Israel is to remain a Jewish majority nation, the current political situation must change.

The comedian Steven Wright, in his classic deadpan style, once joked he’d written several children’s books-but not on purpose. In my quest to find good books about the Middle East, I didn’t plan on reading a teen-targeted piece of nonfiction, but I did. And much to my surprise I found myself liking it.

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Filed under Area Studies/International Relations, Current Affairs, History, Israel, Judaica

July 30, 2012

Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden

Imagine living over 20 years as a prisoner in a horrible labor camp. Chronically malnourished and dressed in rags, you’re beaten and abused on a regular basis by the camp’s sadistic guards. Not only are all escape attempts punishable by death, but a prisoner who hears even rumors of a possible future escape must report them to the camp’s authorities or face torture and probable execution. Due to overwork, malnutrition and abuse, most inmates die before reaching their late 40s.

Now imagine living in such a hellish environment and not knowing any other life. You’re living in such a horrendous place because forty odd years ago, your parents’ relatives were imprisoned there because they were perceived as political undesirables. Years later, camp authorities allowed two of those individuals to marry and later you were born-in the camp. Innocent of any crime, you’ve lived your entire life in hellish captivity, completely oblivious of the outside world. Then one day, you muster up your courage to finally escape, knowing full well if you don’t succeed death will surely follow.

That is the grim world journalist Blaine Harden describes in his 2012 book Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West. It is the unbelievable story of Shin Dong-hyuk’s 20 plus years as an inmate of North Korea’s most infamous labor camp, his sole distinction as the only prisoner to ever successfully escape from such a camp and lastly his new life in America. Despite the serious nature of the subject matter, I nevertheless ripped through Harden’s slim book, devouring it in almost one sitting, much like I did with Steve Pemberton’s memoir of abuse, survival and personal triumph A Chance in the World.

Before the end of the year I’d like to follow-up Harden’s book with a couple of others that happen to deal with the “hermit kingdom” of North Korea. I’ve been wanting to read Barbara Demick’s Nothing to Envy ever since Kim and Jo reviewed the acclaimed book on their respective blogs. Also on my list is Bruce Bechtel’s Defiant Failed State, since I enjoyed watching the talk the author gave not long ago on Book TV.  Of course, with North Korea seemingly always in the news, adding those two books to my reading list certainly couldn’t hurt.

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July 29, 2012

The return of Amara Lakhous

Two years ago, and quite by accident, I discovered the Algerian novelist Amara Lakous. His short but highly entertaining novel Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio easily made my list of surprise hits of 2010. Clever, funny and superbly translated by Ann Goldstein, I loved his depiction of life in a working class Italian apartment building inhabited by a quirky cast of polyglot characters from around the world. Born and raised in Algeria and he currently residing in Italy where he’s lived for a decade and a half, Lakhous, through his novel, beautifully captured the multidimensional, vibrant and overlooked world of Rome’s immigrant community.

Last week while rummage through my library’s international authors shelf what did I find but a copy of Amara Lakhous’ latest book. Published by Europa Editions in the spring of this year, his Divorce Islamic Style is another highly enjoyable tale set in the immigrant neighborhoods of the Eternal City. Once again there’s a cast of memorable international characters. Once again, Ann Goldstein lends her expertise as Lakhous’s gifted translator. And once again, Lakhous has a winner.

Whereas his previous novel Clash of Civilizations was told from the perspective of each of the apartment’s residents, in Divorce Islamic Style while there are many characters only two of them narrate the story. One, a young Sicilian named Christian, who thanks to spending his childhood in Tunisia, speaks fluent Arabic. Sweet-talked by the authorities into going undercover as a North African immigrant in hopes of uncovering a pair of al-Qaeda terrorist cells, he soon finds himself caught up in the everyday drama of Rome’s immigrant community. The other narrator is Safia, a beautiful, young housewife from Egypt. Chafing under her husband’s Islamic fundamentalist tutelage, Safia yearns for financial and personal freedom. Through her many internal monologues she intelligently and passionately questions the more backwards and chauvinistic interpretations of her Islamic faith.

The book is a lot of fun. In telling the story from two different but related perspectives, Lakhous employs a method sometimes seen on the big screen with movies like Go, Pulp Fiction and to a lesser degree the Three Colors trilogy of Red, White and Blue from director Krzysztof Kieslowski. Thanks to the capable team of Lakhous and Goldstein the action, dialog and monologue moves quickly.

Regrettably, my only complaint with the novel is its ending. Without revealing too much, while it didn’t feel phony and tacked-on (remember Bel Canto, anyone?) the ending of Divorce Islamic Style felt chaotic and anticlimactic. But fortunately that’s my only complaint. And certainly not enough to hinder me from recommending this excellent novel.

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Filed under Area Studies/International Relations, Current Affairs, Fiction, Islam

July 28, 2012

Hong Kong: 1999

About a month ago, when I was contemplating my summer reading goals, my plan was to read a few books that dealt in some way with a part of the world that foreign policy experts refer to as greater China: China, Hong Kong, Macau and (arguably) Taiwan. Despite my lofty intentions, Ha Jin’s Waiting Aaron Friedberg’s A Contest for Supremacy: China, America, and the Struggle for Mastery in Asia and Da Chen’s My Last Empress (autographed in Chinese calligraphy by the author-one of my BEA acquisitions) are currently sitting on my shelf just waiting to be read. Well, so much for that ambitious plan.

But all is not lost. As you might remember from one of my recent Library Loot postings, courtesy of my public library I found a copy of Jonathan Fenby’s Dealing with the Dragon: A Year in the New Hong Kong. And while I’ve yet to touch the three above mentioned China-centric works, with Fenby’s book I dived right in. Even while reading several other books at the same time, I made quick work of Dealing with the Dragon, finished it in what seemed like no time at all. I found it to be one of those non-flashy but incredibly substantive and detailed accounts of life in a foreign city. It’s one of those books you could spend reading on a quiet winter’s eve, with a glass of your beverage of choice by your side as you idle the hours away. While I wouldn’t consider it highly entertaining by any stretch, when one factors in Fenby’s attention to detail it’s surprising readable.

Dealing with the Dragon is Fenby’s look back on the year 1999, the time he  served as editor of Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post newspaper. Politically and socially well-connected thanks to his position at the paper, Fenby is able to comment in detail on the high-level goings on within Honk Kong’s government as well as its business world. He also discusses significant developments on the mainland as well as nearby Macau. Packaged into the format of a highly detailed but not too personal journal, Fenby’s almost daily entries from the year 1999 describe a great deal.

Focusing as he did on his time in Hong Kong in 1999, thanks to his recollection of event the book became a kind of walk down memory lane for me. Reading Fenby I was taken back to the Taiwan earthquake, the American bombing of the Chinese embassy during the Kosovo campaign, the Macau handover, China joining the WTO and the US women’s soccer team beating China on penalty kicks. But what I really liked was Fenby’s daily entries describing the early signs of China’s rise as an economic powerhouse. As early as 1999 one could see that the mighty dragon was beginning to awaken.

Since Dealing with the Dragon is well over ten years old, naturally there’s a temptation to the consider Fenby’s book dated and possibly not relevant. I on the other hand would strongly disagree. Thanks to Fenby’s impressive access to the region’s movers and shakers combined with his impressive attention to detail, the book could be considered a valuable resource to anyone wanting to learn not just about Hong Kong, but also China’s rise as a nation to be reckoned with.

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Filed under Area Studies/International Relations, China, Current Affairs, Memoir

July 21, 2012

About Time I Read It: Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

For years I’ve owned a copy of Tracy Chevalier’s best-selling novel Girl With a Pearl Earring and like countless other books in my personal library I’ve never read it. But about a week ago I was seized by the urge to finally read Chevalier’s novel. Not only have I been craving fiction, but I’ve also been itching to read more books from my personal collection, as opposed to reading stuff from the public library. So after hearing a well-read co-worker praise the book one afternoon I figured it was time at last to give Girl with a Pearl Earring a chance. After a slow start (mostly because I was trying to read several other books at the same I time) I quickly finished it. And I have to say I enjoyed it.

Since it’s a well-known novel I won’t say much about the plot, except it’s set in 17th century Holland and revolves around Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer and his household. It’s told from the perspective of his housemaid, a young but surprisingly intelligent girl from a recently impoverished family. As the story unfolds we catch glimpses of class differences, religious tension, gender inequality, sexual awakenings, jealousy and of course painting.

As I mentioned earlier, I liked Chevalier’s novel. Her writing is good and I thought she did a fine job capturing the young protagonist’s voice. The story seemed to flow nicely with the characters seeming believable and quite capable of holding my interest. Looking back on the novel I have no complaints. Who knows, maybe this fine novel will help inspire me to read more fiction. I guess only time will tell.

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Filed under Fiction, History

July 14, 2012

The Middle East: Current Controversies

Over the last few years I’ve featured a number of books from Greenhaven Press’s Current Controversies, Opposing Viewpoints and Global Viewpoints series. Early on, I had pretty good luck with a number of their books including their Islam: Opposing Viewpoints, Afghanistan: Current Controversies and China: Opposing Viewpoints. Lately however I have not been as impressed with Greenhaven’s offerings. I was considerably underwhelmed with their Israel: Opposing Viewpoints and especially their Democracy: Global Viewpoints. So disappointed I was with their books that I was seriously considering never reading one ever again.

Well, as you probably guessed from my last few Library Loot postings that I recently decided to give Greenhaven another chance. Since I’m participating in Helen’s Middle East Reading Challenge, one of those books I grabbed from the library was their 2012 edition of The Middle East: Current Controversies. Being a quick read like most of their books, I burned through The Middle East: Current Controversies in just a few days. However, after finishing this particular book from Greenhaven Press this time I was not disappointed. Based on the quality of its selected opinion pieces, The Middle East: Current Controversies is a noticeable improvement over Greenhaven’s recent offerings.

Just like others in Greenhaven’s catalog, The Middle East: Current Controversies is divided into separate chapters, with each chapter devoted to a single discussion topic. In a quest to explore the many aspects of this turbulent region, the book is divided into the following chapters:

  • What Are the Primary Concerns About the Middle East?
  • How Can the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict be Resolved?
  • Have US Military Actions in the Middle East Been Effective?
  • Should the United States be Involved with Problems in the Middle East?

Unlike the last several books in this series that I’ve read, the opinion pieces used to help create this book are of much better quality. Instead of stuff reprinted from obscure and fringe publications or written by people, who based on their experience and credentials could hardly be considered subject matter experts, this material comes from a higher caliber of sources. Not only are there fairly lengthy speeches by past US President George Bush as well as current President Barack Obama, but there are pieces from the Congressional Research Institute, in addition to an essay from a professor at the US Air Force Academy and one from a major in the US Army. There’s also a plethora of opinion pieces from writers representing a number of think tanks and policy institutes including the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Hoover Institution. Lastly, traditional periodicals seem to be represented as well in this collection, with the inclusion of pieces from the Christian Science Monitor, the International Herald Tribune and the Washington Post.

I’m happy to report that every single opinion piece in this book has its merits. Yes, just like you will find with any collection, some pieces are better than others. But whether I agree or not with the expressed opinions is irrelevant: all the writers had interesting things to say. While I don’t consider myself a conservative, I thought the contributions from notable conservatives David Frum and Daniel Pipes were well-written and intelligent, even if I disagree with some of the things they wrote.

Hats off to editor Noel Merino and team for selecting an excellent crop of material for this book. By doing so, you’ve gone a long way in restoring my faith in Greenhaven Press.

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Filed under Area Studies/International Relations, Current Affairs, Iran, Israel

July 11, 2012

Women Without Men: A Novel of Modern Iran by Shahrnush Parsipur

A few weeks ago on Amy’s blog Amy Reads, she reviewed a novella by the Iranian author Shahrnush Parsipur which followed the intersecting lives of five Iranian women and their quest to live free of male control. Based on her review, the book sounded promising. Even though I read mostly nonfiction, every so often I crave a bit of fiction. And when I do indulge, I tend to gravitate towards the international stuff. And since I’m participating in Helen’s Middle East Reading Challenge, better yet if it’s from that part of the world. So with that in mind, I figured if I ever got a chance I’d give Parsipur’s novella a shot.

Well, about a week ago I happened to be rummaging through the “international authors” shelf at my public library (which over the last few years has led me to several nice works of international fiction including Tayeb Salih’s A Season of Migration to the North, Taslima Nasrin’s Revenge: A Fable and Atiq Rahimi’s The Patience Stone) when I came across Parsipur’s Women Without Men: A Novel of Modern Iran. Realizing this was my chance, I grabbed it along with a few other books and headed home. After it sat on my desk for a few days I picked it up and started reading it, finishing the short novel in what seemed like no time.

Unlike many works of fiction, Women Without Men belongs to the genre of magical realism, which to quote the great oracle Wikipedia “magical elements blend with the real world”. Long associated with Latin American literary giants Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Luis Borges, the literary style has been employed by a host of renowned authors including Gunter Grass, Italo Calvino and Tim O’ Brien. By taking this artistic approach, Parsipur is able to gives her novella a mystical flavoring.

One of things I liked about Women Without Men is its ability to challenge our stereotypes of Iran. Instead of a hyper-religious, male-centric and oppressive society, in Parsipur’s magical realist version of Iran her characters might be spiritual, but no one is religious, at least in a traditional sense. As a matter of fact, I don’t remember the word god or Allah mentioned once. Instead of living as second class citizens, her five female protagonists follow their own agendas unhindered by male interference.

Many people over the years have waxed poetically that fiction contains more truth than nonfiction. With that in mind, I’d love to believe that Parsipur’s Women Without Men, as magical as it is, tells us much about the people of Iran. Like the shadows on the walls of Plato’s cave, the mystical world she describes is a reflection of the deep and secretive collective soul of the Persian people, older and more mysterious than any Ayatollahs and their allies would lead us to believe.

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Filed under Area Studies/International Relations, Fiction, Iran