Neighbor

     It's nice to think of him as a neighbor. Iowa City is not all that far away, 240 miles. It's not as if he were in China, Paris or Oslo. The 'him' in this blog is author Kaveh Akbar. the 35 year old Iranian American author of Martyr!  Yes, this novel,  it's good or really 'excellent.' 

   Novels need  a plot twist and the twist in this book is WOW!  Certainly didn't see that coming but it solidifies the entire story. The writing is filled with exceptional insights that seem too profound for such a youth...there I show my age. Here's an example of such profundity.

   "WHAT DISTINGUISHES GRACE FROM EVERYTHING ELSE? GRACE IS unearned. If you moved through the world in such a way as to feel you've earned cosmic compensation, then what you've earned is something more like justice, like propriety. Not grace. Justice is just. There's an inescapable transactional quality: perform x good, receive y reward. Grace doesn't work that way. It begins with the reward. Goodness never enters the equation."  P 279

   Another example: "Everyone in America seemed to be afraid and hurting and angry, starving for a fight they could win. And more than that even, they seemed certain that their natural state was to be happy, contented, and rich. The genesis of everyone's pain had to be external, such was their certainty."  P 209  Think white supremacy and politics today.

    The shooting down of an Iranian civilian airplane by the USS Vincennes on July 3,1988 plays a major role in the book. American governmental response in effect "accidents happen." No apology and no compensation. Akbar gives a glimpse of Iranian perception.   

   This is a good one!

Takk for alt.

Al

                             USS Vincennes