The day after I finished reading
this first novel, which I was recommending to everyone, it was long listed for
the National Book Award. Jumping back
and forth in time between 1994 and 2004, if is set in Chechnya during the two civil
wars there after the breakup of the Soviet Union. By in large, most Americans’ eyes were turned
elsewhere during this period and I knew nothing about it except that there had
been wars there. Eight-year-old Havaa must be saved after her mother dies and
her father is first tortured, then “disappeared.” Akhmed, her neighbor and an unsuccessful
doctor, conceals her nearby in the only functional hospital, and begins working
there with the very skilled surgeon, Sonja, an ethnic Russian who has returned
to her home country from London because of her sister. Her sister, Natasha has disappeared, twice
actually. There are several surprising
plot twists that interweave the characters in ways I did not anticipate. As life becomes ever more difficult and fear
of informers destroys any remaining trust, what, if anything, can survive? A beautiful, heartbreaking and important
book. 400 pp.
No comments:
Post a Comment