Review: Frankenstein in Baghdad

            This novel was such a complex exploration of violence, justice, war, and politics tied in with a modern retelling of Frankenstein. Hadi is a junk dealer and is acquainted with the concept of picking up random things off the streets to sell. As explosions and suicide bombers become commonplace, Hadi picks up parts of victims from the streets, bringing them back to his ramshackle home and assembling them into a monster. The monster takes the spirit of a guard murdered by a bomber and becomes animated, seeking revenge for each of the victims he is made of.

            I am especially interested in the way that point of view is written in this novel. Omniscient third is used with a community of characters. The monster has interactions or consequences on each of the community’s characters and brings them together to form a cohesive story. Each character has their own individual struggles, but their proximity to the monster connect them all in the novel. Characters span age and occupation: an old woman presumed to be a witch, a journalist, a junk dealer, a realtor, a hotel owner, a barber, a housewife, a government agent. The way that each short chapter focuses on a single character towards the beginning morphs as the reader goes on. Chapters begin to intertwine two or three characters. Chapters towards the end of the novel follow many, as they interact with and think about each other. The cast of characters is so large but Saadawi never loses sight of each one and how they are behaving, even off the page. It feels like Saadawi lived with these characters in his own head for a very long time. He understands them fundamentally and would able to tell you exactly how they would react in any situation. The characters are fully realized and dynamic. They will be stuck with me for a long time.

            It’s very hard to express how this novel made me feel because those emotions are very complex. I felt compelled by the story of the monster’s journey for justice and its decline into murderous rage. The monster was complicated, knowing that he shouldn’t be murdering just because he wanted to, but also being unable to stop himself. This duality of thought is one that preys on the desire for violence that plays out in all military realms especially. Once the monster tastes how it feels to take a life, he keeps desiring to do it. The monster also becomes a media sensation, granting interviews and explaining on a tape recorder the crimes he has committed and why he has done so, a manifesto of sorts. The monster knows that killing for the sake of killing is wrong but continues doing so. He uses parts from his victims to replace his own as they rot and fall off. The monster demonstrates the failure to find justice served, the media’s ability to prey on sensationalism, and the root of evil that lies in us all.

            I don’t read too very many translated works and I should definitely be reading more, but from what I could tell the translation is done extremely well. The language is rolling and intense, just as I imagine Saadawi’s intentions were in the original work. The language reflected emotions the reader should have been feeling as they processed sections of the work. In times were citizens were killed by suicide bombers, the language was plain, detached, conveying the normalcy of the situation. The language was masterful at adding an additional layer of dimension to the nature of the story.

            This novel is wonderful for its use of craft and exploration of concepts from the Iraq War to revenge to the media’s place. I loved this novel so much and hopefully I can find someway to work it into my teaching career.