Review
The President’s Gardens by Muhsin Al-Ramli
by: The Last Word Book Review
Make no mistake this is a very powerful novel. The President’s Gardens written by Muhsin
Al-Ramli and translated by Luke Leafgren is a book not to be taken lightly and
is an incredibly beautiful novel that has passion running through its heart. An
outstanding achievement in Iraqi literature.
Haunting is the word
I would use here, the opening gives the reader a lot to absorb and through the
remaining pages the is more detail and along with more detailed descriptions of
life in Iraq. The one aspect of this novel that pours out of the pages is ‘war’
it is ever present through the lives of the people of this country. Some of the
descriptions of the ravages of war on villages and people are detailed at
upsetting and the author does not shy away from writing this into the
storyline. It is the horror of war that you cannot escape from. Some may find
this disturbing but there are some very moving and beautiful moments in the
story that bring joy and emotion to a deeply powerful novel. The three friends
despite knowing each other for nearly all their life are uniquely different
shaped by the events that have engulfed their country this is their story and
there is tragedy waiting for one of them while the other has seen enough and
longs for peace while the remaining friend has escaped the worst but things he
does will have significant ramifications.
To
quote from the book “The skies rained down hell,
the earth vomited it back up . . . the
simple Iraqi soldiers who resisted fought in despair and died.” The writing is just
incredible how the author tells a story of love, death war and more war. There
is no escape. Although first published in Arabic in 2012 this is a book that
needs to be read and should be read widely. It is an incredible read if
upsetting at times. The story ends with “To be continued” Does this mean that
we can expect a follow story. I for one earnestly hope that this is the case. HIGHLY
RECOMMENDED
Thank you to Paul Engles and MacLehose Press for
the advanced review copy of The President’s
Gardens.
The
President’s Gardens by Muhsin Al-Ramli is published
by MacLehouse Press and
is available through Waterstones, Amazon and all good bookshops.
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