Muhsin Al-Ramli:
حدائق الرئيس The President’s Gardens
https://www.themodernnovel.org/asia/arab/iraq/muhsin-al-ramli/the-presidents-gardens/
This novel is essentially about three
(male) Iraqi friends, all of about the same age and how they grew up and
remained friends. There was Tariq, nicknamed the Befuddled because he
would always show childlike amazement upon encountering any new thing or idea.
He was the son of Zahir, the imam of the mosque. He will later become a teacher
and imam himself. Ibrahim was the strongest and the kindest. He was nicknamed
The Fated because he accepted every report and every accident with an
astonishing equanimity. He was the son of Suhayl the Damascene who had no
nose. Zahir and Suhayl had gone to fight for Palestine in the 1948 war. When an
artillery shell exploded near them, Zahir wet himself. Suhayl later got a boil
on his nose which got infected and, as it was not treated he lost his nose.
They agreed not to tell what really happened and that Suhayl lost his nose
bravely defending Damascus, hence his nickname.
The third one is Abdullah Kafka. Tariq
gave him the nickname, after reading Kafka because Abdullah was
typically attuned to the blackest side of any idea or situation, and even when
he laughed, a deep and firmly rooted sadness appeared in his eyes. Abdullah
was a foundling and had been adopted by the childless couple who found him,
Salih and Maryam. We know that there are some people who know who his
biological parents were but we and Abdullah only find out much later in the
book, and a very complex but sad tale it turns out to be. In the meantime, as
well as being called Kafka, he calls himself son of the earth crack as
that is where his adoptive father found him.
The three boys grow up together and are
inseparable. When Ibrahim is fifteen, he does well at school but his father
makes him leave school so he can work in the fields. Abdullah also drops out in
sympathy. Tariq continues at school but plays truant to be with his friends.
At eighteen Abdullah and Ibrahim are
called up to do military service. Tariq is still studying so he is exempt. He
will later be exempt as a teacher and imam. Ibrahim’s parents find a bride for
him while he is on military service. Abdullah and Sameetha, Tariq’s sister,
fall in love but Tariq’s father rejects Abdullah. We know but Abdullah does not
that Tariq had told his father that Abdullah would not be a suitable husband
for his sister.
National service is coming to an end for
the two young men but Iraq and Iran went to war with each other and the pair
had to continue to serve. It was a grim war and we are given all the gory
details. Abdullah disappears and nobody knows if he is alive or a prisoner.
Ibrahim does well, becoming a master sergeant but he sees many men killed and
wounded, including some self-inflicted wounds to escape further service.
After the war Ibrahim goes back to the
fields an will eventually learn that Abdullah is a prisoner in Iran. Ibrahim is
now married with a daughter, Qisma (= kismet, i.e. fate).
Sadly, for him, he will have no further children. He does get a letter from the
Red Cross, saying that Abdullah is a prisoner of the Iranians. (We had met
Abdullah at a much later date at beginning of the book so we knew he had
survived.)
Ibrahim is just settling down when Iraq
invades Kuwait. Again he is conscripted. He serves in the desert near the Saudi
border, with his friend, Ahmad, whom he had met in the Iraq-Iran war. But, as
we know, the Gulf War happens and Ibrahim and
Ahmad and more destruction and death rain down on Iraq and our hapless heroes.
Ibrahim,as we know from the beginning, survives, though he is wounded. Once
again, we are spared none of the grisly details, as Iraq descends into
chaos. They’re still bombing everything—military camps, bridges,
communication stations and towers, power plants, water treatment facilities,
government buildings, police stations, businesses, houses—everything, just
everything. To make matters worse, once the coalition troops
withdraw, the Republican Guard launches devastating raids against all the
cities and villages that revolted. They’re bombing schools, houses, mosques,
and mausoleums, killing without mercy. Ibrahim gets home and struggles
along.
There are three mysteries in this book,
I have mentioned the first, namely Abdullah’s origns, which are explained to
him at this point after his return from the horrors of being a prisoner in Iran
(you know the drill – no details spared).
The second mystery occurs at the very
beginning of the book. Someone finds nine banana crates in the village. (Iraq
does not grow bananas.) Each crate contains a severed head, with the ID of the
owner of the head. The bodies are nowhere to be seen. One of the heads belongs
to Ibrahim. What happened and why? We only learn why towards the end of the
book.
The third mystery concerns the title.
For most of the book the president has, of course, been Saddam Hussein. Though he is very much a key player in this book, he is never mentioned
by name. However, to this point his gardens have not been relevant. This is
about to change. Things are not going well for Ibrahim. His wife has cancer and
his daughter is being rebellious. Getting treatment for his wife is expensive
and difficult. With his connections, Tariq gets him a job in Baghdad. The job
involves tending the president’s gardens, which is a fairly easy and very
well-paid job. He gets treatment for his wife and Qisma can go to college and
he can even buy her a car.
Things are looking better but then, as
he has done so well, he is promoted. The new job involves better pay, shorter
hours and a free taxi service to and from work. The job, however, is definitely
not as pleasant and easy (… grisly details…). And then the US-led coalition invades.
More than once in recent times I have
commented on a book I have reviewed that it is grim but this one definitely
comes at or near the top on the grisly scale. The 1948 war, the Iran-Iraq War, the the
Gulf War, the interim period when Saddam sees enemies
everywhere, the Iraq War and the aftermath of that
war all have their horrific stories to tell as seen through the eyes of our
heroes and al-Ramli spares us none of the details of the horrors.
However, what is interesting is seeing
these wars not from the perspective Westerners have seen them in the past,
namely Iraq was all bad but seeing them from the perspective of the ordinary
Iraqi. Our heroes do not like these wars any more than we do, Indeed, they like
them a lot less, as they get wounded and killed or their loved ones do and
their lives are completely disrupted. Like most of us they just want to live
their lives in peace. Al-Ramli moved to Madrid in 1995 and many other Iraqis
went into exile to escape both the wars and Saddam Hussein. You certainly
cannot blame them. This book clearly shows why.
Publishing history
First published in 2012 by Thaqāfah lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʻ, Beirut
First published in English 2017 by MacLehose Press
Translated by Luke Leafgren
https://www.themodernnovel.org/asia/arab/iraq/muhsin-al-ramli/the-presidents-gardens/
