You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Middle East’ category.
One again, another misleading title! I thought for sure the book would address the duel wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet, Afghanistan steals the stage (not at all a mirror of reality) and Woodward marches the reader towards yet another war in Pakistan. I don’t believe this was his intention at all but the overwhelming message seems to be Pakistan is really the root of America’s problems with terrorism. (The book was written in 2010, long before Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan.) The back and forth over Pakistan and Afghanistan boils down to an interesting debate over control of the military.
The President of the United States is the Commander in Chief of the U.S. military, but he (and, hopefully one day, she) are often a civilian rather than a person with military credentials. Woodward explains how President Obama (a civilian) clashed repeatedly with the military over strategies and, most frequently, troop deployment sizes. Neither side seems to respect the other side. The civilian is painted as unknowing; the military presented as a big bully. One of the interesting observations Woodward makes during this book is how focused the top commanders of the US were on future wars rather than the two they were currently engaged in, how focused they were on preserving the relevance of the military in the future.
It’s also one giant good ol’ boys club; the only female voice is that of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Even her voice is marginalized in the administration over fears she is trying to eclipse the President politically and secure a chance of being president herself. Yet the most self-serving people in the administration are the ones whom Obama brought with him from Chicago, a group of people coined the “Chicago Mafia”. The voices of those in the National Security Agency, particularly James Jones, are disregarded in order to make certain voices and ideas carry more weight. What a frustrating situation!
The book ended up being one of the most readable books on politics and war that I’ve read. A fascinating, accessible read.
Book Mentioned:
- Woodward, Bob. Obama’s Wars. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010. Print. 464 pgs. ISBN: 9781439172490. Source: Purchased.
My Middle East politics professor recommend those of us interested in US/Middle East relations read the Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (published as The 9/11 Commission Report). At over 500 pages I am not likely to pick it up anytime soon. I was intrigued, however, to find that Jacobson and Colón, who wrote the graphic biography of Anne Frank, adapted the report into a graphic book.
The complaints I had about the Anne Frank graphic biography were further heightened in this graphic report. Some of the dialog straddled more than one panel, interrupting the flow of the book and leaving me confused as to what to read next. Mostly, though, I was annoyed with the incredibly small font in many of the dialog bubbles and panels. I know my eyesight is poor but I shouldn’t have to squint to read a book while wearing corrective lenses.
In a graphic book, the graphics should tell the story. But in this book, the narrative heavily relies upon words to explain what it is happening. The chain of events between 7 and 10 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2011 are illustrated from beginning to end three times, which made the book incredibly redundant. I certainly learned some things from the graphic novel but I think I might have to muster up the patience to read the actual report.
Books Mentioned:
- The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. New York: Norton &, 2004. Print. 568 pgs. ISBN: 9780393326710.
- Jacobson, Sid and Ernie Colón. The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006. Print. 133 pgs. ISBN: 9780809057399. Source: Library.
- Jacobson, Sid and Ernie Colón. Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography. New York: Hill and Wang, 2010. Print. 160 pgs. ISBN: 9780809026845. Source: Library.
I purchased Mustian’s novel at the annual library used book sale because of the hauntingly beautiful cover. I also knew the novel was about Turkey but leave it to me to unknowingly purchase a book about the Armenian Genocide.
Emmett Conn has long experienced memory loss due to injuries sustained during World War I. At ninety-two-years-old, however, dreams and seizures caused by a brain tumor have forced him to reexamine events he’s unsure if he actually experienced. Was he actually a gendarme, escorting Armenians from Turkey? Did he actually know the woman with the haunting, mismatched eyes?
The reader is moved from present-day Florida and Anatolia around 1915, living Emmett’s dreams and attempting to piece together the story along with him. Having never read a book about the Armenian Genocide before, I appreciated the slow introduction to the experiences of Armenians at that time. If I had been thrown into a novel where I was expected to know more about the Armenian Genocide, I certainly would have floundered.
“The fact that we [the Turks] are allowing these groups [of Armenians] to leave the country seems more than fair. Would they have done the same for us? The Turkish people are united. Turkey is for Turks. The mixture of different peoples will lead only to strife, like a dog with two masters. Better to eliminate the issue now, avoid the inevitable subversion.” (pg. 47)
Although slow moving at parts, I still greatly enjoyed this novel. How interesting that to learn about this particular genocide, which is illegal to actually call a genocide in Turkey, from the point of view of a perpetrator. At the end of the novel Mustian explains how he decided to write this novel and provided a list of book about the genocide he found useful. I certainly will check those titles out.
Book Mentioned:
- Mustian, Mark T. The Gendarme. New York: Amy Einhorn Books, 2010. Print. 294 pgs. ISBN: 9780399156342. Source: Purchased.
I agreed to read a copy of Leegant’s novel in exchange for an honest review after the author contacted me with a personalized request. She knew from my review policy that I enjoy reading books set in the Middle East and about religions of the world.
This novel follows three individuals as they travel from New York to Jerusalem attempting to confront their pasts and their futures. Yona Stern travels to a West Bank settlement in hopes of making amends with her sister, Dena. A former drug dealer saved by orthodox religion, Mark Greenglass is a gifted Talmud teacher but still an embarrassment to his father. Aaron Blinder travels to Israel to a study abroad program for a girl but instead drops out and joins a radical fringe of Israeli society.
These three remain separated in their travels through Jerusalem having little to do with one another until political and religious extremism cause their paths to cross.
What I loved the most about this novel was the range Leegant showed in her characters’ thoughts and opinions. Not all Israelis agree with settlements in the West Bank like Dena and her family, and I’m glad that some of the characters were constructed to show the opposite of this opinion. After all, every society has their fringe, hardline radicals.
She also does a superb job in constructing her characters and the setting of the novel. I really felt like I was in Jerusalem experiencing the oppressive heat of being in the desert.
The ending wasn’t completely satisfactory to me. Each character gets his or her own conclusion but one in particular felt like a bit of a stretch and the other didn’t go far enough.
I know quite a bit about Israel, particularly its relationship with the United States because I took a class on the subject last semester. Having the extra background knowledge was nice but isn’t completely necessary for people to enjoy this novel.
Others’ Thoughts:
Book Mentioned:
- Leegant, Joan. Wherever You Go. New York: W. W. Norton, 2010. Print. 253 pgs. ISBN: 9780393339895. Source: Review copy.
This long, tedious book rehashed every interaction, every moment Kemal had with Füsun. Like a friend who never overcame a bad breakup, Kemal mourns every little thing about Füsun and, in the process, manages to destroy the relationship he has with his fiancée and other people from his class in Istanbul society (young, educated, Westernized).
“…I would like to ask them please to be careful not to confuse forgetting about Time with forgetting about clocks or calendars. Clocks and calendars do not exist to remind us of the Time we’ve forgotten but to regulate our relations with others and indeed all of society, and this is how we use them. When looking at the black-and-white clock that appeared on the screen every evening, just before the news, it was not Time we remembered but other families, other people, and the clocks that regulated our business with them.” (pg. 287)
He ultimately builds a private museum covering their relationship that the author visits, inserting himself in his fictional story. At least, I hope it’s fictional because at minimum Kemal and I could not be friends. He’s quite possibly the most annoying, insipid character I’ve met in a long while. I honestly wanted to shake him and tell him to get over himself. I mean, really, who collects cigarette butts?
The novel meanders rather than drives forward; the plot is basically nonexistent. Hence why it took me so long to finish this book. What I stat in the paragraph is all the novel is about, and trust me, five hundred plus pages was unnecessary.
I picked up this novel because I was looking for a novel set in Turkey. The book did not fill that void for me. By the time the novel really started to address politics and life in Istanbul, it was quickly coming to a close and I was already kind of over the whole thing. This just wasn’t the “spellbinding” tale the cover promised.
Book Mentioned:
- Pamuk, Orhan. The Museum of Innocence. Translated from Turkish by Maureen Freely. New York: Vintage International, 2009. Print. 536 pgs. ISBN: 9780307386243. Source: Purchased.
