Skip to main content

This Side of Innocence by Rashid Al-Daif: book review


This Side of Innocence (1997 in Arabic and 2001 in English) by Lebanese author, Rashid Al-Daif, is not a typical novel in the sense of form or flow. It is more of a stream-of-consciousness technique in which one man’s paranoia and insecurities emerge on the page. There is no mention of time, space, or location (city or country), except that the narration begins in a room.

The narrator has a Japanese watch with Arabic numerals. He has a wife and son. We know that he has committed infidelity, at least once. That much the reader knows. He is about to be interrogated by four men in civilian clothes, in relation to a torn picture: “Who tore the picture?” they ask.

The narrator’s thoughts lead the reader to believe that he is innocent – “how do you justify to those bent on getting accurate information about someone … how do you justify to them that you know nothing.” Yet the narration is fraught with details of inconsequence or omission, or details about how he should conduct himself so that the interrogators believe him to be innocent. And then, by the narrator’s admission, he sets off “a chain reaction of mistakes.”

And what is the significance of the picture?

At some point he is in his home ...“after they led me there so my wife and I could make coffee for them and we could finish our conversation, with my son sitting next to me …” The reader learns little about the narrator’s wife and son, “but before they left, with her, they told me not to go into the living room at all.” And then he has, in his hand, a skewer – or was it a knife – as he plots, in his mind, to kill his interrogators when they return. Why was his wife so frightened of him, he asks himself.

The reader is never absolutely certain whether the anticipated violent interrogation actually occurred – nor of the actual stark and disturbing realities of what happened to his wife and son – and yet the answers are there, in the narrator’s mind and mental state. The reader must draw conclusions about what happened and whether the narrator is innocent – or which side of innocence the narrator is on.  

The novel contains a six-page Afterword by two authors, who describe Al-Daif’s style as “philosophical, psychological, epistemological” and “idiosyncratic.” The exposition is in understanding “What is it that makes us commit such deadly mistakes?” There is a plot, implied action, and a paranoiac message in this brief 146-page novel: People bring problems unto themselves.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing
1 comment
Read more