The Cyclops Bomb by Guram Odisharia: book review

The Cyclops Bomb: A Novel (2013) is set from about 2003 to 2009 in Georgia.

Thirty-seven-year old Irakli is a Georgian TV cameraman taking footage, in Georgia and oversears, of news, conflict, demonstrations, death, and whatever his producer of the New Vision TV studio requests. Working with him, is female reporter Nini.

Irakli falls in love with Frenchwoman Claudia who is living England, but also travels the world reporting on news. Their relationship is seen through brief correspondences.

Irakli has a secret – he has a pistol, whom he calls Pietro Beretta, and he wants to kill someone: someone specific.

There are heroes in this novel, although they are seen briefly through short news footages, trying to make a difference in the world.

This novel is written in the first person. Irakli is the narrator, and at one point, Pietro Beretta – his pistol – is the narrator. Readers learn of Irakli’s character through short, fragmented, news footages that are not connected, except through his vision, or through Nini’s and the producer’s interpretations of political and current affairs. Not all of his camera footages are used on television: they are either edited or scrapped.

In contrast and comparison, readers also see Irakli’s non-work relationships through short, fragmented correspondences – and their responses. The longest correspondence is to his son Lasha.

What is the Cyclops Bomb? ‘Every person has his own Cyclops bomb, like a star of fate.’

This is an interesting, and oftentimes compelling read, but also frustrating in not seeing characters develop – except Irakli – but it’s a reflection of the news of the day. It’s this approach to the novel that provides a thought-provoking view of Irakli and Georgia.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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