RELATED: Review: Yoga Girl - Rachel Brathen The story speaks to nationalism, patriotism, and citizenship as a privilege, not as a birthright, and is a beautifully written tale that has been compared to both the Greek tragedy Antigone, and Shakespeare’s woeful tale of star-crossed lovers. Shamsie cleverly depicts the ongoing manipulation of Parvaiz and allows the reader to see into the mind and heart of such a recruit how badly he knew he erred, and how completely lost he felt, both unknowing and unable to fit back into life as he knew it before he attempts to follow in his late father’s footsteps by joining ISIS in Syria. Home Fire revolves around orphaned siblings Isma and Aneeka, whose brother Parvaiz gets exploited and groomed into radicalism in the wake of their mother’s death.
While I had read A God in Every Stone when it was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2015, I had little recollection of what had happened in the book, and thus little idea of what to expect from Shamsie’s seventh novel, but as soon as I started it I was utterly enthralled, and it felt like I barely drew a breath from start to finish. It was the type of Sydney day made for hunkering down with a book – torrential rain, looming grey skies, low clouds and a chill in the air so I swiftly took myself home and readied myself for an afternoon of reading curled up on the coach. I was at my local bookshop, Gertrude & Alice, and as I was leaving Jane, the owner, gave me a copy, insisting I should read it. I still follow the prize closely from Sydney, and do my best to read as much of the short and long-list as I can, but alas, as every ardent reader will know, it’s completely impossible to read everything recommended to you, and subsequently the 2018 winner, Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie, had slipped through my radar until last week. A job I couldn’t have dreamed up even if I’d tried, I spent two glorious years championing women writers, and was also lucky enough to work alongside Kate Mosse, co-founder of the prize and a writer I had admired from afar for many years prior to meeting her. One of the hardest things about moving to Sydney was leaving my job working for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
0 kommentar(er)
