Tag: Books

Yasmina Reza: Art

October 14, 2021

A book you can read in the span of two cups of coffee, but one that has more insightful layers than some thicker tomes. I soon discovered that the play has been a recipient of theatre’s most prestigious awards! And it is about art, and friendship, and dissimilar aesthetic opinions.

– – –

Three best friends and their opinions about art and of each other are exposed when Serge purchases an art piece for two hundred thousand francs. It is a white canvas with fine diagonal scars.

Marc thinks it’s ridiculous, Serge takes offense, Yvan attempts to pacify both sides, and in return gets accused of being unable to take a stand.

What is hilarious and entertaining is how the reader can resonate with each character in different parts of their argument. 

Is it a real friendship if we keep our thoughts to ourselves to maintain good relations? Should we allow difference of opinion to imperil friendships?

As the scenes play out, we ultimately learn from the dialogue that offense is given and taken not entirely by the contrasting beliefs but mainly through the approach and manner in which they are presented.

Atiq Rahimi: Three

November 4, 2021

The beautiful preface written by Rahimi for this special edition that holds three of his most well-known novels already made me want to stand up and applaud.

“By writing, I allowed myself to grieve, renouncing revenge; by writing I set sail into history, denouncing terror.”

Atiq Rahimi might be more renowned as a filmmaker, having won awards as a director at Cannes and other film festivals; but he is hands down the best Afghan writer I have read so far. For his literary work, he has been awarded the Prix Goncourt.

Earth and Ashes
“Have the Russians come and taken away everyone’s voice? What do they do with all the voices? Why did you let them take away your voice?”

These lines do not pierce the heart so much until you realize that they are spoken by a young child who was made deaf by the bombings, and he wonders where all the voices have gone.

A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear
There is an unbelievable sustained tension from beginning to end, and it is yet another evidence of the unique and gripping way Rahimi unravels a story.

The Patience Stone
I am almost a hundred percent sure that Elias Khoury’s Gate of the Sun was an inspiration. I have listed the many reasons why in my book journal, but I will spare people the detailed geeking out unless asked. Although it has stark similarities, Rahimi turns his whole piece into something entirely different — a cry about womanhood imprisoned in such a context, and a cry for womanhood in such a culture. In fact, it is written in memory of Nadia Anjuman, an Afghan poet savagely murdered by her husband. It is a work for which Afghans accused Rahimi of treason; but it is a homage to women, the victims of what he describes as a “cult of fear”. 

All three, tragedies. All three, realities. But all three, transmuted into great art. 

This book makes tangible a power that only the interdependence of life and art can yield.