koishi reviewed By the sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Saleh Omar used to be a furniture-shop owner, house owner, husband and father. Now he …
Books that would improve by having a family tree at the end
4 stars
Content warning Spoilers for a good bunch of the book
As someone who read an independent translation of the Arabian nights many years ago, I was pleasantly surprised when it dawned on me that this book takes the same base concept as the way to structure everything.
A big part of this book reads like a soap opera, exploring how two separate families interact and evolve over the course of several generations. One of the main reveals is that all of the families that crop up are one and the same (sometimes connected by marriage or by two characters being lovers). This is eventually what kick-starts the events happening in the present. It also means that you will reach a point in the final quarter of the book where it is difficult to visualise how different people are related. Hence the title.
Now, I know that describing this book as a soap opera is glossing over the complex political issues that are happening in the background. The reason why I am glossing over them is twofold: on the one hand, they read more like an external influence that further pushes the characters into making the decisions they make. On the other, I am unfortunately too far removed from the context of 20th century Tanzania for it to really have left a significant mark on me.
What did actually left a mark on me was the treatment of black Muslims (or, to use their own words, blackamoors) in the present. Both seeing how Omar and Latif were being mocked at for being black and the beatiful descriptions provided by Omar, which are so unavoidably tied to his identity as a Muslim.
All in all, a solid 4 stars. Not a book that has influenced the way I see writing, but a book I would wholeheartedly recommend.