Literary License Fiction Round-Up

A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear by Atiq Rahimi (translated by Sarah Maguire and Yama Yari): In Kabul in 1979 Farhad, a 21-year-old university student, is out after curfew to celebrate a friend’s imminent escape to Pakistan. After suffering a vicious beating by soldiers on patrol, a mysterious and brave woman rescues the unconscious Farhad from the sewer. A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear consists of Farhad’s splintered memories and dreams mixed with his brief moments of lucidity as Fahad slowly returns to awareness. A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear is a disturbing and masterful depiction of the harrowing circumstances suffered by both men and women in war-torn Afghanistan.

A Thread of Sky by Deanna Fei: Spurred on by the unexpected death of her husband, Irene Shen organizes a trip back to her family’s Chinese homeland for herself, her three daughters, her sister, and her mother. Told from alternating perspectives, this novel of family (dys)functioning touches on just about every drama-filled issue imaginable. Although never boring, A Thread of Sky takes on too many topics to address them all with satisfying depth. Nevertheless, the novel is a thought-provoking look at family dynamics on the road.

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles: This debut novel is a Wharton-esque tale of post-Depression New York City during the year 1938. The action follows the ever-morphing relationships of several young men and women as their fortunes rise and fall, seemingly overnight. The self-assured voice of 25-year-old Katey Kontent leads the reader through it all with confidence and verve. Rules of Civility is an entertaining exploration of the whims of Fortune.

Seven Years by Peter Stamm (translated by Michael Hoffman): In this novel of obsessive love, Alex, an architectural student in Munich, vacillates between his admiration for a fellow-student (Sonya) and his irrational attraction to a dumpy, taciturn Polish woman (Ivona). Although Alex eventually marries Sonya and starts an architectural firm with her, he remains strangely drawn to Ivona. What at first seems to be Alex’s inexplicable obsession with an unworthy woman is slowly revealed to be Alex’s desire for unconditional love and the freedom such a love provides. Seven Years is a masterful exploration of forbidden love and its consequences.

A Review of Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke (translated from the Chinese by Cindy Carter)

Dream of Ding Village

4 out of 5: In Yan Lianke’s novel, Dream of Ding Village, a remote, agricultural village in China suffers from an AIDS epidemic. Ten years ago, the inhabitants of Ding Village sold their blood to blood collectors to increase their wealth and improve their standard of living. While the blood sales allowed the villagers to replace their traditional mud and thatch huts with two-story houses made of brick and tile, the unclean blood collection practices infected many villagers with AIDS. This novel’s disturbing premise is based on the true story of the 1990s AIDS scandal in Henan Province.

The novel is narrated from the grave by the murdered son of Ding Village’s primary blood collector. The dead boy describes the slow and painful deaths of the AIDS-infected villagers, as well as the actions taken by the villagers in response to the calamity. Some attempt to profit from the tragedy (stealing from the sick or selling coffins, for example) while others seek to alleviate the pain of the sufferers or to bring hope to the dying. Lianke’s prose embodies a sing-song, repetitive quality reminiscent of an oral storytelling tradition, and the plight of the dying villagers is reflected and magnified by the parallel destruction of the village’s land, which suffers from drought and neglect.

Dream of Ding Village occasionally loses focus and, near the end, approaches absurdity with a complicated subplot about arranged marriages between dead people. While a tighter narrative would have increased this novel’s power, Dream of Ding Village remains a compelling portrayal of humanity’s ever-present potential for self-destruction.