by Hassan Blasim
Translated from the Arabic by Jonathan Wright.
The first major literary work about the Iraq War from an Iraqi perspective.
*Longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2010
*Longlist for the 2010 Cork City - Frank O’Connor Short Story Award
'Perhaps the best writer of Arabic fiction alive...'
– The Guardian in its review of another anthology, 12 Jun 10.
'The news machine has shifted its attention to Afghanistan, and Iraqis are being left to fend for themselves. Blasim's collection reminds us that anything could still happen there. Iraq's story must still be told, and we need Iraqi voices like Blasim's to tell it.'
– Intelligent Life, Nov 09.
'Blasim pitches everyday horror into something almost gothic... his taste for the surreal can be Gogol-like.'
The Independent, 6 Oct 09.
'Blasim moves adeptly between surreal, internalised states of mind and ironic commentary on Islamic extremism and the American invasion... excellent.
– The Metro, 22 Oct 09.
'Crisp and shocking.... Too febrile and macabre to file under reportage, this cruel, funny and unsettling debut has hooks and twists that will lodge in any mind.'
– The Guardian
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