Hari Kunzru signed my copy of the book,
dedicating it to “a great interpreter” (claim to fame, yay!) after I translated
a fairly embarrassing speech by a local politician at the same literary
festival where I worked for Hanif Kureishi (and Paul Auster – those were the
times...).
This book is an absolute gem. It touches all
the right notes and it’s perfectly researched (mostly in the archives of the
university where I work). It paints a very accurate picture of some incredibly
tumultuous times and their lingering effects on the people who experienced
them, or at least it seems that way for a kid who – at the end of the day –
hasn’t really protested against anything since 2003 (when Iraq was invaded I
thought chaining myself to the entrance gate of my high-school would have done
some good – it quite clearly didn’t make a change on a global scale, and
neither it did on a local one as I didn’t succeed in seducing the girl I was
trying to impress with my radicalism at the time).
(Way) more people should read this book. Sadly
(way) more people won’t.
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