Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
|
Loading... Throwing Sparksby Abdo Khal
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.  DubaiReader | Sep 10, 2014 |  no reviews | add a review
When an opulent palace is built on the Jeddah waterfront near his poverty-stricken neighborhood, ambitious Tariq sees a way out of his life of petty crime. He stares longingly at the huge gates, dreaming of the luxuries beyond. But dream quickly turns into nightmare. The Palace is ruled by an enigmatic Master whose influence in the city is as wide as it is wicked. When Tariq succeeds in being appointed to serve the Master it becomes clear that he has been chosen for a single, terrible task. Thirty years later, Tariq feels trapped. In between punishing the Master's enemies through unspeakable acts, falling for Maram, the Master's beautiful mistress, and resisting his brother's pleas to return home, he realises that he has become no more than a slave--and that there is only one way out. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers  
 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)892.737Literature Literature of other languages Middle Eastern languages Arabic (Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan) Arabic fiction 2000–LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (2.92)
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wikipedia in English
1
This book was originally published in Arabic in 2009, but it has taken until 2014 for it to be available in English. It won the Arabic Booker Prize in 2010 and if it weren't for this award it would probably never have been translated. The author came to the Dubai Literature Festival this year and took great pains to explain that the book was fiction, based on no particular person, but yet represented the excesses and corruption that were rife in his country.
It was not an easy read. I was shocked by the violence and abuse very early on in the book and would have abandoned it had I not been reading it for a book group. It's not a pleasant book, yet I'm glad I read it for the insights it gave me.
Tariq narrates his story, from a poverty stricken childhood, running and fighting in the back streets of Jeddah, to his job in the Palace that has been built on the waterfront of the village, blocking off their livelihood and recreation. The vast Palace sits in a hugely imposing compound and for most villagers, represents some mysterious unknown. For those who do get to pass its gates, it is not the promised land, rather a debauched centre for excesses, and corruption. Once Tariq begins work there, in 'the punishment squad', there is no way back and he becomes more and more tainted by his work.
The author's aim was to show how extreme wealth and power can corrupt and damage all who come into contact with them. In my opinion he did this successfully and the impact of this book will remain with me for some time. (