Book-Thirsty Thursday: Iraq + 100, edited by Hassan Blasim
Iraq + 100 asks you to step outside the comfort zone of science fiction, and the journey is a worthy one for Book-Thirsty Thursday.
Book-Thirsty Thursday is a bit of a silly pun. I admit it. And this week, reviewing Iraq + 100 from Tor, it feels like a slightly too-silly pun, when the press materials all point out that this book is fairly important for reasons we’ll get to in the very next paragraph. But let us add another layer to the concept of the weekly book review’s title first. After all, doesn’t one thirst for knowledge as well as a fine cocktail?
And in that sense, the concept fits Iraq + 100 (which has just made its way to American shores after hitting the U.K. last year) very well. The subtitle of this short story anthology is The First Science Fiction Anthology to Have Emerged from Iraq. So, if you’re looking (or thirsting, to preserve the concept) for something outside the regular confines of science fiction … this anthology fits the bill pretty well.
That’s at least partially because these are all short stories, snapshots of what Iraq might look in 2103, and the editor, Hassan Blasim (who also contributes “The Gardens of Babylon,” a wonderfully weird work that practically requires a second reading) goes into more details about that concept in the introduction, itself practically a necessary read. The short story format, though, means that if you’re not sure how you feel about one, then you’ll probably be done with it soon enough and onto the next one.
As a result, some of the stories have to result a bit to telling, not showing, what their worlds look like; a few instances of “as you know” grate slightly, but it’s forgivable here. Each of these writers is trying to skip a century and play out the history in between without the luxury of a full novel to weave all those details in a bit more seamlessly, after all. It’s also attributable to the fact that some of these stories are coming to us in translation. But, for the most part, the translations seem fluid and easy to read.
It’s a short book, to be certain, but it leaves you looking for more. “The Here and Now Prison,” from Jalal Hasan, was a particular favorite of mine for just this reason, because it didn’t quite explain everything, but left the reader to think through more of what had happened, and even managed a moment of humor, too. (What can I say? These stories are somewhat heavy, but those moments of lightness buoy the whole book.)
It’s hard to really say much more about these stories, other than that reading them is a very good way to expose blindspots in your own reading habits. Bookworms fall into patterns just like anyone else, after all, selecting the same genres over and over again because there’s really no way to read everything anyway.
Next: Maggie Shen King talks dystopia and An Excess Male
Iraq + 100 might lure you in with the promise of science fiction, then leave you thinking about why these authors made their decisions long afterward, and for that, it is a worthy entry for Book-Thirsty Thursday.