Review
The President's Gardens
By: Sally Kincaid
On the third day of Ramadan 2006, nine decapitated
heads are delivered in banana boxes to an Iraqi village. One of the heads
belongs to Ibrahim, a quiet, gentle, humble soul. The President’s Gardens
unravels through a story involving three generations under the backdrop of the
invasion of Kuwait, the first Gulf War and the lead up to the US invasion.
The book
intertwines the life-long friendship between Ibrahim the Fated, Abdullah Katfa
and Tariq the Befuddle known collectively as the sons of the earth crack.
Muhsin describes
the complicated village relationships beautifully. As you read the book you
feel like you are sitting chain smoking with Abdullah, who spent 20 years of
the story in an Iranian prison.
The book takes you
on the journey of how residents of a remote village live and survive through
the period between the 1980s Iran-Iraq war right through the 2003 invasion. The
relationship between different generations, from the woman elder, the mayor’s
wife who holds the family secrets in her head until she is able to tell the
truth to Ibrahim’s daughter Qisma who becomes estranged emotionally from her
father.
There is a chilling
description of the road of the hell that was the road to Basra in 1996 at the
end of the first Gulf War. He contrasts the hardship of sanctions on ordinary
Iraqis with the disgusting luxury and splendur of Saddam Hussein’s palaces and
the lives of the Iraqi elite. This is the life of the 1 percent who own 99
percent of the world’s wealth.
The description of
preparations before Saddam Hussein boarded his $50 million yacht in the port of
Umm Qasr with the bay becoming a hive of activity, reminded me of sitting on a
beach in Greece watching the preparation for Prince Charles visiting his own;
hour upon hour smaller boats would unload. The parasite was there 24 hours,
before moving on to another holiday destination.
I recommend this
book, as a reminder of the brutality of imperialism and dictatorship but also
the love and humanity of ordinary people who despite everything survive to tell
the tale. Once you start it is hard to put down.
Muhsin dedicates his book to the souls of his nine relatives and to all the oppressed in Iraq:
Muhsin dedicates his book to the souls of his nine relatives and to all the oppressed in Iraq:
“May the deceased
forgive our bitter grief and rest in peace. May the living do their utmost for
the sake of peace and tolerance.”
I echo that and
also add to all those who have had to flee their country for whatever reason
because of this war and others.
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