October 31, 2023
Politica is set in an unnamed Middle Eastern country. It explores the impact of war on those directly involved—as well as those indirectly impacted, but whose lives war forever changes. As in her previous novels, The Lovers and Australiana, Yumna Kassab employs short chapters, with some directly connected to one another, while others stand alone. Like an impressionist painter, Kassab uses words like brushstrokes to build a vivid picture of intertwined lives set against the continuing drumbeat of war. The narrative moves between past, present and future and uses time as an effective device to illustrate how the effects of war linger long after its cessation. The book’s opening focuses almost exclusively on a family: the revolutionary father, his wife, and his daughter. It contrasts the zeal and idealism of the father with his wife’s pessimism and pragmatic focus on keeping her family close and safe. The daughter is inexorably drawn into his vision and is rewarded with disillusionment and despair. The second half continues to use the motif of war, but shifts its focus to the daily struggles of ordinary people, focusing on the impact of war on women and children. The action takes place around a village well wherein lives a spirit, perhaps a genie, who is a mute witness to the inhabitants’ despair and struggle. Readers who enjoyed The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka may also appreciate Politica, as both books explore a society affected by prolonged war and employ elements of fantasy and mysticism.
Read our interview with author Yumna Kassab about Politica here.