A review by jeffreyp
Basti by Intizar Husain
3.0
I suspect I will get more out of this after a second reading, but the narrative style made it a very difficult read for me. I kept feeling like I do when I try to read Ulysses...just kind of lost, and not in a good way (lost in a good way would be something like Dhalgren). I'll pick it up again someday and try once more, but most of it was lost on me I think.
The stuff that did resonate had to do with the build-up to large-scale conflict, that feeling of being unmoored, which Husain (and his translators) capture beautifully. The shift that you can feel happening, but can't do much about, even though you *have* to do something about it...it reminded me of the best parts of Simone de Beauvoir's The Mandarins.
The stuff that did resonate had to do with the build-up to large-scale conflict, that feeling of being unmoored, which Husain (and his translators) capture beautifully. The shift that you can feel happening, but can't do much about, even though you *have* to do something about it...it reminded me of the best parts of Simone de Beauvoir's The Mandarins.