I’m disappointed that I did not like this, I very much wanted to. However. It’s a political pamphlet written by an outsider who doesn’t like what they’ve seen of someplace else’s societal politics (neither do I in this case but that’s beside the point of judging a piece as literature). I take no issue with writers telling stories that aren’t “theirs”, the author in my view has an imaginative right to tell any story if they can do so well. Lacking an insider’s connection however would seem to make writing characterization that rings true more difficult, and knowing the author is an outsider to their characters’ society should probably add an extra burden of scrutiny to their efforts.

To say Malfatto did not succeed would be a wild understatement in my reading, although maybe fair to say she didn’t even attempt it. This story doesn’t have characters, it has briefly drawn strawmen. Characters are given undesirable personality traits in 1-2 page sketches of them. “I am a meek obedient wife, never questioning what I’m told.” “I am a coward, the passive majority.” “I am the repository of male authority, the only authority that matters.”

These aren’t literary characters, they’re simplistic foils for a political tract that tells a simple easily understood story. I found them eye-rolling.

It could alternately be said that the story is in the realm of the moralistic fable, and one does not expect real characters in a moralistic fable. Making the Tigris River a voiced character for 2-3 pages is a step in that direction. But despite some nods in a universalist direction maybe this is a work very specifically written about a very specific society in space and time with a very specific and contemporary political purpose. At least I can’t see it otherwise at the moment. For me the way this story is written, with cardboard instead of characters, it could only have worked if the author was from this very specific and contemporary society, giving it an “own voices” impetus.

While I agree with the author’s political feelings behind the work, the work itself is a miss for me. ( )

La protagonista és soltera i està embarassada, i això és un deshonor per a la família, iraquiana. I l'honor familiar s'ha de restituir, com sigui, perquè és més important que la vida de ningú.
Un relat polièdric, en el que parlen tots els implicats, vius i morts. I de fons, el lament del riu, el Tigris, que plora tanta mala sort, tanta guerra, tanta mort. ( )