Yalo - Elias Khoury

"Yalo did not understand what was happening. The young man stood in front of the interrogator and closed his eyes, as he always did."

Yalo( Daniel Jalu'u) being interrogated for multiple crimes, including robbery, rape and storing arms and explosives. Under trial he was forced to make confessions by the interrogator. Each time he makes his speech, he was interrupted by the interrogator, asking him to fill the gaps of his narrative as it is incomplete. Thus Daniel alias Yalo goes over his confession over and over again, giving us further insights into the character and his life. Repeating the often told story, Yalo under torture and interruption by the authorities, goes through the same story with its subtle variations and view points again and again.

Interrogation is not new for him. In his childhood, he remember his grandfather, a priest, forces young Daniel to confess of crime he did not commit. After his confession, the priest changes back into grandfather and beat up the child. The history is repeating now in the form of interrogator.

Yalos life is complicated. His father has left his mother after the insistence of his grand father that the newly wed should stay with him. His grand father takes control of their life, stopping the new found love of his mother. His grandfather, enrolls him in school as his own son and surname, mentions his mother as his sister. But Yalo insists that " His grandfather is not his father and his mother is not his sister."

Yalos spends long time in the Lebanon's sectarian civil war ( not a good soldier though), escaping to Paris towards the end living a refugee life. He was found and rescued from the basement by a rich Lebanese business man, who bring him back to be the bodu guard of his wife. Yalo, paid back to his rescuer by seducing his wife, and later using loop holes the Lebanese law, looted and raped innocent victims. The victims have turned up against him in the court of law, including Shireen, whom he loved and spent a lot of time together.

Yalo is a complicated character. Hence his narrative is also contrived and often contradicting. He does not give out the details in one instance. It becomes clearer and missing links were added of every repetition of the confession. Using Daniel (the alter ego) and Yalo ( the prime accused) Khoury presents the story of a city in real life.

The history of Beirut is riddled with war. The Syrians, the Kurds, the Turkish and the Arabs were all part of the people who invaded. People trying to hide their origins ( like his grand father who does not acknowledge his Kurdish ancestry), people trying to find their own identity. Story of Yalo is not an isolated story. Its the religious , political and historical back ground of the current day Beirut.

Elias Khoury's name has appeared in the Nobel speculation for this year. The book happened to attract my attention while waiting for the connecting flight. A brilliantly constructed novel, with some fantastic writing. Depicting the current life of Beirut. Though the story per se is very complicated and not detailed for a narration, the intricacies related the to the duality, and the unreliability of the person telling the story makes the reading very interesting.

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Yalo ( 2002)

Elias Khoury ( translated from Arabic by Humphrey Davis in 2009)

Maclehose Press

344 Pages

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More read : Quarterly Conversation, L A Times, Archipelago Books Review , Interview with Khoury

Balthasar's Odyssey - Amin Maalouf

Year 1666 is speculated as the "year of the beast". Jews, Christians and Muslims have their own theories and fears about the imminent end of the world. However, one of the answer seems to be in the mysterious book titled " The hundredth name", which legends says reveals the name of the GOD unknown to people, that can save the humankind from the imminent apocalypse. Balthasar Embriaso, 40 year old widower of Genovan origin, a curios and books dealer at Lavantine town of Gibelet, takes us through a journey for over an year in pursuit of the book. Balthasar, had the book for a brief period before being forced to sell the same to the emissary of the King of France. Though Balthasar doubts the authenticity of the book, every one who laid hand on this book , seems to have gone through some mysterious fates. Idriss, the old man who handed over the book to him, was found dead the next day. The emissary who took the book to Constantinople with him was ship-wrecked. But that did not stop him from chasing the book. The eventful journey, thus begun from Gibelet , to Tripoli , Allepo, Constantinople, Genova , Lisbon, London and France before he come back to Genova.

Balthasar document his experiences and his feelings in his note books ( 4 journals abandoned at various places) and through this he narrates the happening of the eventful year. He befriends various people during his journey and these form the various sub-plots of the book. There are Jews, captains of the ship, a prince from Persia , a Genovan aristocrat, a lady shop owner in London , each with their on views and idea adding to the story of the end of the world.

Martha, a village lady from Gibelet, whose husband is at large since their wedding joins them in the journey. Balthasar, being forced to introduce her as his wife ( a clever ploy by his nephews?) , slowly gets attracted to her. His effort to end her misery by obtaining the document which sets her free to marry him takes a beating after they find her husband. He is crest fallen and was deported to Genova leaving the nephews and his assistant at Smyrna. His efforts to locate the book materialises at London, but every time he opens the book to read, his health deteriorates and he become temporarily blind. The misfortune did not end, as London is now under fire. As the city streets are burning, Balthasar escapes from London, and comes back to Genovo, towards the end of the year. Though the World did not end, 1667 brings a new beginning to the life of Balthasar after an eventful year. He will start a new life in his ancestral city.

The novel is about his quest to retrieve the book, as he travels from place to places on the Mediterranean cost and to places as far as London and France, over a period of 16 months. Interesting read, with many sub-stories and incidents to spice up the journey. There are many characters portrayed in this book, who come in with their own religious views ( some extreme and some moderate and intelligent) and vanishes without any trace. There are other important characters, like his nephews and Martha, who too are given a very odd treatment in the book. Barring that, he maintain the interest of the reader through out the journey. Notwithstanding , few narrative shortcoming, this book is very good and a captivating read.
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Balthasar's Odyssey
Amin Maalouf ( translated by Barbara Bray)
Vintage Books
391 Pages
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Further read : NY Times , Guardian