| Title | : | Alif the Unseen |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0802120202 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780802120205 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 433 |
| Publication | : | First published June 19, 2012 |
| Awards | : | Locus Award Best First Novel (2013), World Fantasy Award Best Novel (2013), Hammett Prize (2012), John W. Campbell Memorial Award (2013), Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire Roman étranger (2014), Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist (2013), Goodreads Choice Award Fantasy (2012), The Center for Fiction (2012) |
When Alif discovers The Thousand and One Days, the secret book of the jinn, which both he and the Hand suspect may unleash a new level of information technology, the stakes are raised and Alif must struggle for life or death, aided by forces seen and unseen.
Alif the Unseen Reviews
-
Adult urban fantasy/cyberpunk. I picked this up because I loved the Ms. Marvel comics written by G. Willow Wilson, and while this is very, very different stuff, it was a fabulous read. Somehow I went into this thinking it was a middle grade or young adult novel. It's not. The content is quite dark and adult. It's the story of a twenty-something hacker living in an Arabic city state simply called The City. Alif is secretly in love with the daughter of a high-ranking family, and (SPOILER) when she becomes engaged to a government official -- an official who is in charge of finding hackers like Alif, things become very complicated. (END SPOILER.) That in itself would be an intriguing story, but Wilson also blends in the world of the fire spirit jinn, mixing computer magic with ancient magic. Alif finds himself in possession of an ancient book that may be the secret to reprogramming the entire world. His enemies, both human and jinn, will do anything to obtain it. It's rare to find a novel set in the Middle East that is both accessible to a Western audience and sympathetically well-informed. The City is beautifully evoked. The descriptions of life in a dictatorial society are grimly and unflinchingly portrayed. You see both the beauty of Islamic society and folklore, and the desperate, fearful, and claustrophobic conditions in which the citizens of The City live. If you're looking for an adventure unlike anything you've probably read, give this a try!
-
Dear People who Read Books,
Please read this book.
No, really, I mean it. Okay fine, I will tell you why you need to read this. The characters in this novel, while not being teenagers, are young adults and therefore this novel meets the criteria set (by me) to be called Young Adult. Okay, let me begin again. Properly this time.
Alif the Unseen is set in a city in Saudi Arabia and it is, perhaps, one of the few books I have read that manage to write in a setting like Saudi Arabia without preaching about or demonizing Islam. The setting is one of the reasons that I really wanted to read this novel – that and the synopsis. The synopsis sounds bloody bleeding amazing. And I can tell you on good authority that the synopsis does not lead you astray. I want to write a panegyric for this novel but I will satisfy myself with a garbled review. (Sorry about that.)
It will perhaps take a few pages to get used to the setting, especially if you read books that are almost exclusively set in North America. There is a definite shift in dynamics, there is a sense of the exotic, a “foreign-ness” about the whole setting that is immediately fascinating. Alif is a very compelling character who draws you into his life, into his thoughts, politics, love and family. You can relate to him and empathize with him and that’s a big deal to me because usually male protagonists are not a favourite of mine as…well, I just can’t seem to get into their heads the same way I can with a female MC. What is also very interesting to me is how the love interest in this novel spends the majority of the novel veiled. Yet she does not become a lesser character or anything like that. In fact, she serves as a brilliant foil to Alif – as though the veil gives her the distance that is not visible to Alif – his passion is tempered by her cool logic and vice versa. She is one of the stronger and more intelligent characters in the novel. All the characters in Alif the Unseen are given personalities that are larger than the book they live in. The writing is beautiful and the narrative smooth.
One of my favourite characters is Vikram the Vampire who is actually a Djinn/Jinn/Ifrit. His manner of speaking is amusing and his otherworldliness is excellently portrayed. At the same time, his sincerity in wanting to help Alif gives him a touch of human that makes him utterly irresistible.
The novel presents a compelling mixture of digital gadgetry and supernatural themes. It does not at all shy away from narrating the imbalance between the rich and the poor, the cultural discrimination, the hierarchies. The computer jargon, programmer code-speak reveals the depth of research Wilson must have done for the novel. At the same time, her level of familiarity with Islamic myths, cultures is apparent with the ease with which she weaves it into her grand narrative. Wilson’s juxtaposition of the mundane with the supernatural is excellently written. The novel nests the narrative in current events, showing an alternative reason or more accurately, a hidden perspective that explains the events that took place in the Arab Spring.
Alif the Unseen is a novel that needs to be read widely. It shows people a different side to Islam and Muslims. It shows people a culture rich with stories and traditions that are not entirely and wholly about bloodshed and killing. It shows real people with real problems and not made up terrorists who look for excuses to bomb countries and buildings. Alif the Unseen is a brilliant accomplishment both on the part of the writing and on the part of the storytelling. I recommend it strongly. -
VAGUELY SPOILERISH (though nothing major).
In the introduction to his magnificent book
The Great Chain of Being: A Study of the History of an Idea, Arthur Lovejoy turns a memorable phrase when he describes those who thrill to "the metaphysical pathos of obscurity." This book, I fear, is subject to that particular weakness. There's lots of stuff about stories/computer code/metaphor/multiple interpretations/multiple realities that just doesn't make any sense (at least, not to this heathen). When Alif realizes that the Djinn-authored book, Alf Yeom can provide a blue-print for an entirely new way of coding, and simply sits down with his little netbook and spontaneously writes code based not on 1s and 0s, but on metaphor, creating something transcendent and nearly divine, it's not just implausible. It's nonsensical.
One could forgive this in a book with a great story or with great characters, but the book was, I thought, just so-so in these respects. The transformation of Alif himself seemed unconvincing; his realization that he loved Dina too quick; and the character of the convert (never given a name for some reason) seemed entirely superfluous. And the writing was, while serviceable, nothing special. (Multiple uses of the word "obscene" to describe things that are evil is something that should be avoided absolutely. And "gave him a look that went straight to his groin" is kind of embarrassing.)
I realize I'm in a minority in my response to this book. Most people seem to love it. -
The end of the year, and I decided to finish with a bang, picking the most promising books lingering on my ToBeRead list. It’s been one interesting read after another, and if they weren’t all equally amazing, most have been thought-provoking and interesting. Alif came to my attention as a genre-bender, an urban fantasy set in the Middle East and about a computer hacker on the run. Great characterization, trim plotting, an unusual urban setting with clever fantastical elements means it was one of the successes.
The tale starts with a short prologue of a man transcribing the stories of a captive jinn, but it truly begins with Alif, sitting on his roof and moping over the lack of contact from his secret girlfriend. Alif is the screen name of an equal-opportunity computer hacker, serving clients large and small in an unnamed Middle Eastern city. Ever since the Egyptian revolution, the computer environment has become more perilous, with censors and state agents seeking to track dissidents. Alif does his part against the machine, running internet access and digital concealment for “bloggers, pornographers, Islamists, and activists from Palestine to Pakistan.” He and his hacker friends bemoan the lack of understanding from Western hackers of what hardship is really like:
*********************************
For that quote and a few others, please find the rest of the review at
http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/1...
AND
http://carols.booklikes.com/post/7432...-
I regret having to post links, but while I want to support Wilson's work, I no longer feel GR can be trusted to not delete reviews at their whim. Note, please, that the Terms of Service were officially last updated in 2010, despite making changes in guidelines and posting only in the Goodreads Feedback Group. -
Dnfed
I read a chapter and a page of this and I drew the line when this guy was keeping the stained bed sheet of his "first time" as some sort of pride possession!!! -
Alif the Unseen is such a unique book. It's a computer-science heavy fantasy novel set in the modern Middle East. There is coding, firewalls, cloud servers and genies, all in the same book. Doesn't that sound amazing? This book is fantasy blended with real science, something that I've never seen before. It's a big risk that pays off.
Very rarely to I go quite as highlighter happy as this book made me. It was smart, clever, funny and thought-provoking.
"How dense and literal it is. I thought it had a much more sophisticated brain."
"Your mother's dense," Alif said wearily.
"My mother was an errant crest of sea foam. But that's neither here nor there."
This book just goes. It doesn't stop to explain everything. I appreciated the respect it showed it's reader. Admittedly I don't know a lot about Middle Eastern folklore or legends. Anything I need to know I can research. The book doesn't info-dump, yet I had no problem following the story.
This book talks about how sometimes religious people pick and choose what to believe. In this instance, it's talking about the Quaran and how people tend to ignore the references to jinn (genies) even though it's throughout the text. However I think it's something interesting that applies beyond just one faith group.
Superstation is thriving. Pedantry is thriving. Sectarianism is thriving. Belief is dying out. To most of your people the jinn are paranoid fantasies who run around causing epilepsy and mental illness. Find me someone to whom the hidden folk are simply real, as described in the Books. You'll be searching a long time. Wonder and awe have gone out of your religions.
For me the highlight of the book was Dina. Alif's neighbor, she's tremendously stubborn, intelligent and very pious. She decided to veil her face, against the wishes of her family and everyone who knew her. Normally it would be easy to write off such a character as an oppressed woman. But Dina is too awesome for that. She's one of the bravest and most intelligent characters, always having foresight when everyone else just runs around panicking. She's a complex character, a mixture of faith, practicality and intelligence.
"Maybe you should stay here until this has blown over," he said. It's going to be dangerous."
"I know. That's why I wore sneakers." (Dina)
I want more books that dare to be different. I'm not saying this book is perfect. At times it's a little slow, the prologue is especially weak and it talks about urinating a lot. But sometimes that doesn't matter! What matters is that it tells a story that completely surprises you and that you can stop reading. -
A clever mashup of equal parts efreet fantasy and golden hackers in a Big Brother Muslim state seems like a winner at first glance to me. I love everything about the first two and the addition of throwing it into a Muslim culture MAY or may not have been a winning move. Sometimes it can come off strange or cheesy or uncomfortable.
Fortunately, Wilson's strong writing and respectful nature carried a number of complex and interesting characters into a great tale with romantic elements, stronger hackereze, and a massive David and Goliath take-down that rove right into the Unseen world of the spirits of air and fire.
How does this work?
Well, as a matter of fact.
Combining the mystical permutations of Allah with quantum computing is as natural as breathing. Has anyone seen Pi? ;)
So, this book mashed all my buttons. I didn't even care it was YA. I'm a fan. -
Well, this is a wonderful book! I love loved it! It's about Alif, a hacker in the Middle East, who has an ill-fated romance with a woman, is stalked by a mysterious government hacker called The Hand, and interacts with real Djinn who actually exist, invisible among us. It's totally fascinating! A really enjoyable read that combines politics and tech and magic in a wonderful way.
Recommended for people who like Neal Stephenson or Da Vinci Code, just a fantastic thriller with magical overtones and interesting politics. -
My friend and I were discussing the problem of finding books featuring non-white protagonists written by non-North American descended authors. We noted that, more often than not in our limited scope, we’d find non-white protagonists written by White authors, or, white protagonists who find themselves in non-white environments, written by white authors. Generally speaking, the result is hit-or-miss when it comes to a respectful representation of a culture that one is not raised in.
I was impressed by her portrayal of the Middle Eastern culture - from dialogue, to religions, to terminology, to class and more, because this is a culture I have never gotten to read about before in a starring role. She also did an effective job of portraying the hacker culture within that cultural environment. The writing and dialogue presented aspects of the hacker culture in ways that I could easily understand, without things being spelled out completely. Meaning could be inferred without much effort. Of course, I am not familiar with the Middle Eastern or hacker cultures, so I am assuming the portrayal did them all justice.
The book moved smoothly through the main character’s introduction – his risqué profession his forbidden love and the girl next door – and then moved just as smoothly from the seen into the unseen, namely the world of the jinn that exists amidst our own, if only we are willing to believe.
This transition is where my only real disappointment in both the book and the author arrives, taking shape as the character called “the convert,” an American woman who has converted to Muslim and, for some reason, is the only person Vikram, the jinn Alif’s future now depends on, decides can identify the source of the mysterious book Alif has been given.
In an interview, Wilson claims that the convert is “not really” herself, but “the place she ends up in the book is where I have ended up.”
Unfortunately, the convert and her sentiments come across, for me, like a raging opinion piece where Wilson denounces Western culture for being so blind. I found it particularly disturbing that, despite it being made clear that Alif enjoys reading fantasy novels from Western culture, it is stated in the book that Americans specifically can’t grasp the unseen world of the jinn. The convert also denounces non-Western culture for denying the Westerners who truly try to understand. The convert proclaims that non-Westerners are able to move freely between cultures, citing
Kazuo Ishiguro, author of Remains of the Day, as an example of a person from non-Western culture writing about life in Britain. A very poor example, considering Ishigoro was raised British. The convert laments that no Westerner has successfully written an epic tale that works in the other direction, and I consequently got the distinct feeling that Wilson hoped to become that person who succeeded.
I had hoped the convert was just an interlude that allowed Wilson to express her feelings, but annoyingly, the character continued on with the main group, providing little purpose. Not even in the end when her beatific pregnancy was supposed to have commanded attention. I read the acknowledgements which referred to Wilson’s own pregnancy during the writing of the book and have concluded that Wilson’s claim that the convert isn’t really herself is slightly delusional.
Aside from this, I enjoyed the book. I enjoyed the use of and discussions about language and how mutable it is. I appreciated that the step into the fantastical was gradual and that the characters each displayed interesting and varying reactions to the discovery of the unseen world. I liked the religious comparisons and the questioning of beliefs, but respected that the characters that did have their own religious beliefs, remained true to those beliefs, while still being able to accept the unseen. I enjoyed that the main character was an annoying, whiny creature who did not suddenly find a backbone and become a respectable hero. And in a culture that Westerners believe poorly treats its women, the character of Dina serves as an interesting insight. -
A very good cyberpunk fantasy page-turner. Decadent and atmospheric world-building, loved every single minute of it (apart from the somewhat shaky ending).
-
Popsugar Challenge 2020 - A book by an author with Flora or Fauna in their name
'They had no idea what it was like to live in a place that boasted one of the most sophisticated digital policing systems in the world, but no proper mail service'.
This one quote represents my time in the Middle East perfectly!
This is a techy fantasy novel written by the comic author of Ms Marvel based in the UAE and the middle eastern sand swirls off the pages. I felt these streets, I loved the Egyptian, Indian and American expats along with the locals. This was such a good representation of the UAE I know and I enjoyed the conversations between the American and the Arabs a lot, it was very relatable for me.
Mixed in with these characters we have religion, Jinn's, computer hackers and a sheikh. This novel shouldn't work, but it does, wonderfully.
'All translations are made up. Languages are different for a reason. You can't move ideas between them without losing something '.
The only thing that stopped me from fully engaging with this world was the tech side, i'm useless with tech in real life and its not an element I enjoy in books. Tech aside though this is a great book and my first middle eastern fantasy therefore Alif will certainly stay with me. -
I don't know if it was because of the poorly appealing characters or something else, but my interest in this story went from zero to -100 in a matter of a few dozens of pages. I forced myself to go on but came across nothing intriguing enough to make up for that. I simply did not care in the slightest. Too bad.
-
Executive Summary: A blend of fantasy, technology, politics, and religion that just worked for me. I really enjoyed this book.
Full Review
I seem to be a hot streak lately. I try not to give out 5 stars lightly. Based on good reads, I've given 5 stars to roughly 13% of the 221 books I've rated as of this writing. 18% of those have been given out this year. It's not exactly relevant to this review, but I'm an engineer and that sort of thing interests me.
I forget where exactly I first heard about this book, but
Sword and Laser did an
interview with Ms. Wilson last year, and that moved this book up in my list. The paperback was released last month, so I've finally gotten around to reading it.
I was expecting this book to be more cyberpunk than fantasy considering the main character is a hacker. After reading it, I wouldn't classify it as cyberpunk or even sci-fi. It is however a great book.
People who know me well would probably tell you I'm not very political or religious. That doesn't mean I'm not interested in those things, but both can be very sensitive issues, and I tend not to discuss them. This book contains some of both, but I didn't feel like I was being preached to in any way.
This book was being written prior the Arab Spring that occurred in Egypt. Ms. Wilson apparently saw this coming, and when no one seemed to want to listen to her talk about it, she was inspired to write a fictional story about it instead (based on an interview included in my book). She admits to having doubts that it might ever occur, but she hoped it could based on changes she was observing first hand.
Alif is a young Muslim half Arab, half Indian(and therefore considered an outcast by the full Arabs apparently) hacker who lives in an nonspecific Middle East country. He is not particularly religious or political. He sells his computer skills to anyone who wants them: Communists, Fundamentalists, Dissidents, Smut Peddlers, etc. Anyone who needs to avoid being caught and arrested by a strict government censorship.
Alif's world is suddenly turned upside down (thanks to a girl, go figure), discovers that the Jinn he's read about in books are real, and gets caught up in wild adventure where not only his life is at stake, but the lives of his friends, family and the country as a whole.
Fans of
Patrick Rothfuss may enjoy the stories within the story. I'm not sure if they are original stories by Ms. Wilson herself, Middle Eastern folk tales, or some combination of both.
I hadn't really planned to read this in one weekend, and I very nearly read it all in one day. I think if I were a faster reader, I easily would have. I just couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it. -
******************************
Potential spoilers are hidden
******************************
Let me break down my thoughts about this book from the moment I noticed it on GR till I turned its last page, because somewhere along the way something went really wrong. Here comes -often- those moments when I find myself putting a book down, pausing, looking around at all the glowing reviews and five star ratings, and asking myself the question... Did I read the same book? That was a disappointment!!
This book is a bothersome, because I wanted to like it for all the potentials it had ... Politics, metaphysical stuff, technology, religion, middle east, revolution ... etc. But nothing blended that well!
1- After further reading into the novel my whole interest in the story turned around the Alf youm book, specially the final story; since it had been mentioned in the first chapter & the Jinn has warned the man that there will be a before & after & his life will change!
2- The novel wasn't constantly that interesting, it was oscillating like a wave. At times, when I thought the story was developing & getting better, the author slipped with the story into boring stuff which put me off. Even the parts about the Jinn, the alley, the empty quarter... Actually some were very tedious.
Well, it was reviewed in The New York Times as "The Harry Potter of the Arab Spring". That was misleading!!
3- Lots of superfluous detailing and yet I couldn't feel the characters, they were shallow, everything was taken from the surface; the setting, the atmosphere of the novel, nothing clicked. The whole story felt like the author had started a good idea & didn't know how to finish it or put more layers to it.
I couldn't buy any of Alif relationships, regardless of Intisar (trivial) or Dina (in a rush) ... Nothing was convincing, something about his insight of females & something about the way his character transformed & developed.
4- The author's whole interest was the coding & tech stuff which for me was the worst part in the book, like this one ...
"The Hand roused. It lumbered to its feet, reeking of ionized air and dry metallic bones, revealing a level of functionality Alif had not detected. He reeled backward, recalibrating. Breaching the confines of the State intranet"
A computer program could "reek of ionized air"?? so silly even from a fantasy point of view.
5- The Jinn stuff was at some point funny & hilarious ... I remember laughing out loud when I read this part
And
6- It had a nice symbolism, regarding the revolution & our society ...
At some occasions, conversations were interesting, things, like the layers of meaning & Alif insight on the letter Alif itself ... etc
"Languages are different for a reason. You can't move ideas between them without losing something"
7- There is something good in the center of this book, but it comes to an extremely trite conclusion. The quality of writing was good but it didn't have a literary value.
This is my review as far as I remembered snippets of the story since my reading wasn't continuous & I didn't write it right after I finished.
At a good rate I would give it 2.5/ 5 -
Book 9 completed for #RamadanReadathon
i survived!!!!! 🙌
oh man, i was sold when i heard this was a cyberpunk book about a renowned hacker set in the middle east. it sounded absolutely genius
what i didn't know what that the main character is a piece of trash and how the portrayal of arabs and muslims was kind of strange?? idk, it wasn't all negative (there were religious characters that were fleshed out and relatable and Good People and i appreciated that) but there were just some stereotypes that were overused and constantly references to that made me feel wildly uncomfortable
and you could argue that it is all done for some dramatic character development as the main male character changes from being a misogynistic garbage can to a more suitable human being
but like even that i didn't care for
so.......time to take out the trash :D
i will say, the plot did improve and the story itself is very unique and took some really interesting paths. the writing and descriptions were really well done, it was very atmospheric and the book doesn't take itself too seriously and so you can forgive a lot of transgressions but man, the characters (cough alif cough) were just HARD to like
so that's that on that i guess -
This novel falls squarely into the pile of contemporary SFF books that is, sadly, growing at an alarming rate in my recent reading explosion: it’s yet another a well-meaning exercise in bringing to life a severely under-represented milieu (in this case, the modern Middle East), complete with a deep dive into its culture and mythology, that all but collapses under the weight of flimsy plotting, thin characterization, and serviceable but ultimately mediocre sentence-to-sentence craftsmanship. I don’t feel anger toward it as I do toward some of the other 2-star books I’ve read. But I do feel a sort of exhaustion at being yet again disappointed by so much promise going so totally unfulfilled.
I cannot overstate how thrilled I am to see that modern SFF publishing has made such incredible strides in giving audiences so many more opportunities to experience diverse cultures and mythologies. That’s deeply meaningful and important. I just deeply wish the books themselves were stronger. -
This is a truly genre-bending Islamic hacktivist jinn fantasy cyberthriller, which has to be the most original novel in English in 2012. It is a surprisingly seamless melange of American comic-book sensibility (a fast-moving plot; a coming-of-age storyline) within an Islamic setting, contemporary (a corrupt unnamed Gulf city rife with repression, and ripe for revolution) and imagined (an alternate genie (or jinn) universe). At the same time, amidst all the furious plotting, it asks deeper questions about the nature of faith in a digital world where the boundaries between the real and the virtual are breaking down. I can't remember the last time that I read a novel in which one of the main protagonists, the indomitable Dina, wears a veil (niqab), and there is an imam, who is a real flesh-and-blood person rather than a cardboard cut-out. And in the age of "Homeland", where Muslims are seen as potential moles, white or brown, clean-shaven or bearded, it's a relief to read that a Muslim hero, Alif the hacktivist, could "earn his beard". Highly recommended.
-
I really enjoyed this. Realistic and fantasy aspects mesh into a richly believeable world, the characters are satisfyingly flawed and sympathetic, book-within-book goodies abound and every plot hinge, whether the fulcrum is a romantic moment, a sharp insight, the revelation of a possible enchantment, an unexpected appearance (especially the occasional deus ex machina) or the use of honed hacker skills, had me grinning. Furthermore, power dynamics are complicated when (twice) privileged characters use their freedoms to help others, only to be taken down a peg just at the moment when they add a little bragging flourish to their performance.
The djinn and their world are sketched after the Thousand and One Nights; in terms of ethical behaviour they are a real contrast to the more two-dimensional supernatural beings of European fairy stories and much fantasy. I tend to think of Islam & Muslim culture as rooted in binaries like good/evil in a similar way to the Christian paradigm but Wilson gives a different impression. Interestingly, she suggests an irony in contemporary Islam - the tendency to discourage belief in djinn even though they are explicitly mentioned in the Quran often sits alongside fairly rigid and doctrinaire approaches to sharia, even though it is scripturally intended to be 'open to interpretation'.
The Muslim-world city setting is obviously novel, but the perspective more or less sucessfully avoids imagined-golden-age classical orientalism and so-sad-we've-lost-them contemporary orientalism, offering a world of different but comparable complexity. Racism and its related class hierarchy in a context where the elite is an Arab royal family and most workers are South Asian or North African migrants, and the local flavour of misogyny are unsensationally addressed with nuance throughout the text. On censorship and inequality though, Wilson goes in for the kill: Alif and his fellow denizens peripherally considercoddled American and British counterparts - activists, all talk, irritated by some new piece of digital monitoring legislation or another... Ignorant monoglots... They had no idea what it was like to live in a place that boasted one of the most sophisticated digital policing systems in the world, but no proper mail service. Emirates with princes in silver-plated cars and districts with no running water. An Internet where every blog, every chat room, every forum is monitored for illegal expressions of distress and discontent.
The real-world context for this novel is the Arab Spring, and Wilson responds to that critically here: "Perhaps this was all freedom was - a moment in which all things were possible, overtaken too soon by man's fearsome instinct to punish and divide". The ending certainly floats my political boat.
Personally, I thought the female characters were awesome and I was thrilled that the person I identify with most as a hero is a kickass dark-skinned working class migrant niqabi. I see reviewers responding negatively (like her own family!) to her social-class-defying decision to veil, but in my opinion Wilson has done a great job of hinting at the complexity of that choice without whitesplaining. The Western love of binaries makes balancing individualistic and collectivist constructions of identity tricky, and I am really impressed with Wilson's delicacy.
Other women also navigate power structures, femininities and sexualities in a nuanced way. I strongly feel writing them straight out of imaginary Euro-American feminist utopia wouldn't have worked in this story. My own feminist consciousness was awoken and challenged by the father-to-husband talk around marriage proposals, but I saw how the property-transfer implications were differently related to material circumstances, individual and wider family relationships. In Muslim as well as Euro-American societies, patriarchal values are in flux and rituals are changing their meanings.
I was initially perplexed by something - why does 'the maid' have no name? (that's a great title for a book of literary criticism isn't it? Bagsy - I'll write it some day!) But after about five chapters of the nameless American convert not bothering me at all I suddenly realised that her namelessness was the same as the maid's: both deliberate and conscious, maybe reflections on Alif's empathic consciousness and/or the author's limitations. The importance of names is hinted at by the beautiful opening quotation: 'The devotee recognizes in every divine Name the totality of Names' The fact that the letter alef itself sometimes denotes an unwritten sound echoes silently below the text.
Some lines that woke me up:
"he realised that the ritualized world he had dismissed as feminine was in fact civilization"
"I was afraid you'd turn into one of those literary types who say books can change the world when they're feeling good about themselves and it's only a book when anybody challenges them"
"A bunch of European intellectuals in tights decided to draw a line between what's rational and what's not. I don't think our ancestors considered the distinction necessary"
(PS I noticed a plot hole - but I feel it's like the little flaw you leave in the pattern to humbly honour the perfection of Allah) -
This review will be scattered because I don't have much time. So be it. I really enjoyed reading a fantasy novel that truly wove in culture (politics, practices, cultural conflicts, words used, and all). This novel read like it was written by someone closely connected to its setting. I like that. There's an ambitiousness in it. It's not afraid to comment on things (and not afraid to show the negative sides. It's sure that it will not fall into cliche) and it's thoughtful and loving in how it goes about doing so. As for the plot, I dunno, I was cool with it. I love the ending most. [SPOILER ALERT!!] It reminded my of the protests in Iran 2009 and I dug that real world connection. But the rest of the plot...well, there were moments where I felt REALLY frustrated with the female characters. Dina gets hurt and has to be taken care of, the American convert gets pregnant and suddenly becomes all soft and "womanly", Intisar, she just was annoying. The cat woman was all sexified. No thank you to all of them. I wish I could see and hear and interact more with the creatures. The ones that the story got close to were humanoid (except the marid, whom I loved. I might have loved that creature most). The sections that showed stories from the book really slowed me down. I wasn't interested in them at all. All in all, this was a great read. Not perfect (for me, at least) but great. Oh and I canNOT understand how this book is any way comparable to The Golden Compass or Harry Potter. The blurbs state this and this totally threw me off for a while. No similarity at all. Just the usual false advertising shorthand to get people to buy the book. If the book were properly described, I'd have still bought it.
-
“He had spent so much time cloaked behind his screen name, a mere letter of the alphabet, that he no longer thought of himself as anything but an alif – a straight line, a wall. His given name fell flat to his ears now. The act of concealment had become more powerful than what it concealed.”
I love that this book is set in the Middle East. Most of us, no matter where we live, are probably a little guilty of ignorance when it comes to what goes on in any part of the world that isn’t ‘close’ to us, either geographically or politically. I know I’m very guilty of this, at least, I learned this as recently as last week, when, on my way to school, I met a young woman who asked me for directions. She spoke in rough, but understandable English, and explained she was going to the dentist, so I offered to follow her there.
On our way I made small talk (as you do), I asked her what she was doing in Denmark. Oh, she was a Syrian refugee. I wasn't expecting that, but I was very curious. I asked her if she was ever going back. No, she said, it was awful back there. In her village, if you were Kurdish they’d come and kill you, if you didn’t pray at the ordained time, if you wore your headscarf wrong etc., you could be beaten up or killed.
I thought ‘Shit. This has definitely not been on the news’.
Which just shows how much we CAN know, no matter how hard we pay attention.
And that is what makes fiction so absolutely stunning and mind blowing at times, because it gives authors an opportunity to show others how their part of the world works. To let us in on what we cannot understand unless we get to experience it.
Even living in a democratic, critical, free-speech country correct information - or information at all - isn't a given.
In countries where information is sparse, and what you're given is propaganda or censored scraps, imagine how much twitter can matter? Facebook? Youtube. Put one picture out there and you can never take it back. There's only so much damage control you can do.
Of course some governments are shitting their pants, of course they're working overtime banning websites. They should be scared.
‘Alif the Unseen’ is honestly a refreshing book in every way. I have a hard time telling you exactly what I loved the most about it, all of it was simply one brilliant surprise after another. There’s love, there’s action, there’s sorrow, there’s religion, hacking, programming, Djinns, worlds-within-worlds and basically everything you’d want from a contemporary, urban sci-fi/fantasy story. I particularly dig that programming is such a huge part of the plot, because it’s often overlooked, which is ridiculous, because today’s youth are incredibly tech-savvy. We spend more time on a computer than we do anything else, so why not make it a strength? And not a sign that we’re lazy and need fresh air.
I’m also very fond of Dina as a character. And bless G. Willow Wilson for letting her be strong while not compromising her own femininity or personal beliefs and principles. In a way her and Alif represent two very different aspects of, I suspect, much of the youth of the middle-east, they’re modernism vs. traditionalism. Except we’re shown the immense strength that can come from both of those things, and they can easily co-exist, even thrive in the light of one another. Alif is strong because he has a set of skills; Dina is strong because she has a set of beliefs.
It really is a delightfully fresh, original, intelligent and thrilling book. It treats its subject with huge respect, while still being fearless in the face of it. On top of that there are definitely not enough books out there that deal with the growing threat of online surveillance and censoring (especially not in the middle-east) and that the enemy (and hero) in the future might very well be unseen.
"They will wake up one morning and realize their civilization has been pulled out from under them, inch by inch, dollar by dollar, just as ours was. They will know what it is to have been asleep for the most important century of their history.”
Our future is not in the hand of the one who holds the sword, but the one who taps the keyboard. -
I became interested in this book because it appeared to be a novelist’s interpretation of the Arab Spring. The story involves a young computer hacker living in a totalitarianly governed Arab state who clandestinely provides online firewall protection to dissident groups. The hacker is known by his online handle, Alif. The country’s rulers consider him to be a terrorist; in his own mind he’s a “gray-hat” -- a principled hacker using illegal methods to protect freedom of speech (i.e. a hacktivist). Alif is in a life-and-death battle with State security’s online censor known ominously as “The Hand.”
Alif is a whiz-bang computer coder. Any reader who considers computer coding to be a spiritual experience will find this to be a spiritually uplifting book. As a matter of fact, Alif’s computer code becomes so advance that he enters the world of the jinn (genie). The plot involves his coming into possession of the last surviving copy of the original jinn inspired version of the Thousand and One Nights which if analyzed correctly will enable the development of code to permit computers to think and have intuition similar to that of humans. It becomes important that this book not fall into the hands of the state’s online censors. A cyber-thriller ensues as Alif runs for his life from the state police.
Needless to say, this book will be most enjoyable to those readers who are willing to accept the premise that the world of the jinn is real. All main characters in this novel are Muslims, and religion is dealt with front and center as part of the narrative. The plot includes having jinn play a significant role in the plot. I suppose this can be considered consistent with orthodox Islam since the Quran (Koran) makes frequent reference to jinn. It’s sort of equivalent to the role of angels in Christianity. However, the experience for the typical reader of this book will be similar to that of reading Harry Potter books.
The fictional country where the story takes place is unnamed, but it is clearly ruled by an emir. I pictured it in my mind as one of the more conservative Arab Emirates, perhaps Ajman or Sharjah (although the “empty quarter” described in the book sounds more like Abu Dhabi or perhaps even Saudi Arabia). The author describes a social environment that includes many expatriate workers performing menial tasks while native born Arabs fill the more prestigious positions of banking, finance and government. Alif is of mixed heritage with a Bedouin father and Tamil (i.e. east Indian) mother. His mother is a second wife (and less favored) living separate from his father. Alif is thus considered of “low birth” with few future prospects.
As with most thrillers, there is a boy-girl romantic element to the story. Alif's two girl friends comply with traditional Arab customs including being fully veiled (bare toes are a turn on). I hope the exposure of readers from the western world to this story about Islamic young people may help cross cultural relationships and diminish Islamophobia.
The author is an American who converted to Islam, so she has every motive to portray it in a positive light. Her American background also provides an understanding of ways to engage the western mind. The literary reputation of the author is primarily one of being a comic book author. I didn’t think of it before I knew of the author’s background, but this book would make a good graphic novel.
Ironically, One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, plays a role in this story at a time while I am currently trying to read the 2,784 paged
unabridged edition of that book. It will be interesting to see if I come across some of the stories from that work that were retold in this novel. -
Alif the Unseen has a fantastic premise -- in more ways than one. A computer hacker in the Middle East discovers that jinn are real. This means that we get exposed to not just one culture, but two. We receive a complete immersion in Middle Eastern realities of life, alongside a supernatural world that on the surface feels quite compelling.
The concept is great! Computer hacker in the Middle East discovers that jinn are real, and an ancient book contains a way of writing a new type of code. Great concept. Great book cover.
I found the Middle Eastern component fascinating and spot-on. What's really unusual, and wonderful about the world that the author paints is that she focuses her novel on the dispossessed and on-the-fringes part of Arabic culture today. Imported workers, and their children compose a huge percentage of the population -- and the working adults -- in many of the "oil rich" Gulf countries, but their stories are often overlooked. That is definitely not true in this novel. Kudos for painting a picture of a complex and multicultural Arabic / Muslim world, replete with prejudices, cultural frisson, and misunderstandings. The only American in the novel is a bit of a bumbling idiot, which is a nice change.
It's because I had such very, very high hopes for this novel. Great concept! Great ideas! And furthermore, I like books that feel "realistic" in their pacing and their believability. I want a book that feels like "history", but happens to have the fantastic and the supernatural at the core. -
Being a big fan of G. Willow Wilson's comicbook work, it was only a matter of time before I gave her novel a shot. I'm glad I did. This is a great fantasy adventure that whisks you along at a fair old clip and takes you to some surprising places.
While I don't want Wilson to stop writing comicbooks, I'd love to see her write another novel. If this one's anything to go by, I'd definitely read it. -
My rating should be taken in light of the fact that the line "Alif felt a swell of admiration. She really was as smart as a man." meant I was now rating this book out of 3 rather than 5. Yes, perhaps one could make the argument that the protagonist was on a journey on self discovery which included learning that his culture is wrong to think that women are inferior. I don't care. I think it's offensive and small minded and to have read this in a book penned by a woman makes me shake with anger.
Aside from the sexism, I found the story slow at times and generally I was impatient for the book to end so I could be done with it. It had some good moments, which is why I give it 2 rather than 1 stars. I learnt some things about the day to day culture I knew about only in general terms which was interesting.
I know many people have very much enjoyed this book, but I was not one of them. I can appreciate why some might have loved it, but there were too many aspects that bothered me greatly. -
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Alif the Unseen is one of those obscure novels that not many people have actually heard of, but, thanks to my numerous GoodReads friends who read such varied genres, it somehow came to my attention. Needless to say, all my friends have LOVED this book. For me, though, Alif the Unseen was slightly boring, hard to get through, and dragged ever-so-slightly. I thoroughly enjoyed the second half the book, but I wasn't as impressed as everyone else. While Alif the Unseen remains to be a difficult book for me to categorize, for it is full of so much within its pages, I can most definitely guarantee one thing - you haven't seen anything like it before.
Wilson's debut is the tale of a young hacker, Alif, whose lover, Intisar, refuses to see him again for she is having an arranged marriage to a man of a much higher status than Alif. Upset over his broken love story, Alif creates a software program that recognizes Intisar online and blocks all mention of him from her. Unknowingly, however, the Hand, a powerful organization, finds Alif. At the same time, Intisar sends Alif an old book - a powerful one - and before he knows it, he's on the run with his childhood friend, Dina.
Alif the Unseen is a strange tale, one that just keeps going, without stop. It starts off interestingly enough, drawing you into the rich setting of the Middle East, but before long, it began to drag for me. You see, Alif the Unseen never stops in its pace, which isn't a bad thing, but at times, it felt disjointed. Amongst the action, there are awkward moments of long conversation and the pace suddenly slackens, only to pick up again, all rather suddenly. It was a bit off-putting, I must say, but by the second-half of the tale, I was either used to it or too invested in the story to care. For some reason, the second-half of this story appealed to me much more than the first and I slowly began to fall in love with the characters and the fantasy elements of this piece, all with a backdrop of modern-day Middle Eastern culture and computers.
One of the best elements of Alif the Unseen is, hands-down, the characters. While Alif himself comes across as rather lame at first, especially since we can see from the beginning that Intisar isn't all that great and he's simply infatuated with her, Dina, his childhood friend, is a kick-ass protagonist to contend with. I loved her strong will, vulnerable qualities, and clear head that came in use during times of need. Vikram, a djinn-like creature that Alif winds up meeting, was another one of my favorite characters. Wilson's debut is full of humans, djinns, hackers, and even Americans, believe it or not. With such a wide variety of personalities, it's tough not to be sucked into this tale. Even better, the dialogue is witty, amusing, and will keep you on your toes, eagerly flipping the pages for more.
Nevertheless, for me, Alif the Unseen didn't stand out as an extraordinary novel. Yes, it was good, had an intriguing host of characters, and a unique plot, but it was also a tough story to get through and rather boring at times. But, I am quite sure this is an issue only I will have. Unlike my friends, I have grown up learning of the culture of the Middle East. As an Indian who has many Muslim friends, who has grown up surrounded equally by mosques and temples, who has had Arabian tales told to me by my grandmother, Alif the Unseen wasn't nearly as exotic as I think my other friends found it to be. It didn't enrich my knowledge of the country or culture any more than I already had, thus, while I enjoyed it, I wasn't quite blown away by it either.
Still, an excellent idea, very engaging dialogue, and some unforgettable characters lie within the pages of this book. I am confident that readers who are new to Middle Eastern settings or tales richly seated amongst those of A Thousand and One Nights will thoroughly enjoy and undoubtedly be swept off their feet by this debut. Despite my qualms with it, and slightly indifferent stance towards it, I still cannot help but look forward to Wilson's next novel. If nothing else, here is an author who isn't afraid to help spread the word about a little-known country or culture in literature today and for that, this certainly merits a read.
You can read
this review and more on my blog,
Ivy Book Bindings. -
This was a really great read! Not really science fiction at all. I'd call this urban fantasy or mythic fantasy. It's believably "contemporary" and about a hacker, but add in some Jinn and a magical book, voila, it's not cyberpunk anymore.
CONTENT WARNING: (no actual spoilers, just a list of topics)
Things to love:
-The world. A seamless blend of seen and unseen, magic and machine. It felt real, despite being emblematic rather than an actual place. That added to the mythic quality for me.
-The prose. Aside from most of the dialogue, the writing was superb. So many quotable bits at once profound and relatable. I feel with a bit more polish, this book would easily have moved from inventive UF to full on literary new myth.
-The action. Whether punches or coding, it all felt very taut. There were no parts of the story that lagged for me.
-Uncle Sheikh and Vikram. They were my favorite. Buddy cop style book about them, please! Dina was also pretty badass. But not badass like a jinn...serial killer? and a mouthy imam who found the best ways to tell people to eff off while still being wholly pious. Loved it.
Things that felt like that chip on your nail you can't stop playing with:
-The motivations. I didn't believe Alif wanted the grand result of his schemes. I thought the Intisar plot was thin, and a few deus ex machinas that felt too convenient and too much like those twists that are only twists because there was no way you could have guessed they'd happen. And why, God, did Dina do all that for such an asshat?
-The other characters. I'm not sure if it's a really incredibly apt representation of young adult men in this society or if they're all awful people. Either way, they sucked and I was not rooting for them. I wanted Alif to fill the Candide role, but Candide was ridiculous and earnest. Alif was just ridiculous. Any laughter at his antics was schadenfreude rather than slapstick. Dina settled waaay beneath her for this schmuck of a hacker. "The convert" was perhaps a good caricature but she was grating every time she was "on camera." Basically, any time two humans were talking to each other, I wished they wouldn't. Unless that was someone and the sheikh. That was great.
-The dialogue. A lot was funny but it warred with the beauty of the prose. A lot of this book felt like two books - a myth retelling and a coming of age story for the Arab Spring. Most of the time it worked beautifully. I could see the "stitches" in the dialogue.
Fun, brilliant, multi-leveled book in a stunning world with characters you can love to hate. Definitely worth a read. -
Am avut așteptări mult mai mari de la un roman totuși premiat cu World Fantasy, mai ales că poveștile cu parfum oriental mă atrag foarte tare. Însă n-a fost să fie, căci povestea mi s-a părut atât de încâlcită și de fragmentată, iar Alif un prostovan atât de mare, încât pur și simplu nu am reușit să rezonez cu nimic. Singurul personaj atrăgător al poveștii mi s-a părut Vikram Vampirul, care, pe alocuri, este pur și simplu genial. Nu mult în urma lui vine și NewQuarter, dar nu se compară totuși cu Vikram. Recenzia, aici:
https://fansf.wordpress.com/2015/10/2.... -
What an original and richly evocative urban fantasy story. I loved the cultural setting and a fabulous cast of characters. Recommended!
