TLDR/OPinion: 6/10
Hosseini's harrowing microcosmic tale of the wider degeneration of his native country, Afghanistan, tells the story of its oppression and corruption at the hands of other nations and terrorists groups from the unique perspective of 2 children. The book travels through history and across countries, a tale of betrayal, heartbreak, inequality and redemption.
Book Reviews and Analysis
Angola
The Book of Chameleons By Jose Eduardo Agualusa
Score: 4/10
Image by Jorge Sá Pinheiro
FAVOURITE QUOTE: COMING SOON
REVIEW: At times this Philosophical fiction creates more mystery than it solves, a lizard for a narrator (supposedly human turned lizard) and apparently not the first of its kind, the strange plot holes in character's lives and backstories cultivating more questions than answers about the truth - in a book about fabricated pasts and untruths the web of lies weaved creates ambiguities on which 'truths' can be believed.
To some extent the novel grabs interest purely from how utterly scattered and bonkers it is, however at times it is difficult to tell where the plot is going or if there is one at all (perhaps that is the appeal). But the premise and the notion of changing the past is fascinating and thus makes for a pretty good read equipped with suspense, creepy strangers and entangled lives.
BLURB: Truth is a superstition.
Perhaps the first of its kind, 'The Book of Chameleons' subverts the previously unshakeable notion of the permanence of the past from the perspective of its narrator, an anthropomorphised lizard, although the choice of such a narrator remains elusive to readers throughout. Agualusa's protagonist Felix Ventura adeptly manipulates the past, an unusually malleable medium in his capable hands and create new futures and pasts for those who need new direction or for whom the past creates obstacles for a blissfully unaccountable future.
Essentially the book and the merit for such a practice derives from the appeal of camouflage and anonymity. It exposes how much of nature is lies - using the chameleon as the prime example - it is book of lies where people are like that natural camouflaged chromataphore but instead with the ability to rewrite that which haunts you and to 'guarantee your children a better past'
ANALYSIS: The idea that books are voices
ZOOMORPHISM/ANTRHOPOMORPHISM:
Throughout, due to the uniqueness of the narrator there is an interesting inverted perspective - from that of the animal wallflower, whose descriptions are zoomorphic as he sees animalistic traits rather than facets stereotypically humanoid - women, rather than related to stereotypical traits have 'heron-like legs' showing the authors attempt to convey the shift in mindset from animal to human with animal kingdom comparisons.
LANGUAGE
The narrators only communicative capabilities are through laughter - a universally proficient medium to convey multifaceted emotions with.
ALBINISM
Reveals misconceptions surrounding albinism and the generalisation that it means 'white' or 'ghost'-like. This complex surrounding the stigmatism of albinism and how many misconstrue their lack of pigment for white skin could be linked to a psychological reason behind Ventura's portrayal as having an odd dynamic between him and female visitors - he appears to idolise or favour especially black svelte young women.
Ventura's opinion of women seems to venture beyond this however as he seems to have been portrayed as having a somewhat derogatory opinion of women - somewhat comparing the majority to apes
ANIMATION:
The house is animated - personified and this humane characteristics are appealing to to the gecko as though he almost needs human contact with its source of warmth/life/heartbeat.
Everything inanimate has been animated/personified - even the trees are human and 'haughty' and have every strong sense of life (animation)
THIEVERY/DANGER:
In dangerous situations, presentation of possible risk/danger is what is appealing to the thief not the prize itself (i.e. battlements of glass shards)
REWRITING HISTORY:
The past is this stable non-entity, immovable, unchangeable - however Agualusa has achieved a complete subversion of the laws of time and nature. The manipulation of the past is a way perhaps for people to eradicate or erase their accountability or culpability for certain actions, encouraging people (with this newfound opportunity) to, rather than striving for a better future, merely manipulate the past. It is also a way to legitimise the black market bourgeois by adapting the means by which they obtained their clandestine wealth.
However it appears in this instance changing the past can have irrevocable consequences (perhaps the didactic message of the tale) in that, when you adopt a new fictional past it can be too inextricably linked with your own - you adopt and begin to believe it - as is the case with Jose Buchmann - demonstrating not solely the power of the past but also in human belief and how there is danger in this potency in losing who you really are.
ADDICTION:
Felix Venture 'dealt in memories, a man who sold the past, clandestinely, the way other people deal cocaine' connoting perhaps that both are analogously addictive, Felix profits and preys on the weakness and the lack of willpower inherent in human nature, 'a past junkie' is a vice, a sin in its own right.
MIXED LANGUAGE:
The protagonist flits between 2 languages perhaps due to the nuanced nature of language - this adds dimension to his speech.
NAMES:
The gravity and importance of a name and its tangible link to your identity and even your physical appearance, your phenotype
PROFESSION:
The author conveys quite a profound sentiment about how your profession or the job you were inherently equipped for (have an affinity for) influences the way you see things, for example a photographer notes the light in everything and what it can represent
COURAGE
Courage isn't contagious but fear is.
PERSPECTIVE:
When we see the world as muddy, dingy and decrepit, is that because we dont choose to look up from the ground? Beautiful cautionary message conveyed by the author
in that much of our legacy is what others remember of us.
THEMES:
The Past/Legacy
Anthropomorphism
Rewritten History
Duplicity and lies
Literature
Language
Camouflage
Thievery