Pashazade and the antihero
Sep. 7th, 2005 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clarentineI recently completed Jon Courtenay Grimwood's book (debut? I’m not sure), Pashazade. It's a fascinating read for many reasons, not least of which is the setting: a North African Muslim city on the edge of the Mediterranean, a playground for the wealthy and place where other faiths and belief systems collide with the strict underpinnings of the Muslim faith. I have a short story I've yet to be able to make work that incorporates some of the same alternate history that Grimwood uses, so I was intrigued from the start.
What kept me reading, though, were his characters. I thought the way he handled his anti-hero protag was instructive. Not to be spoilerish, but while the guy has the makings of a serious black hat type his personality is such that I really, really enjoyed watching him navigate through his world. I was thrilled that he survived to make something out of the mess resulting from his aunt's murder.
(More than that I can't say without getting seriously spoilerish, so mum is the word.)
For a writer, it's instructive to see this antihero succeed, to feel myself beginning to root for him. It's an opportunity to see what it is that makes a character likeable.
When did I know I liked him? I think it was his insistence, both to others and to his own battered psyche, that he had been willing to go to prison for a murder he hadn't committed because he was afraid what his erstwhile employer would do to him if he didn't. The internal fear was the catalyst for me because it revealed the depth of his acquaintance with misery and how very badly he wanted to avoid more of the same – and prison was the lesser of those evils! (I work for a state agency intimately involved in the criminal justice system; I know what a prison is like, and I appreciate the reality of Raf's choice – and Grimwood's depiction of it.)
The story itself is fast-paced, with murders and mysteries and shocks to the system throughout, as well as an eminently believable blend of cultures and mores. There's lots of information to get across to the reader, but Grimwood manages it without any sense of infodump or authorial intrusion. And, better yet, this is the first in a series – yay! I'm looking forward to reading more about Raf and his city.
And maybe there's hope for my short story yet. >;-]
What kept me reading, though, were his characters. I thought the way he handled his anti-hero protag was instructive. Not to be spoilerish, but while the guy has the makings of a serious black hat type his personality is such that I really, really enjoyed watching him navigate through his world. I was thrilled that he survived to make something out of the mess resulting from his aunt's murder.
(More than that I can't say without getting seriously spoilerish, so mum is the word.)
For a writer, it's instructive to see this antihero succeed, to feel myself beginning to root for him. It's an opportunity to see what it is that makes a character likeable.
When did I know I liked him? I think it was his insistence, both to others and to his own battered psyche, that he had been willing to go to prison for a murder he hadn't committed because he was afraid what his erstwhile employer would do to him if he didn't. The internal fear was the catalyst for me because it revealed the depth of his acquaintance with misery and how very badly he wanted to avoid more of the same – and prison was the lesser of those evils! (I work for a state agency intimately involved in the criminal justice system; I know what a prison is like, and I appreciate the reality of Raf's choice – and Grimwood's depiction of it.)
The story itself is fast-paced, with murders and mysteries and shocks to the system throughout, as well as an eminently believable blend of cultures and mores. There's lots of information to get across to the reader, but Grimwood manages it without any sense of infodump or authorial intrusion. And, better yet, this is the first in a series – yay! I'm looking forward to reading more about Raf and his city.
And maybe there's hope for my short story yet. >;-]
