The Corpse Washer (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)

Kafka-esque. A wonderful book, self-translated over four years from Arabic by the author. This short novel through its fierce and powerful prose brings us the experiences of Jawad, the younger son of a Shiite corpse washer, whose Baghdadi environment changes from one that began for him as moderate, fairly secular into a backward free-fall into sectarian violence, civil war and terrorism. The story offers a counterpoint to the American experience of the Iraq invasion, through Jawad, a corpse washer's son, whose dream of studying sculpture in Europe was thwarted by the occupation and subsequent civil unrest.Jawad is compelled through his internal and external struggle to take over his father's business, one he feels he has neither the stamina nor the spiritual depth to execute properly. Yet, his commitment to his family after the untimely death of his father as well as the collapsed Iraqi economy propels him into four years of corpse washing service, rife with self-doubt, disappointment of delayed personal goals, and concern for safety. He experiences war through the dead he prepares for eternal reward. Each story effects him profoundly, and the horror of each death assaults him through his dreams. The pomegranate tree behind the shop provides the sole outlet for his grief and frustration, and he sits and speaks to it often. Art and duty keep him tenacius; the dead pick away at his soul.The story's title in Arabic is "The Pomegranate Tree." Understandably, it was changed for the English translation so as not to be mistaken for chick-lit, but I wish the author had kept the original title. The pomegranate tree symbolizes Jawad in that death provides the necessities for life (the tree, water to live and grow; Jawad, the livelihood that provides the income towards his family's survival), and those left behind can continue to thrive and be beautiful simply because we are alive.Read this. It will stay with you long after you turn the final page.

This book just let me travel to the streets of Baghdad, Iraq in the shoes of a young Iraqi man while revealing to me the complexity of the life there both on pre and post Saddam regime.This is a story of young Jawad who belongs to an Iraqi Shii'te family in Baghdad where they are known to be a "corpse washer" in their neighbourhood. His father and his father before him and eventually, no matter how he disliked the job, will soon to be his fate where undesiarable circumstances forced it upon his throat.The book will introduced you to the complexity of the lives of the denizens of Iraq particulary in Baghdad and shows you how they try to endure it by trying to live their normal lives. You can even compare the plight of the Iraqis during the regime of Saddam and after the US occupation where as the main character states that they thought that the oppression under Saddam regime hit the rock bottom and rebound back to the path of ease but to their dismay it went to sink further to the deep dark abyss where its end is uncertain.The reason I bought this book was to remind myself that there are people who are in worst condition than we are in this trying times. Thousands and thousands of us became internally displaced due to fighting that occured between the government and the terrorists who hostaged our beloved city and adding to our anxiety and fears is the recently declared martial law in the region where we are usually looked at as a suspect. Now this book somehow shows me that there are still millions of things to be grateful for as our condition right now is a far-cry and incomparable to the plight of Iraqis where tortures and killings was and still up to this day the order of the day.

The Corpse washer, this novel of Sinan Antoon that it is translated from its Arabic version titled “The Pomegranate Alone” by him too to English, and as I read it couple of times and now having it in English, the same feelings that struck my high walls of isolation and demolished them to appear naked as the reality is naked, bitter and painful!Reading and absorbing the main character in this novel “Jawad or Jodi" let me think, and to believing this story is not fiction, I felt him, lived his questions, transformed myself to this character, and after I finished the reading, I was naked again, felt of huge emptiness, indeed I just want to go back between the words to find myself, yes it is sorrow, fear, and pain but whenever I read any chapter, I feel I am standing next to Jodi, as his close friend that he will never die and will never leave him alone!This novel, the corpse washer is a must to read, if you want to see Iraq and get the picture from another corner, this novel will help you, and it is highly recommended!

This beautiful and poetic story is one of the best novels I've read in a long time. Since the book was originally written in Arabic it doesn't read as an Iraqi author writing for foreigners, and this makes the story seem more intimate and real. Sinan Antoon eloquently portrays the immense tragedies that Iraqis have faced over the years through an individual story about a failed artist, and while the story conveys a deep sadness, it is also multidimensional and will leave you thinking about many different ideas/images/stories. Readers who have some understanding of Iraq's history might appreciate the book more, but I think it should seem accessible for anyone. I read it right after Fiasco: the American Military Adventure in Iraq, which is a powerful combination/sequence if your aim is to read more about Iraq generally. I do wish that the publisher had allowed Sinan Antoon to keep the original Arabic title, "The Pomegranate Alone," but other than that, this book is near perfect.