'Extraordinary... A devastating but essential read.' Kevin Powers, bestselling author and National Book Award finalist for The Yellow Birds
'Gripping, darkly humorous...profound.' Phil Klay, bestselling author and National Book Award winner for Redeployment
WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR ARABIC FICTION
From the rubble-strewn streets of US-occupied Baghdad, the scavenger Hadi collects human body parts and stitches them together to create a corpse. His goal, he claims, is for the government to recognize the parts as people and give them a proper burial. But when the corpse goes missing, a wave of eerie murders sweeps the city, and reports stream in of a horrendous-looking criminal who, though shot, cannot be killed. Hadi soon realises he has created a monster, one that needs human flesh to survive – first from the guilty, and then from anyone who crosses its path.
An extraordinary achievement, Frankenstein in Baghdad captures with white-knuckle horror and black humour the surreal reality of a city at war.
About the Author :
Ahmed Saadawi is an Iraqi novelist, poet, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. In 2010 he was selected for Beirut39, as one of the thirty-nine best Arab authors under the age of forty, and in 2014 he became the first Iraqi to win the prestigious International Prize for Arabic Fiction. This prize was awarded to Frankenstein in Baghdad, which also won Le Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire in 2017. He lives in Baghdad.
Jonathan Wright studied Arabic at Oxford University. He is the translator of Hassan Blasim's The Corpse Exhibition, which won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2014. He lives in London.
Review :
‘Strange, violent and wickedly funny... A remarkable achievement, and one that, regrettably, is unlikely ever to lose its urgent relevancy.’ Guardian
‘[A] biting satire of Iraqi life and sectarian disputes.’ Financial Times
‘[Saadawi is] Baghdad’s new literary star.’ New York Times
‘Helped by Jonathan Wright’s elegant and witty translation, which reaches for and attains bracing pathos, Saadawi’s novel mixes a range of characters and their voices to surprising, even jolting effect...a remarkable book.’ Observer
‘A darkly delightful novel… Detective story and satire as well as gothic horror, Frankenstein in Baghdad provides a tragicomic take on a society afflicted by fear, and a parable concerning responsibility and justice.’ New Statesman
'Expertly told... A significant addition to contemporary Arabic fiction.' Judges’ citation, International Prize for Arabic Fiction
‘Frankenstein in Baghdad is more than just a black comedy. It’s as much of a crossbreed as its ghoulish hero – part thriller, part horror, part social commentary.’ Financial Times
'A nightmarish, but horridly hilarious, tale… Sinister, satirical, ferociously comic but oddly moving.’ Spectator
‘Complex but very readable and darkly humorous; it has well-observed characters, whose back stories reflect the wider context.’ Times Literary Supplement
'Suffused with macabre humor, this novel captures the bizarre reality of life that is contemporary Baghdad... An important piece of political literature to emerge out of Iraq.' The Week
'A dark and fresh examination of the violence in Iraq.' Metro
