Translated from the German by Grashina Gabelmann
With thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book
In the Belly of the Queen by Karosh Taha will be published on April 1st by V&Q books. I actually read it in February – far too keen to get reading after it arrived on my book pile.
(My review appearing now due to the erratic nature of my blogging at the moment.)
In one of the essays that accompany this well written, intelligent novel, Karosh Taha discusses how readers are conditioned to the way to read a book, from the beginning to the end. That seems reasonable, but Taha wanted to challenge that conditioning, allowing her story to be told in either direction. Therefore the reader can start at either end of the book – it is a brilliant, physical reminder that there are always two sides to every story.
The novel takes us to a Kurdish community in Germany, a community in which Amal, Younes and Raffiq grow up in a neighbourhood where everyone seems to know what everyone else is doing, and judge accordingly.
One perspective of the story is that of Amal. While still very young, Amal shocks this neighbourhood by beating up Younes, a classmate. Confusing them and her own mother with her insistence on short hair and volatile behaviour. She is encouraged to be herself, to be assertive, by her father, but this doesn’t make her popular at school. Suddenly her father leaves – Amal, her mother and a much younger brother left behind to the curiosity of others. Amal can’t understand this leaving, and needing some kind of explanation, she eventually, and surprisingly finds herself more and more at home in the company of Younes and his mother Shahira, both of whom are outsiders in this community too.
“Shahira’s not a neighbour, she’s not a woman, she’s not a person – she’s an idea, and everyone in the neighbourhood sees Shahira, everyone creates their own stories about Shahira when she walks past.”
Younes’s father also left, Amal sees him sitting on the side of the road, waiting, waiting for his father’s return. Shahira is at the heart of this novel – she defies expectations, she is subject to the many judgements and gossip of others – it seems everyone thinks they know who or what she is. When Amal, Younes and gang leader Raffiq are in their late teens, relationships become more charged as conflicts with Raffiq and his gang threaten to erupt. Amal decides she wants to go to Kurdistan to see her father, where she will meet his second family, who he appears to have replaced her with.
The other side of the story is told from the perspective of Raffiq. Having reached the brink of adulthood, the battles of primary school are in the past. Raffiq is seeing Amal, his best friend is Younes. Now they are older no one wants to fight Younes, he has grown into a mountain, a boxer who is less and less happy in this place where they live. Raffiq sees that Younes is the centre of the neighbourhood, whether he wants to be or not, thanks to his mother. Shahira breaks all the rules, she’s a free spirit and Raffiq thinks about her all the time. Initially, Raffiq is completely repulsed by her, but also fascinated. Raffiq believes Younes is who his mother is. However, he is unable to ignore Shahira.
“Shahira spreads in my mouth like oil. When I think of her as Shahira, I have to pull myself together. I can only talk about her when I think of her as Younes’ mother.”
The situation is getting to Younes more and more and now he knows where his father is – living in another part of Germany, he plans to go and see him, leaving behind his mother and the neighbourhood where he grew up. With Amal also talking of leaving – Raffiq’s world begins to fall apart – what is it after all he actually wants?
This is such an excellent novel, Taha explores ideas of class, race, gender and the role of the outsider within a community in this novel. Having read a few other novels published by V&Q books I continue to be impressed by the variety and quality of the voices they are giving us.