The 2023 Booker Prize winner is a powerful tribute to the victims who were, who are, and who will be of either state-induced dictatorship or terrorism. I’m becoming more and more shy of booker prize winners, and after my recent disappointment with The English Patient, I approached Prophet Song with caution. I can honestly say that what captured me was its premise. The book wasn’t perfect and indeed had many weak points. But the premise held me through.
Many reviews have pointed out that the book lacks originality, citing 1984 by George Orwell among others. While I’m unable to comment on that fact, having not read it, I’ve read enough books on Nazi persecution that touches on the same premise to know it’s not an innovative story. I don’t know whether being original is a requirement to win the Booker Prize, but personally, I really didn’t mind that he touched on a theme that one can find in numerous literature. Even after all the previous books written on the subject, we still see the recurrence of state terror and terrorism around the world. So I feel more and more awareness is needed though it may be a poor attempt at curtailing the disasters. Having said that, I’ll proceed with my review, stating what I liked and disliked about this novel.
I’ll start with the writing. Lynch’s writing has been praised by many, and I agree with them to a certain degree. His writing is powerful and he strongly states his case. But here is the problem. The paragraphs are painfully long. The dialogues are not separated; they are absorbed into the paragraphs. I guess it’s an attempt at modern innovation (I have no experience of reading a contemporary novel written like that before) but in my opinion, it’s a tool that tries the reader’s patience. It did mine. Because they were absorbed into the paragraphs, they sounded formal. I doubt if the modern-day people talked like that. A little attempt at separating the dialogues would have done wonders. This is not all, however. The biggest problem I had with Lynch’s writing was that it was emotionally flat. He has explored sensitive topics in a very emotionless manner.
Next, I’ll proceed to the story and the setting. It is a dystopian novel (a genre I normally don’t read) set in Ireland. The background to the story is that a new dictatorial government has assumed power. They are oppressing the people and violating the Constitution. The people who are voicing against these violations and standing up for their democratic rights are persecuted. In this background, we read the story of Eilish (the protagonist) as she struggles with her life after her husband’s arrest and later, disappearance. Her biggest challenge is to keep her children safe as her family is considered a security threat to the regime because of her husband’s involvement with the trade union. The story of Eilish starts and proceeds well until she starts acting irrationally. I understood her fervent hope for her husband’s return, denying the possibility that he may be dead. But her continuous denial when the facts shouted in her face thereby endangering the lives of her children felt unrealistic. She fails to leave the situation and takes her children to safety until it is too late. Her actions cost her her two elder sons and I wondered (I may be wrong) if a mother would act that way.
Lynch says “History is a silent record of people who could not leave, it is a record of those who did not have a choice…”. But here is the thing: Eilish could have left and she did have a choice. Let me explain why I’m saying so. According to the story, Eilish’s sister was in Canada. She was urging her to leave and was sending help to rescue her family and their father who is suffering from dementia. She turns it down and the sister rescues the father. The setting is Ireland which shares a border with the United Kingdom. Unless the border is closed to Irish refugees (the story does not mention. In fact, she crosses the border later with her remaining two children), I don’t see why she couldn’t leave. Lynch has stated that he was inspired to write the book by the Syrian Civil War and the refugee crisis. And I feel some of the Syrian situation has crept unconsciously into his story. It must be noted that borders were almost closed to the Syrian refugees, forcing them to flee through unsafe boats. We still remember Alan Kurdi, the two-year-old innocent boy who died after the boat he was travelling on capsized in the Mediterranean Sea. But as I earlier said, that was not the situation in the story of Prophet Song. Therefore, Eilish’s defence fails and her actions are unconvincing. The best way to describe Eilish’s situation is that it’s “a record of people who didn’t know WHEN to leave”.
My overall opinion is it could have been better. Nevertheless, even with its flaws, it’s an important work. A novel in the author’s words that “had to be written”. In recent times, we’ve witnessed the happenings in Ukraine and Gaza. And we’ve seen the world’s different reactions to the two situations. We must awaken our hearts with humanity towards all victims irrespective of their race or religion. Prophet Song tells us that.
Rating: 3/5
