View all » About the author (2012) NURUDDIN FARAH's works include three trilogies, among them Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship and Blood in the Sun; plays; and a non-fiction book, Yesterday, Tomorrow. Malik learns that many of these white-robed men, members of the ruling Union of Islamic Courts, are former militia members currently inflicting a different kind of trauma. The real problems in this novel are inconsistent plotting, repetitiveness and a verbose third-person narration that results in muddled psychological portraits. Flag of Somalia [Public Domain] via flickr 4. They oppress women, assassinate dissidents and form alliances with pirates. Prime entdecken Hallo! You can also choose to be emailed when someone replies to your comment.Enter your email to follow new comments on this article.Are you sure you want to mark this comment as inappropriate?Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Even with these elisions, however, “Crossbones” provides a sophisticated introduction to present-day Somalia, and to the circle of poverty and violence that continues to blight the country.Farah was born in Somalia, studied in India and now lives in both Minneapolis and Cape Town, and his cosmopolitan sensibilities inform his syntax, imagery and characters. What greets them at first is not the chaos Jeebleh remembers, however, but an eerie calm enforced by ubiquitous white-robed figures bearing whips.Meanwhile, Malik's brother, Ahl, has arrived in Puntland, the region notorious as a pirates' base.
Start your Independent Premium subscription today.Sharing the full story, not just the headlinesAre you sure you want to submit this vote?It also offers a delicate exploration of the challenges inherent in diasporic identity: the difficulties faced by the American-Somali brothers who don't immediately grasp the nuances of family networks or the dangers of a city at war. View all » About the author (2012) NURUDDIN FARAH's works include three trilogies, among them Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship and Blood in the Sun; plays; and a non-fiction book, Yesterday, Tomorrow. It allows our most engaged readers to debate the big issues, share their own experiences, discuss real-world solutions, and more. Ahl is searching for his stepson, Taxliil, who has vanished from Minneapolis, apparently recruited by an imam allied to Somalia's rising religious insurgency.
Young Taxliil’s radicalization, too, is a function of both his association with militant clerics and America’s misguided “war on terror.” The only political element Farah is markedly restrained about is America’s fickle and damaging cold war involvement in the region.Before Malik’s arrival, the city was controlled by “armed clan-based militiamen high on drugs,” intent on threatening those who refused to “do their bidding.” Now “religionists” have enforced a precarious order.