I had a very hard time putting a number to my ranking for this book because I just don’t know how I feel about it. There were some parts that I really enjoyed, but in terms of the whole picture, I am not sure I get it. 

 

Throughout this book, Ahmed Saadawi does an excellent job brining to light human essence. I felt that all the characters could actually be real people, and the way in which they thought and reacted in their war-riddled environment was very impactful. So hats off to Saadawi for being able to achieve this—I thoroughly enjoyed this aspect of the book. 

 

I believe the part I can’t get past is the constant perspective shifts, I found it took away from the essences of the story and am still unsure how certain pieces of the book come together, a lot was left up in the air. I believe this might have been done with intention since in the context of war, some stories don’t have the privilege of being finished, but I wonder what Saadawi wished to accomplish with this book overall. 

 

I felt that there were many pieces of a big puzzle given to us, and I am not sure that the picture was wrapped up entirely in a way that allowed the story to leave an overall impactful message. This is the kind of book with A LOT of potential, but I am not sure if it was pieced together effectively, maybe the book needed to be longer…? 

 

The overall writing and portrayal of the characters is beautiful, Saadawi is a great writer. I actually read this book alongside a friend, and I found this very helpful. It’s a challenging read, not something you can just skim through, but something you need to give a lot of thought. Saadawi does a lot of show and not tell, so you need to really think about why he created certain characters. I believe I would have enjoyed this book more if I was in a classroom breaking it down for all of it’s literary elements.  

 

<Overall, I wish I saw more of the Frankenstein in the book, but maybe that was not the point, and he was more of a symbol. I just feel like if you’re going to title a book “Frankenstein in Bagdhad” then maybe the Frankenstein should be the center of the piece? Of course it does not have to be this way, but I went into the book thinking it would be, so I guess that’s why I was taken aback by that.>

 

I am glad that I was able to get through this book—definitely a good learning curve. 

Having not read the original Frankenstein, I was excited & intrigued to, yet slightly unsure about taking this book on, but it definitely turned out interesting and worth it. I loved the way Saadawi developed the Whatsitsname [or Frankenstein] throughout the novel-- first just a creation, and then something looking for revenge, and then just questioning itself and trying to stay alive, acting more like a human than a monster as it felt itself being taken advantage of more and more.

I felt like he took an interesting route, focusing not just on the 'monster,' but also on the lives of different people surrounding the monster and his creator, and although those stories were definitely worth hearing in one way or another, it also got really confusing to try and follow everyone-- especially while listening to an audiobook version. I almost wonder if he should've written another book about Iraq during the American invasion without the magical realist element as well and put those stories in there, because-- again-- they were good, just made the 'Frankenstein' story suffer. I just wanted more of the monster and his creator, and less of everyone else.

I also sort of wanted it to be darker and grittier than it really turned out, but I felt like that possibility got a little dampened as Saadawi just sort of... told us everything that was happening in plain words at all times. I wish more had been left for the reader to piece together, and that it had leaned a little more into the weirdness and confusion of it all. I'm not sure.

I definitely loved this, and I think it gave an incredibly interesting point of view on the invasion, while also tackling the idea of good/bad binaries and how they really play out, especially in things like war, but I also just felt like it was lacking in a lot of places, and found myself bored in between sprinkled really interesting moments.