This is an intriguing and compelling idea for a story. It is mainly about a political prisoner in Burma and the people he has an effect on. I think the author was trying too hard for "literary" (and missed) to turn the idea into something that readers would engage with. As it is, it doesn't have the "oomph" necessary to induce reader action against what is portrayed as a corrupt and dangerous Burmese government.I found the beginning chapter and the middle through the end of the book to be the parts that most engaged me. However, I wanted to stop reading around chapter 3 because it didn't seem to be going anywhere.The story is set up like it is in media res, or perhaps a story in a story. I think Connelly knew she had a boring story by starting with the prisoner in his cell, so she moved the end of the story to the beginning. This is what kept me reading through the first several chapters. However, they didn't seem to be related until near the middle of the book. And even then, I anticipated that the story would continue past that beginning and give some resolution. It never did. And so, it left me feeling a bit empty and disappointed at the end - not because of the story but because of my unmet expectations. Now, in the literary genre, this would be an acceptable kind of ending (although I think still unacceptable because of the expectations set up in the structure). However, the writing was not nearly good enough for that genre. There were moments of great writing and description, but it was not sustained throughout. In fact, through most of the second half of the book, it did not read as literary at all. Interestingly, it was the author's leaving off with all the literary attempts that made the second half enjoyable and compelling.Setting: This is set mainly in a prison in Burma. Mostly, it is within a single prison cell. However, it does spread out a bit from that in flashbacks and when other characters have the point of view. This book is supposed to be based on actual events and people, with this prison being an amalgamation of several prisons, so it feels a bit generic as a result. I got a sense of the setting in the one cell, but the rest of the setting felt weak.Conflict: The main conflict is the prisoner's acceptance of his fate and his forgiveness (such as it is) of those who have wronged him. There are other conflicts surrounding life in prison: subservience, rape, authority, power. These generally push the little boy toward his leaving of the prison and so felt more like plot devices than real. Plot: I've already mentioned it briefly. But, it also has to do with the power of words and getting the words from the prisoner to those who would be most affected by them: those who would keeping fighting against the Burmese regime.Characters: I think the author did a pretty good job of creating real, believable characters. I'm not sure who is "real" and who is a conglomeration of people and who is totally made up (since I haven't studied the history of Burma or know much about what is currently happening there), but I felt like the ones I got to be in the head of (those I got POV from) were real and complex people. I liked the dichotomy of the passivist deciding to take his own life (through starvation) because he didn't want to hate his tormentors (not real forgiveness there). I also liked the idea of a little child who grew up in a prison and why he did the things he did. I liked learning more about the ethical, nice guard and the decent, protective prisoners. Text: Again, the attempts at literariness fell a bit short for me. The whole story lacked "color" in word choice and depth of meaning. But, on a high-level, it was a decent reading experience.
Burmese politics, including their political prison system, is harrowing and vicious. Not a lot has changed in the past fifty years or so, other than changing the name to Myanmar. They remain under military rule and they are one of the least developed nations in the world. Karen Connelly has not only written a striking and engaging tour de force about this area, but she has brought a country's atrocities into focus that needs attention badly, and help from developed nations. However, she hasn't forgotten the novelist's rule of thumb to entertain. It doesn't read like a diatribe or soapbox, it reads like an exquisite, dramatic story of friendship, endurance, compassion, love, and faith in the human condition.Teza is a young man of (approximately) thirty who is revered by freedom fighters in Burma (Myanmar) for his political songs that expose the corrupt government, and give hope and spiritual fuel to the people. He is in solitary confinement in his seventh year of a twenty-year sentence for this "crime." The conditions in this prison are something beyond harsh and cruel--absolutely appalling, savage--with lice, scurvy, rickets, bed bugs, and other illnesses invading the prison population. Also, the jailers frequently abuse the prisoners physically.Teza has become adept at his Buddhist meditation practices and has a strange but beautiful relationship with the lizards, spiders, and ants that share his cell. The most desired item for prisoners, besides food--as he is practically starved by the warden and guards--is pen and paper. If caught with it, it adds another several years to your sentence. Teza is therefore in isolation with nothing but the creatures, a dirty mat, stinking water, inedible food, and his mind. He lives by the power of his heart and mind. Teza knows how to be free in this cage, and his subtle power over the jailers, a different kind of power, is fascinating to comprehend.Little Brother is a twelve-year-old orphan whose father worked for the prison until he died. This young boy, who doesn't read or write, knows nothing outside the prison, and has no desire to leave. He is afraid of the outside world. He spends his days running errands for the guards or helping the top-tier prisoners--the ones with lots of pull and power--get extras of food. He is beloved by the few that have half a heart, but generally treated as sewerage by those in power.The story moves in graceful, gradual, lyrical strokes, bringing the world of the inmates and the jailers to a taut climax. The building relationship between Teza and Little Brother is the most weighty of all. It works brick by brick, like the building of a cell, layer upon layer, surging into an intense, suspenseful, atypical thriller. There are hints of Papillon,(although that story was non-fiction), but this is not a jailbreak thriller. But, like PAPILLON, it has much to do with the life inside the mind, and the cultivation of formidable inner strength, and the bonds between people who are seemingly so vastly different, and yet connected.If you only read a handful of books this year, do read this one. Besides its presence as a quietly exciting, non-formulaic suspense thriller, it will invite and heighten interest in this culture and this country. You will thoroughly inhabit these characters and story, page by page; the quintessence of fine literature is actualized in the characters of Teza and Little Brother. Finally, this an unforgettable story that lives in, breaks, and mends the human heart.See my full review on mostlyfiction.com http://bookreview.mostlyfiction.com/2...
Do You like book The Lizard Cage (2007)?
This is a very heavy book but about a really worthwhile topic. It is part of a genre called “prison fiction” and it follows the life of a Burmese political prisoner named Teza, who was imprisoned b/c he was singing songs about political freedom which angered the authorities. While in prison, the author traces how he is able to hang on to his humanity through a variety of things: meditation, Buddhism, his relationship with the prison animals (ants, spiders, lizards), and, slowly, a developing friendship with an orphan boy who lives in the prison after his parents died. By helping each other, some of the prisoners are able to hang on to their humanity and the human spirit finally triumphs, despite many difficulties. A heavy book, but I think you’d like it and feel expanded by it. Thanks to the author for such an interesting book. PS I agree with this review from BOOKMARK magazine, on both the author’s strengths and weaknesses, especially what I have triple-starred:"Award-winning poet and nonfiction writer Karen Connelly drew upon the two years she spent living among exiles and refugees on the Thailand-Burma border for The Lizard Cage, her debut novel. Winner of the 2007 Orange Prize for New Writers and a finalist for the Kiriyama Pacific Rim award, The Lizard Cage is a harrowing but rewarding read that abounds with compelling characterizations and evocative details. Critics almost universally admired these traits but disagreed over Connelly’s use of language. The San Francisco Chronicle, for example, found that Connelly’s prose sometimes ***“teeters a little too precariously on the border between poetic and maudlin,”*** while others praised its lyricism. A small price to pay for the author’s unique insight into the dark side of Burmese life"
—Agatha
What a read! I never thought I could like something so grim so well. I read her earlier book about Thailand and was impressed with how well it was written, especially for such a young writer. This novel is a whole new dimension. The story pulled me along with a huge desire to know - what happens next? While this was happening, I was slowing down to savour the language and the meticulous descriptions. on top of all of that, the characterization was amazing.I loved the way she wove mindfulness into the book. The Songbird was able to leave the situation by meditating and by focusing on the essential details of everything in his constrained world. In many ways , this aspect of the book reminded me of The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating. Songbird describes the spider, its web and the lizards in the same minute, sharply observed detail. He may be in a prison, beaten and abused, but he never allows his jailers to diminish him in any way or to shape how he reacts to them. He maintains his humanity and choses what to do with his personal suffering. The character of the boy is amazing. Like Songbird, he has maintained his core, his own childish innocence, in spite of his surroundings. I thought a lot about how every person has a choice to make when faced with brutality. All too many succumb, like Handsomne, and becone brutal themselves. Others, like the guard Chit and the convidxt Tiger, retain their humanity and kindness. Highly recommended.
—Roberta
Tension filled book about one particular political protester in Burma set in the late 80's. The book is basically about the brutal conditions and despicable treatment these protesters went through once they were sentenced and sent to prison for ridiculous reasons. It is also about the inner strength this one person has and his ability to help at the most basic level when most of his existence could be used to hate. And, finally, it is a nail-biting experience in the most nerve-racking search for
—Dave
