FABClub (Female Authors Book Club) discussion

December's group read is Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson. This book has been described as "a tour de force debut - a sophisticated melting pot of ideas, philosophy, religion, technology and spirituality smuggled inside an irresistible page-turner." It has been nominated for a ton of awards: Locus Award Nominee for Best First Novel (2013), World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (2013), Hammett Prize Nominee (2012), John W. Campbell Memorial Award Nominee (2013), Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire Nominee for Roman étranger (2014),
Women's Prize for Fiction Nominee for Longlist (2013), Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize Nominee (2012).

So... who has read this already, who is hoping to read it, who is absolutely planning on reading this? What have you heard?

I'm getting the impression this book straddles the line between fantasy and science-fiction. I have no idea if the technology in it is all real though - maybe there's no science-fiction there at all. I leave that to more technologically savvy folks than me to answer.

I think the word pictures she creates here are intriguing!

Page 3: "A scent filled the room: sharp, alarming, viscerally female. Reza thought of his wife, alive and blooming and big with the child that had died with her. This scent had permeated the linens of their bed before Reza ordered his servants to carry it away and burn it." From p. 6: "Man was exiled from the Garden for eating a single fruit, and now you propose to uproot the whole tree without the angels noticing." Page 9: "The air was thick and oily, like the exhalation of some great machine. It invaded rather than relieved the lungs and, in combination with the heat, produced an instinctive panic." "If not for the blessings of the jinn-saint...the City might be as overrun with hidden folk as it is with tourists and oil men."

I'm having a lot of fun with this!

So, while it looks like lots and lots of you are planning on reading this, nobody but me has started it yet. It's really great so far! I'm particularly impressed by the way she handles the juxtaposition between reality/fantasy. It's a tricky line to draw, to have characters moving flawlessly in both worlds - I would love to hear what others think of this!

I'm really enjoying the way this can be read on so many levels. At first glance it's simply an intriguing fantasy adventure, but then you realize there's a fair amount of political commentary on current events, and then you begin to notice quite a lot of religious philosophy, but it's all so artfully interwoven into the adventure that it's amazingly light-handed. Fantastic!

Well, I finished it, and found it absolutely wonderful from beginning to end! I'm really impressed with the way the author wove some pretty serious stuff into her adventure - I'm not sure I've ever seen this done quite so well!

I need to get on this one!

I'm also reading Who Fears Death at the moment - I think it's really interesting how they both seem to be both science fiction and fantasy at the same time. Interesting how I had the opinion ahead of time that they were science fiction, but I'm finding the fantasy elements much more pervasive - but then some readers probably don't quite feel the need to categorize that I do!

Stephanie, I saw you just finished this, what did you think?

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, I'm not done yet but so far I'm really liking it!

Ok, looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

The character "the convert" (and who is never named) - did that seem to be the author herself?

Alexa wrote: "I'm really enjoying the way this can be read on so many levels. At first glance it's simply an intriguing fantasy adventure, but then you realize there's a fair amount of political commentary on c..."

I read it about 16 months ago and don't remember it well enough to comment on specific details but I did think it was a terrific book--full of humour and adventure but also with a serious message of how little Westerners really understand certain aspects of Islamic cultures. I hope she writes more books.

Yes, I agree! I know Stephanie was raving about her comic books - haven't checked those out yet myself.