The reincarnation of Kafka to Canada, of all places.December 29, 2008 Fred the Fiendish Philistine The world within a world perspective of the existentialist is the life described by Mr. Hage in his excellent novel about life as an immigrant in Montreal and by extension immigrant life in other North American cities. The narrator is delusional, sometimes believing himself to be a cockroach, the quintessential survivor. We learn about his past life during his psychiatric sessions with a government employed professional to whom he referred after attempting suicide by hanging himself from the branch of a tree located in a public park. Much to the psychiatrists frustration, our protagonist will reveal only glimpses of his private life. Like a cockroach, he seeks escape from the eyes of humanity. He hides, he steals, he spies on all who interest him, even the psychiatrist. We learn that he was not always a cockroach. He was once an Iranian immigrant comfortably existing with the confines of his family and culture. Then he discovers that his sister is being abused by her husband. His new home gives him different ideas about how women should be treated. He seeks a different life for himself and his sister, a life free from the cultural restraints of Moslem society. Unfortunately, our cultural roots bind us all. His sister understands the truth of this maxim and realizes there is no escape from her husbands abuse. The narrators plan for retribution goes wrong and subsequently, his life turning him into a cockroach.
The Harsh Realities of the Immigrant ExperienceDecember 4, 2008 Ian Gordon Malcomson(Smithers, Canada) 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Lebanese-Canadian novelist, Rawi Hage, as written another powerful story about the life an immigrant's attempt to survive and eventually make it Canadian society. There are a number of layers and strands in this cautionary tale that involves a young Iranian living in the St.Laurent area of Montreal, a working-class part of the city and home to many new immigrants arriving from the Middle East. The protagonist describes his squalid existence as a daily fight to keep the cockroaches in his apartment at bay. He lives in a Dostoevskian world where he is constantly fighting to stay afloat while hoping to climb an imaginary social ladder to success. Unfortunately, all his efforts are consumed with committing petty crimes that put him further behind the eight ball to the extent that he considers suicide. Hage introduces a psychotherapist into this man's life who takes an altruistic interest in trying to get him to realize the futility of his ways. She encourages him to take on a job at a local restaurant, and it is there that he discovers that the world he aspires to belong to is corrupt, dangerous and worse than the life he originally escaped from or his current straits. This is a very intelligent, sensitive man who realizes that his future most likely is contained to the edge of society, between a rock(the establishment)and a hard place(the abode of cockroaches). I found "Cockroach" a rewarding read in terms of correcting any illusions I might have had that the immigrant experience is an unimpeded road to success, especially for those coming from the poorer parts of the world.
The outsider's lamentDecember 2, 2008 Steven Teasdale(Markham, ON) 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Rawi Hage's second novel Cockroach takes place during a frigid Montreal winter and details the picaresque adventures of an unnamed protagonist, a recent immigrant from the Middle East and self-professed thief who often envisions himself as a giant cockroach. Hage is the recent winner of English literature's richest prize, the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, for his debut novel DeNiro's Game (which I did not read); as such, there has been a considerable degree of anticipation for this new book.
There are two narrative arcs in this novel. The primary arc is a first-person description of the protagonist and his interactions within and without the shadowy émigré community of Montreal. The secondary arc provides the backstory of the protagonist's family history in the old country as detailed to his government-appointed psychologist.
Hage writes with an almost relentless forward momentum, and the prose quickly takes hold of the reader by providing an intimate depiction of the protagonist's underworld. The tone is persistently nihilistic (particularly in the first half), cynical, and dark. This is reflected in the actions of the unnamed protagonist, who breaks into the homes of his acquaintances for petty reasons (or none at all) and sells drugs to shallow and self-obsessed young Quebecois. These young cocaine-addled materialists who live "expensive apartments with faux shantytown architecture" are viciously described by the protagonist, who recognizes their implicit acceptance of him as nothing more than their latest exotic fashion accessory, another acquisition from the savage East. The following passages illustrate this gleefully sardonic tone (and there is much of this in the novel).
"All of her friends, too, lived in a state of permanent denial of the bad smells from sewers, infested slums, unheated apartments, single mothers on welfare, worn-out clothing. No, everything had to be perfect, every morsel of food had to be well served -- presentation, always presentation, the ultimate mask."
" ... They were corrupt, empty, selfish, self-absorbed ... I despised them; they admired me."
This unrelenting nihilism, untypical in many ways of Canadian literature, is coupled with a fascinating use of imagery. It is this imagery that has the greatest impact upon the reader. As the title implies, the protagonist views himself as a giant cockroach, quick and agile, feeding off the detritus of civil society, thriving in the dark and recognizing no boundaries and barriers. He comes to identify with the cockroaches infesting his apartment, to the point of conversing with a giant albino roach. He exists on the edge of madness, for reasons that become clear as the novel progresses.
Despite all the cynicism, surreal imagery, and nihilistic tone (which many have found offputting), the ultimate sense conveyed by the protagonist is a profound sense of loneliness. As he laments to his psychiatrist:
"I just wanted to know you, I said. I just wanted to be invited in."
This loneliness is coupled with a deep sense of responsibility and shame by the protagonist at his failure to affect an earlier tragedy. The primary narrative arc of this novel is his attempt to atone for this tragedy. And as such, the novel is ultimately a novel of redemption.
I found it fascinating, a very quick read, and enjoyed the propulsive narrative style. The imagery stretches a bit too far in some cases, and parts of the second half are a bit slow, but these are minor complaints. I look forward to reading more from Hage in the future.
Dreamy underworldAugust 8, 2008 sean s.(montreal) 18 out of 18 found this review helpful
After having been nominated for Canada's two most important literary awards for fiction, the Giller and the Governor-General's, Rawi Hage's previous novel, De Niro's Game, ended up winning the ultimate prize, the 2008 IMPAC award, the richest in the world for a single novel. So the pressure was on for this, his second book!
For the most part Hage succeeds admirably. The voice used is that of a poor immigrant to Montreal, with all of the baggage of an old-world mindset, resentment against a culture he does not fully grasp, and an abject discomfort with the cold. Add to that mental illness, attempted suicide and serial break and enters, and the picture is pretty grim.
Nonetheless Hage draws a compelling picture of a dreamy underworld, very much Montreal, and yet at the margins. In this, the book is part of a recent trend in Montreal fiction, other examples of which are Heather O'Neill's Lullabies for Little Criminals and Maya Merrick's The Hole Show.
Due to the protagonist's mental illness, Hage is able to effectively drift into territories of fantasy and delusion, expressed through an oneiric, poetic language that is often truly sublime in its imagery.
My one criticism of the book is that at times the Cockroach motif seems forced into passages repeatedly and a bit gratuitously. The book's narrative holds up very well on its own, so in my view it wasn't at all necessary to hammer on this imagery so insistently.
That having been said, this is nonetheless clearly a five-star book. It gives a tip of the hat to Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground, and obviously also to Kafka's Metamorphosis. In its masculine tone and accomplishments it reminds one of another of today's brilliant writers, Lluis-Anton Baulenas from Barcelona.
So though De Niro's Game was a tough show to follow, anyone who enjoyed it will also likely enjoy this great novel. Recommended!
