The Mark by Fríða Ísberg – Book Review

 

Publisher’s write-up:

‘In the near future, in Reykavik, in a world like our own, society is divided about the controversial Empathy Test, which measures an individual’s capacity for compassion and identifies anti-social behaviour in citizens. Two thirds of the country, including public servants and politicians, have undergone the test, and ‘marked’ themselves in an official register, open to the public. One third remains ‘unmarked’ and more and more private and public spaces are closing their doors to them. In two months’ time, citizens face a national referendum, in which they will vote on whether the test should be mandatory or not.

Amid the rising tension and via the voices of four compelling characters—the sceptical teacher Vetur, the influential psychologist Óli, the businesswoman Eyja, who fails the test, and the school dropout Tristan, who is fighting for the right not to be tested—we are confronted with urgent ethical dilemmas, prejudice, injustice, and private trauma. The suspense intensifies as these four individuals try to navigate a brave new world. The rules of the game have changed. What are the consequences?’

Cliquez ici pour lire mon avis de lecture en français

The Mark is a dystopian novel written by the Icelandic writer Fríða Ísberg, published in 2021. The author explores a society where people are ‘marked’ based on the results in an empathy test. Those who choose to be unmarked have their consequences, such as discrimination and denial of public services. This society is explored through the eyes of four characters in different walks of life.

The book had an interesting idea and felt like an Icelandic version of “The Big Brother is watching you”. The fact that it was written in the present decade made it more relatable to me, given the references used such as Covid-19 or having manipulative content generated through AI is something that we all went through or are still living through. There were also a lot of social commentary on the present-day made by these four characters.

Having said that, this was a short novel and the English translation that I read had around 230 pages; which meant that there was not enough space for four main characters to be in the novel. It did not even stop with just four characters, they had several other people involved in their lives, which meant that at a point, I just felt a barrage of names being dropped at me that I am left wondering who certain people were. The reason why I did not mention any character names so far in my review was because none of them were memorable, for me to be invested in them individually.

Another issue is that while it is an interesting idea, it is also one of the most explored ideas. Barring the setting in Iceland and the present decade, there was nothing new from the Orwellian settings of the previous century that I have read. There was a passing mention of one of the characters knowing someone who had moved to Spain and did not have to suffer through the consequences of being marked, and thus, in this world – the author had established that the marking system was not universal. Exploring how it was in other places and bringing up the broader debate on safety versus personal liberty could have been a good value addition to this novel.

On the whole, this is a book that I do not regret having read, but not something I would remember in months to come. There are individual lines that I certainly highlighted in my book and would definitely go back to revisit them from time to time, but I am unlikely to be motivated to read the whole book. It is a simple read and could be enjoyable for those who like this theme. On that note, I would award the novel a rating of six on ten.

Rating – 6/10

Have a nice day,
Anirudh

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk – Book Review

 

Publisher’s write-up:

“With Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Man Booker International Prize-winner Olga Tokarczuk returns with a subversive, entertaining noir novel. In a remote Polish village, Janina Duszejko, an eccentric woman in her sixties, recounts the events surrounding the disappearance of her two dogs. She is reclusive, preferring the company of animals to people; she's unconventional, believing in the stars; and she is fond of the poetry of William Blake, from whose work the title of the book is taken. When members of a local hunting club are found murdered, Duszejko becomes involved in the investigation. By no means a conventional crime story, this existential thriller by 'one of Europe's major humanist writers' (Guardian) offers thought-provoking ideas on our perceptions of madness, injustice against marginalized people, animal rights, the hypocrisy of traditional religion, belief in predestination – and caused a genuine political uproar in Tokarczuk's native Poland.”

Note: I read the French translation of the novel. Cliquez ici pour lire mon avis de lecture en français

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is a novel from the Polish author Olga Tokarczuk, the Nobel Laureate for literature in 2018. The plot focuses on Janina, an old woman who lives alone in the countryside of Poland, not far away from the border with Czechia. She happens to find her neighbour dead, and she helps the police with their investigation. During the course of the novel, there are several similar deaths, and a point connecting all the victims was their passion for hunting.

I liked the fact that the story was taking place in contemporary Poland. The novel was published in 2010 and I believe the story definitely takes place after 2004, as there are several references to Poland already being part of the European Union, including references to the European law on forests. The main character Janinais also interesting with several contradictions, such as how she is not religious but at the same time, she is obsessed with astrology, and also has an interest in the poems of William Blake.

Janina as the narrator is also the novel’s weakness. Given that this is an investigation on murders, information given to the readers during the course of the novel is interesting. However, Janina is an unreliable narrator and often changes what she had said earlier and even admits to having lied to the reader in the past. Considering the way this novel went, I would classify it as dull mystery which hardly motivated me to turn pages to find out what had happened next. The end may be a surprise to some readers but I must say that to me personally, it was no “big reveal”, it was obvious from the very beginning.

There was also some difficulty in following any character other than Janina, given how she had the habit of using nicknames for everyone and at times, their real names are used and at other times, their nicknames are used and it took me a while to realise that the two were in fact, the same person.

To conclude it is a mystery novel with an interesting narrator, though, a narrator unsuitable for being in this kind of a novel. I did not enjoy reading this book and on that note, I award this book a rating of four on ten.

Rating – 4/10

Have a nice day,
Anirudh