Reviews

Fear of Mirrors by Tariq Ali

brynhammond's review against another edition

4.0

I gained much insight into the Communist experience of the 20th century in this story of a Central European family, the grandparents and parents revolutionaries, the son apolitical in the world after the Berlin Wall is down. It was historical fiction perhaps heavy on the history, but that history of how committed Communists dealt with the century was absorbingly interesting; and I only felt the book weakened when he stopped interpreting history for me to wrap up with a plot. I’m sorry to deduct a star for that, because this is no doubt an unusual novel, with the inside experience from East Germany represented with a quite outstanding blend of knowledge, sympathy and critical distance. It is, of course, a novel about politics, which in the novel’s present of the late 20th century is deeply unfashionable and may be today. But I’m a fan of Russian 19th century novels, so I can stand them. A valuable read for me.