Review: Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth
Land of Marvels
by Barry Unsworth
Amazon.com Product Description: A thriller set in 1914 as the Western nations are making a grab for political power and oil in the Middle East, by a writer with an “almost magical capacity for literary time travel” (The New York Times Book Review).
Somerville, a British archaeologist, is excavating a long-buried Assyrian palace. The site lies directly in the path of a new railroad to Baghdad, and he watches nervously as the construction progresses, threatening to destroy his discovery. The expedition party includes Somerville’s beautiful, bored wife, Christine; Patricia, a smart young graduate student; and Jehar, an Arab man-of-all-duties whose subservient manner belies his intelligence and ambitions. Posing as an archaeologist, an American geologist from an oil company arrives one day and insinuates himself into the group. But he’s not the only one working undercover to stake a claim on Iraq’s rich oil fields.
Land of Marvels just sounded like it would be fun. I love archeology! Somerville makes a MAJOR discovery: an unknown tomb. This could only be good.
But oh, I was wrong. First, the characters are extremely dull and flat. Christine, the wife, has no thoughts beyond being a perfect society wife. She reminds me of a paper doll, beautiful to look at and fun to dress up, but absolutely lacking in personality. Patricia, the only other major female in the novel, is supposed to be extremely clever and bright. But her major role seems to be to ask the ‘intelligent’ questions so the big strong men can answer and catch the reader up via the celebrated art of mass information dumps. (Minor pet peeve: the women and foreigners are referred to by their first names, but the men by the last name.) Somerville, our hero, is so utterly fixated on the railroad the Germans are building near his archeology site that little else attracts his notice, and reading a man’s fretting brain natterisms is not captivating narrative.
The story’s meant to educate readers on why Iraq’s politics in the last century are so screwed up and why oil is the major currency in the Middle East. It also seeks to warn about empires inevitably collapsing. But it’s so heavy-handed! I feel like the archeologists are hitting me over the head with their tools, shouting “THIS. IS. SYMBOLISM. PAY ATTENTION. THIS. IS IMPORTANT.” Yeesh. I didn’t want a lecture.
Finally, the ending is SUCH A FUCKING COP-OUT. So much so that I did not censor my cussing as would have been proper. I can’t bitch about why it was so bad, as that would be a major spoiler, but it was such a terrible way to end the story that I actually threw the book across the room. I’ve never done that before; I usually protect my books as precious! It’s like the author wrote himself into a corner, couldn’t figure out how to untangle the plot to get out of it, and just gave up. (I suppose that is better than believing he planned such a craptacular ending from Day One.)
I was a little angry when I finished the book. Angry at the horrible ending, angry at the interesting concept gone horribly wrong, and angry that I felt I’d wasted my time to finish the story. Land of Marvels? I am marveling that Barry Unsworth apparently won the Booker Prize for a previous novel. This is the first time I have ever read one of his books, so hopefully this is just the exception proving the rule, and his quality is normally higher. But seriously, folks, skip this book. It will only leave you unsatisfied and disappointed at a great idea gone sour.
To read more about Land of Marvels, but it or add it to your wishlist, click here.
by Barry Unsworth
Amazon.com Product Description: A thriller set in 1914 as the Western nations are making a grab for political power and oil in the Middle East, by a writer with an “almost magical capacity for literary time travel” (The New York Times Book Review).
Somerville, a British archaeologist, is excavating a long-buried Assyrian palace. The site lies directly in the path of a new railroad to Baghdad, and he watches nervously as the construction progresses, threatening to destroy his discovery. The expedition party includes Somerville’s beautiful, bored wife, Christine; Patricia, a smart young graduate student; and Jehar, an Arab man-of-all-duties whose subservient manner belies his intelligence and ambitions. Posing as an archaeologist, an American geologist from an oil company arrives one day and insinuates himself into the group. But he’s not the only one working undercover to stake a claim on Iraq’s rich oil fields.
Land of Marvels just sounded like it would be fun. I love archeology! Somerville makes a MAJOR discovery: an unknown tomb. This could only be good.
But oh, I was wrong. First, the characters are extremely dull and flat. Christine, the wife, has no thoughts beyond being a perfect society wife. She reminds me of a paper doll, beautiful to look at and fun to dress up, but absolutely lacking in personality. Patricia, the only other major female in the novel, is supposed to be extremely clever and bright. But her major role seems to be to ask the ‘intelligent’ questions so the big strong men can answer and catch the reader up via the celebrated art of mass information dumps. (Minor pet peeve: the women and foreigners are referred to by their first names, but the men by the last name.) Somerville, our hero, is so utterly fixated on the railroad the Germans are building near his archeology site that little else attracts his notice, and reading a man’s fretting brain natterisms is not captivating narrative.
The story’s meant to educate readers on why Iraq’s politics in the last century are so screwed up and why oil is the major currency in the Middle East. It also seeks to warn about empires inevitably collapsing. But it’s so heavy-handed! I feel like the archeologists are hitting me over the head with their tools, shouting “THIS. IS. SYMBOLISM. PAY ATTENTION. THIS. IS IMPORTANT.” Yeesh. I didn’t want a lecture.
Finally, the ending is SUCH A FUCKING COP-OUT. So much so that I did not censor my cussing as would have been proper. I can’t bitch about why it was so bad, as that would be a major spoiler, but it was such a terrible way to end the story that I actually threw the book across the room. I’ve never done that before; I usually protect my books as precious! It’s like the author wrote himself into a corner, couldn’t figure out how to untangle the plot to get out of it, and just gave up. (I suppose that is better than believing he planned such a craptacular ending from Day One.)
I was a little angry when I finished the book. Angry at the horrible ending, angry at the interesting concept gone horribly wrong, and angry that I felt I’d wasted my time to finish the story. Land of Marvels? I am marveling that Barry Unsworth apparently won the Booker Prize for a previous novel. This is the first time I have ever read one of his books, so hopefully this is just the exception proving the rule, and his quality is normally higher. But seriously, folks, skip this book. It will only leave you unsatisfied and disappointed at a great idea gone sour.
To read more about Land of Marvels, but it or add it to your wishlist, click here.