By Bobsphere, February 16, 2021
Hoda Barakat’s novel, Voices of the Lost manages to pull off quite a feat. This is a novel about war, it is a political novel. It is also a novel about love, ranging from filial to romantic, abuse, trauma, , fatherhood, motherhood it’s all in there. Like a piece of tapestry this novel weaves in themes, which create multi-layered result.
The book takes the form of letters written by strangers. In some cases there is a tiny bit of cross referencing. However, each letter has it’s own theme, yet enveloped by a major one. Whether it is a lover questioning his right to fatherhood or a son confessing about a love affair, there is an onrush of emotions, the majority of them traumatic (…)
Barakat does not stop with letters though, there’s two further parts in the book which is a continuation of the strangers destinies as one may guess, these characters ends varies.
Sometimes unsettling, cerebral Voices of the Lost is a one of a kind novel (…). Marilyn Booth’s translation (…) is fantastic and captures the emotions of all the characters. Having won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, I would not be surprised to see it garner more awards this year.