Night Journey.Night Journey by Murad Kalam Murad Kalam is an American writer. He is a 1995 graduate of Harvard College, where he studied writing under Jamaica Kincaid and published in the Harvard Advocate, and a 2002 graduate of Harvard Law School. Simon and Schuster, October 2003 $23.00, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0-743-24418-4 Murad Kalam's gripping and compassionate first novel, Night Journey, resembles Boyz in the Hood, in its depiction of hell amidst what should be a paradise. The slum inhabited by Eddie Bloodpath, his brother, Turtle, and their mother and grandmother is on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix /ˈfiːˌnɪks/ (English: Phoenix, Navajo: Hoozdo, lit. "the place is hot", Western Apache: Fiinigis) is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. . As in the Boyz movie, all manner of ghastliness happens in a place of warm desert sunshine, palm trees and mountains. But despite the squalor squal·or n. A filthy and wretched condition or quality. [Latin squ  lor, from squ that afflicts the residents of the Third Ward, the book is hopeful, humane and even has a subtle, subversive humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was . The book opens when Eddie is 10 years old. The very first scene is one of death--a neighbor lady has died, and Turtle, after some skirmishes with local boys, claims her house and uses it as a bordello/flophouse. Turtle, mind you, is just a couple of years older than Eddie. This intruduces Kalam's theme of children who are badly parented, or not parented at all. Grown-ups consistently let these kids down, and Eddie takes whatever fathering or mothering he can get, whether it's from the sad, bruised, beloved prostitute Tessa, or other inept parent figures. Despite their inadequacies, most of the people Eddie encounters see the boy's potential. It's the violent and nihilistic ni·hil·ism n. 1. Philosophy a. An extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence. b. A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. 2. Turtle, for example, who sees otherwise in his young brother. Kalam's writing is beautiful and muscular, even the minor characters are well drawn, including Eddie's girlfriend. One thinks one would despise Eddie Sr. for causing his sons such pain, but when he finally shows up he's so befuddled and useless, he only elicits pity. Kalam's knowledge of boxing is comprehensive, for Night Journey is among other things, a great boxing novel. |
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