Hello and welcome to my (life-long?) quest of reading across the globe. Let's start with Iraq.

The story takes place back in 2003. Baghdad is occupied by the USA, bombings and various kinds of violence are daily occurences. Hadi, a junk dealer known for his tall tales, stitches together a body from parts he found after suicide bombings - not realizing that his creation would come to life. This modern day Frankenstein begins to roam the streets of Baghdad and quickly becomes some kind of urban legend since it seems he cannot be killed. At the same time we follow several other people, such as Mahmoud who works for a newspaper, Brigadier Majid who wants to catch the "monster", or Elishva who has been waiting for her son to come home for the last 20 years.

This one was really interesting! The description of everyday life during war, mixed with a little bit of magical realism managed to create a special atmosphere. I have to admit that I probably don't have all the necessary political and historical background information - and I didn't read the original Frankenstein. So I surely missed out on some parallels and some of the context. That's why my assessments may be off at some points. It took me quite long, until I was at about 30%, to get a decent orientation, especially distinguishing the different characters. The plot felt at times a bit lengthy. The ending I really liked. Unfortunately, the horror parts were quite minimal for my taste.

All in all, the book gives a very powerful comenrary on war and violence, especially dealing with grey areas, guilt and (the impossibility of) innocence.

I would recommend it to people looking for rather unconventional thrillers or very mild horror. It might be especially interesting if you know Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.