When
the Grey Beetles Took Over Baghdad
by
Mona Yahia
Peter Halban Publishers Ltd
£15.99 406pp
Reviewed
by Anna Dangoor
Mona
Yahia was born in Baghdad in 1954, and escaped with her
family to Israel in 1970. She studied Psychology at Tel
Aviv University and worked as a trainer in the school for
Army Commanders. In 1985 she moved to Germany to study Fine
Arts. She has published short stories in London Magazine
and The Jewish Quarterly, as well as in German anthologies.
This is her first novel.
Mona
Yahia’s novel ‘When the Grey Beetles Took Over
Baghdad’ is the story of the life of Lina, a young
Jewish girl growing up during the 60’s in Baghdad,
at a time of great instability for the Jewish community.
Lina is the book’s narrator, and Yahia captures the
mind of a young teenager perfectly, drawing the reader in,
so that Lina’s hopes and fears become one’s own.
Fear
is a strong theme throughout the novel, and ultimately the
book is a story of Lina’s longing for freedom; freedom
from Iraq, but ultimately freedom from fear. Having such
a young narrator allows Yahia to write simply, making the
book a very easy read. The confusion and complexity of an
adolescent mind however, especially one surrounded by such
turmoil, are also conveyed with impressive understanding.
Life
for Lina is by no means simple, and through her Yahia allows
us to feel both the unbearable horror of Jewish persecution,
such as the hangings at Tahrir square, and contrastingly,
the innocence and frivolity of events such as the Purim
casino which Lina attends. That is what is so fantastic
about the book. It tells two stories in one.
The
first is the story of Baghdadi life for a young girl who
is fast becoming a woman. The second, the story of a state
fraught with revolution, in which a once numerous community,
learn to fear for their lives, as ‘Grey Beetles’,
the cars of the secret police trawl the streets, and pounce
on innocent Jews. Along the first theme, Yahia describes
vividly the sights, sounds and tastes of Baghdad. Traditional
dishes such as Sambousak are mentioned, and Yahia includes
the occasional Arabic word, which contribute to the vivid
sense of place she creates. Yahia also paints a convincing
picture of life for a young teenage girl. Lina has to deal
with everything that any other girl approaching adolescence
experiences: The start of her menstruation, the interest
boys around her begin to take in her, and the corresponding
and unfamiliar feelings which she develops for her English
friend Lawrence.
Along
the second theme, the struggles of the Jewish community
are depicted strikingly. Yahia creates an intense mood of
fear, as one after the other, innocent Jewish men are arrested
and accused of false crimes. These arrests culminate in
the executions in Tahrir square, mentioned earlier, where
thirteen men, nine of them Jews including Lina’s swimming
teacher, and a boy of only 17 from her school, are hung
for being traitors to Iraq. Yahia’s description of
these events, coupled with their reality is sickening, and
this part of the book is deeply saddening. The trouble’s
also come even closer to home for Lina’s family. Her
elder brother Shuli is also arrested when he makes the mistake
of responding to a fellow student’s request to be shown
a Star of David. The very same student subsequently reports
him as a Zionist.
Acts
of cruelty such as this appear throughout the novel. However
these are tempered by Yahia’s description of the partial
normality which the Jewish community cling to. This makes
Lina’s life a fine balance between the usual and the
unusual, and is fundamentally what makes her such a real
character. So real in fact that reading this book is like
taking a journey to Baghdad and back.
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