What A Wild Ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      Ahmed Saadawi honors Mary Shelley, while transplanting her tale to the politically tarnished world of present day Baghdad.  Add to that the 29th Anniversary of the installation of His Holiness, Dinkha IV as patriarch of the Assyrian Church Of The east.

                                      "Frankenstein In Baghdad" takes all the familiar philosophical, moral and theological themes of Mary Shelley, and turns them on its head.  It could have been a disaster, instead it is a brilliant read.

                                         In both Shelley and here, not a sense is given as to how the monster is created.  Oh, yes, mention is made of sewn and replaceable body parts, but how the spark of life is ignited is never mentioned.  There is no big castle lab scene, with an operating table rising into a lightning filled sky--the iconic image of creation, via James Whale's 1931 film.

                                            Even more than Shelley, the novel plays around with the ambiguity of just who is the monster, and who the creator, leaving one to form conclusions of one's own.  And then there is the tragedy of a woman, who lost her son, Daniel twenty some years before, and now believes he has returned to her, through prayer.

                                             Murder, mayhem, politics, suspense, and a daring literary reinvention, "Frankenstein In Baghdad" is certainly one of the more daring and successful works I have read, lately.

                                              Girls, it will give your permanent wave a jolt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!