110. (May 2022) Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi — The Tabletop Roleplayers' Book Club

Frankenstein in Baghdad Q3: Whatsitsname

Apocryphal — Tue, 31 May 2022 10:27:45 +0000

"The young madman thinks I’m the model citizen that the Iraqi State has failed to produce, at least since the days of King Faisal I."

Although he's central to the novel, Whatsitsname seldom makes an appearance, but he does occasionally get his own voice. Who is Whatsitsname, and how does he change over time? Is he present 'enough' in the book?

Frankenstein in Baghdad Q2: Characters

Apocryphal — Tue, 31 May 2022 10:23:43 +0000

"She wasn’t exactly a living being, but not a dead one either."

There are many characters in the book – some (like the old woman Elisha, Mahmoud the journalist, or Hadi the junk collector) are more central, while others (Elisha's daughters, or Mahmoud's boss Saidi) appear more offstage. Did you find the characters well drawn? Which ones stood out for you? What do the various characters have in common?

Frankenstein in Baghdad Q7: Justice

Apocryphal — Tue, 31 May 2022 10:36:27 +0000

"I was careful about the pieces of flesh that were used to repair my body. I made sure my assistants didn’t bring any flesh that was illegitimate—in other words, the flesh of criminals—but who’s to say how criminal someone is? That’s a question the Magician raised one day."

What does the book have to say about justice, and about good vs evil?

Frankenstein in Baghdad Q1: The Book

Apocryphal — Tue, 31 May 2022 10:21:52 +0000

“Do you remember, sir, when we started seeing the specter of The One Who Has No Name?”

What did you think of this book? Did it meet your expectations? How was the pacing? The ending? The writing?

Frankenstein in Baghdad Q10: Gaming

Apocryphal — Tue, 31 May 2022 10:45:14 +0000

"The djinn told him he had one important mission left."

What can you crib from this book to use in games? Characters? Themes? Events? Setting? Or something else?

Frankenstein in Baghdad Q8: Stories

Apocryphal — Tue, 31 May 2022 10:38:05 +0000

"Sitting in the coffee shop, he would tell the story from the beginning, never tiring of repeating himself. He immersed himself in the story and went with the flow, maybe in order to give pleasure to others or maybe to convince himself that it was just a story from his fertile imagination and that it had never really happened."

What is Saadawi saying about stories and their role in our lives? Are factual stories and fictional stories treated differently, or are they one and the same?

Frankenstein in Baghdad Q9: Allegory

Apocryphal — Tue, 31 May 2022 10:42:54 +0000

"I have a number of assistants who live with me. They have banded together around me over the past three months. The most important one is an old man called the Magician."

Is there any particular symbology you can see in the book that suggests something deeper than the story? What do you make of Whatsitsname's assistants, the Magician, the Sophist, the Enemy, and the Three Madmen? What about the presence of Saint George?

Frankenstein in Baghdad Q5: Violence

Apocryphal — Tue, 31 May 2022 10:32:33 +0000

“Everyone on the bus turned around to see what had happened. They watched in shock as a ball of smoke rose, dark and black, beyond the crowds from the carpark near Tayaran Square in the centre of Baghdad.”

Bombings open and close the book, and violence is a central theme. But action movie this book is not. What did you think of the role of violence in the book? Was it handled effectively?

Frankenstein in Baghdad Q6: Mysticism

Apocryphal — Tue, 31 May 2022 10:34:05 +0000

“But the Americans, besides their arsenal of advanced military hardware, possessed a formidable army of djinn, which was able to destroy the djinn that this magician and his assistants had mobilized."

Mysticism pervades the book, from the four beggars who strangled each other to the Tracking and Pursuit Department to the very existence of Whatsitsname himself. Did anything particularly stand out to you? Where does this leave us in a world where 'orientalism' is a concern?

Frankenstein in Baghdad Q4: Diversity

Apocryphal — Tue, 31 May 2022 10:30:24 +0000

“Saidi's and Islamist, and his friend's a Baathist. But Saidi's a lapsed Islamist. His ideas changed while he was living abroad. And his Brigadier friend is a lapsed Baathist.”

Cultural diversity and the role of factions are a major theme in the book. How is diversity represented? Is it a good or an ill?

Frankenstein in Baghdad: Description and back cover blurb

RichardAbbott — Mon, 02 May 2022 06:00:55 +0000

A SATIRICAL REIMAGINING OF MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN

From the rubble-strewn streets of US-occupied Baghdad, Hadi collects body parts from the dead, which he stitches together to form a corpse.

He claims he does it to force the government to recognise the parts as real people, and give them a proper burial.

But when the corpse goes missing, a wave of eerie murders sweeps across the city, and reports stream in of a horrendous-looking, flesh-eating monster that cannot be killed. At first it's the guilty he attacks, but soon it's anyone who crosses his path...

Frankenstein in Baghdad brilliantly captures the horror and black humour of a city at war.