From A to X by John Berger
A'ida and Xavier are lovers, but the latter is serving a life sentence for terrorism and their relationship continues by letter.
The central conceit in this slender volume is that author John Berger has come into possession of two packets of A'ida's letters, together with notes from Xavier scrawled on the back.
Berger uses A'ida's letters to paint a picture of a people living under some form of oppression, describing the struggles of day-to-day life – food shared amongst friends, her work as a pharmacist, coping with curfews.
He deliberately avoids saying what Xavier has done/been accused of, or where the events are set – is this the Middle East or south America? – even using a global range of names to suggest a sense of everyplace and everyman/woman.
But as Xavier's notes make clear, Berger's target is globalisation and the imperialism of – not least but not exclusively – the US. The notes, with their statistics about the life of workers around the world, give the reader angry reminders of the plight of the majority of humankind.
Berger's epistolary approach teases out a picture of oppression; of hope, of collective action and of solidarity. Longlisted for the Booker, this is a moving and quite beautiful little book that manages to combine anger with a sense of hope.
A'ida and Xavier are lovers, but the latter is serving a life sentence for terrorism and their relationship continues by letter.
The central conceit in this slender volume is that author John Berger has come into possession of two packets of A'ida's letters, together with notes from Xavier scrawled on the back.
Berger uses A'ida's letters to paint a picture of a people living under some form of oppression, describing the struggles of day-to-day life – food shared amongst friends, her work as a pharmacist, coping with curfews.
He deliberately avoids saying what Xavier has done/been accused of, or where the events are set – is this the Middle East or south America? – even using a global range of names to suggest a sense of everyplace and everyman/woman.
But as Xavier's notes make clear, Berger's target is globalisation and the imperialism of – not least but not exclusively – the US. The notes, with their statistics about the life of workers around the world, give the reader angry reminders of the plight of the majority of humankind.
Berger's epistolary approach teases out a picture of oppression; of hope, of collective action and of solidarity. Longlisted for the Booker, this is a moving and quite beautiful little book that manages to combine anger with a sense of hope.