Your smile,
There wasn't one,
You never smiled.
First book down!
Landscapes of A Distant Mother is a biographical book written by Said. It's originally written in German language as Said lived in Munich although he was born in Tehran, Iran.
The book chronicles on life of Said before he met his mother who left him after her divorce with his father, during the meeting with his mother at Toronto, Canada and what happens after the meeting.
Said has been an exile, forced to leave his country due to some political reasons which cause him to never again able to stepped into his birth country and never found the courage or feels the necessity to find his birth mother
It's a simple book, written in simple language but full enough with punch lines that is certain to hit your guts. Reading this book reminds me of Mitch Albom's books with the similarities of using brief, short sentences but able to precisely convey everything and keep the readers captivated until the last page.
This is a story about a son who never knew who is exactly his mother until that one day where he finally met her after his mother found him and asked for him to come and see her.
I read the book expecting it to ends with good terms, with both Said and his mother feeling contented and finding happiness after being able to see each other after the long separation, but as I was reading it, I realised that this story would never end in happily ever after note.
And as for Said, everything he thought of what a mother could be were proven otherwise after his meeting with her.
Here are a couple of excerpts from the book:
~
''Mother, you prayed five times, but in the afternoon you only pray three times.''
Amir breaks in: ''Mama swindles. Even with God.''
She swears at him loudly, in her own dialect and then in Persian:
''My son, you don't joke about things like that.''
She sits down in her armchair:
''You're right. I did pray five times, two of them for morning prayer. I cannot get up before sunrise, I'm simply not an early riser. You know, I have my own account with God. He understands me and accepts my morning prayer even in the afternoon. But this godless son of mine who never prays and who drinks alcohol, has to grumble.''
''I still say, Mama swindles.''
~~
Perhaps I have become too Westernized, too German; too reflective, too harsh.
And again, you are too petit bourgeois, too honest, too conformist, too ready to run with the pack, too concerned with material advantages. Too anxious to survive.
You have learned too well how to survive.
With or without God, Shah, or Khomeini.
~~~
I stayed outside. I could not find the way in.
I looked for your landscapes---
And found that there were no answers there.
It's a satisfying read and I could not help but wonder what would be his mother's side of the story after the meeting.
Did she really despise her own son? Does she not feel any connection at all to him? Did she ever smile at the thought of Said?
