So far, there has been no big, symphonic novel about the war in Iraq. PhotoIn “War Porn,” Mr. Scranton has tried to broaden his novel’s scope by telling three separate tales that illuminate the war from different angles, and some stream-of-consciousness-like interludes that suggest links between Iraq and Vietnam and other wars, and the original human sins of violence and hubris. Mr. Scranton does a thoughtful job of showing how Iraqis’ ordinary dreams — of a career, of building a family or earning a degree — are exploded by the war and how the daily (or nightly) bombing raids terrorize Baghdad residents. Perhaps it’s too soon for a wide-screen perspective of the sort Denis Johnson provided on Vietnam with his novel “Tree of Smoke” (published more than three decades after that war). ambushes are a constant threat: “the chaos out there, the crazy Arabic writing and abu-jabba jabber, the lawless traffic, the hidden danger and buzz and stray bullets and death looming from every overpass.”The second story line in “War Porn” features Qasim, an Iraqi mathematician whose life and family are torn apart by the war.

Source: New York Times August 08, 2016 20:01 UTC