Anansi, 2006

Read by Jane Affleck

On the very first page of the novel, the narrator, Bassam, hooks the reader with a statement that also summarizes the narrative drive: “Ten thousand bombs had landed,”says Bassam, “and I was waiting for George. Ten thousand bombs had landed on Beirut, that crowded city”¦ It’s time to leave, I was thinking to myself.” One might question why it took ten thousand bombs to fall before Bassam considered leaving; however, he is a young man, still living at home with his mother and working a job that is neither regular nor well-paying; his options for escape are rather limited. Escape is what he does decide to do, and the bulk of the novel consists of his efforts to flee the war-ravaged city for Rome, his long-dreamed of utopia.

To fund his escape — his dockyard job not lucrative enough — Bassam chooses to become involved in the criminal underworld with his childhood friend George. A rift forms between the two friends when George joins the militia; this is a moral line Bassam refuses to cross. That he too ends up stealing, cheating and killing is an irony that is not entirely lost on either the reader or the narrator.

The reader is not entirely Bassam’s confidante. There is, at times, a surprising lack of emotional expression, considering the violence represented and the losses Bassam incurs. It is true, though, that how he feels is often “shown” rather than “told,” an effect for which any writer worth his salt must aim. Further to Bassam’s withholding from the reader: the final Beirut scene between Bassam and George stays safely hidden inside Bassam’s head until he is ready to reveal it — even then, the effect is that of eavesdropping on a confession. In spite of Bassam’s reticence in appealing to the reader’s sympathies, De Niro’s Game discloses much to a Canadian audience largely sheltered from the physical and emotional effects of war, due to the simple fact that a war is not taking place on Canadian soil. Bassam’s voice, though emotionally restrained, tells a story that is not only vivid, but also illuminating.