Fady Bahig, The Journey of The Fool

This is a thoughtful and thought-provoking book. But perhaps to say that is to give a false impression of the range of its possible appeal. For in fact the book comprises a wide and varied range of moods, perspectives, and attitudes.

The story is cast in the form of a pseudo-autobiographical narrative. I use the term 'pseudo-autobiographical' not only because the whole is narrated in the first person, but more importantly because it sounds like the expression of imaginary and fanciful but vibrantly lived experiences.

It moves from the experiences of a precocious but emotionally starved childhood, through an adolescence torn between intellectual curiosity, sensuality and suppressed sexuality, to a youthful drive towards asceticism, spirituality, and philosophical speculation.

On the first reading I felt that the sensuality and sexuality were over-emphasized and that the explicitness of the expression here verged on pornography. I thought the author was depicting - even though hazily - a progression from carnal bondage to mystic liberation, until the author himself assured me, in private correspondence, that, on the contrary, his intention was to give a nihilistic impression.

Whatever may be the reader's take, she or he cannot fail to find food for thought in the perceptive reflections spread throughout the latter part of the book and the graphic and sometimes astounding depictions of the earlier part.

I think that the linguistic finish of the book could be improved, but this will not diminish the reader's enjoyment of the work.

D. R. K.