Meike's Reviews > Home Fire

Now Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2018 - well-deserved!!
" - Go back to uni, study the law. Accept the law, even when it's unjust.
- You don't love either justice or our brother if you can say that."

This book tells the story of a British family with Pakistani roots that gets torn apart by the ideology of jihad - and the story is modeled after Sophocles' classic greek tragedy Antigone. I loved the idea, as it underlines that the turmoil we are facing today is not as new as we like to assume. Rather, it can at least in part be traced back to aspects of the human condition and universal feelings that have not changed in the last 2,000 years.

The main protagonists of "Home Fire" are Isma and her twin siblings Aneeka and Parvaiz. Their father was an Islamic terrorist who died on his way to Guantánamo, and after the death of their mother, then 21-year-old Isma is left to provide for her 12-year-old siblings. After Aneeka and Parvaiz finish school, Isma decides to leave London (where all siblings have lived all their lives) and finally continue her studies in the United States. While Isma and Aneeka seem to be able to overcome their past, Parvaiz' life slowly unravels until he finally decides to move to Raqqa and take part in the jihad, just as his father did.

The story is split in five parts, each moving the story forward from a different point of view:
- Isma
- Aneeka
- Parvaiz
- Karamat, the British Home Secretary in charge of fighting terrorism, who is himself the child of Muslim immigrants
- Eamonn, Karamat's son, who falls in love with Aneeka

I would like to talk a little about the parallels to "Antigone", but beware: While I stopped my little summary above to avoid spoilers, the connections between "Home Fire" and "Antigone" will give you some hints concerning what will happen to the three siblings! Okay, let's go:

(view spoiler)[Oedipus, the King of Thebes, and his mother Iokaste had four children: Antigone (here: Aneeka), Ismene (Isma), Polyneices (Parvaiz), and Eteocles (no direct counterpart). After Oedipus' death (for more on his story, check: Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus), Polyneices and Eteocles start a civil war fighting for the throne of Thebes, in which both die. The new king Creon (Karamat), brother of Iokaste, blames Polyneices (Parvaiz), whom he had previously banned from Thebes, and orders to deny Polyneices (Parvaiz) the burial rites. Although Ismene (Isma) tries to prevent it, Antigone (Aneeka) goes ahead and buries her brother (Polyneices/Parvaiz) anyway, as she refuses to conform to a law she sees as unjust and to male dominance. Instead, she chooses to conform to what she perceives as the rules of the gods. Antigone's (Aneeka's) fiancé Haimon (Eamonn) tries to save her from the consequences of her actions, but Creon (Karamat) realizes that he has gone too far only after it is too late: Both Antigone (Aneeka) and Haimon (Eamonn) die. (hide spoiler)]

I particularly liked that both in "Antigone" and in "Home Fire", none of the main characters are outright bad: They are trying to do what's right, but some of them make bad choices and take the wrong decisions - with devastating consequences. The way Shamsie talks about race, class, religion, identity and belonging is very lucid and daring, as she asks extremely difficult questions that are almost impossible to answer. I was fascinated by the character of Karamat, who at some point asks himself:

"Working class or Millionaire, Muslim or Ex-Muslim, Proud-Son-of-Migrants or anti-Migrant, Moderniser or Traditionalist? Will the real Karamat Lone please stand up?"

I also enjoyed how the people of Thebes who question their king in "Antigone" are mirrored in "Home Fire", media frenzy and all.

Other parts of the novel, especially the scenes in Pakistan and the ending, are not told realistically, but almost dream- or movie-like. The effect is rather puzzling, but not in a bad way, and I will have to think about those scenes more in order to interpret them.

Although the language is not nearly as good as in Autumn or Lincoln in the Bardo, this book would also be a worthy winner of the Booker - yes, I said it! For instance, it is way, way better than the former winner The White Tiger, a book that also talked about class and injustice. This will most likely make my shortlist. (Update: It did make my shortlist, but unfortunately, the Booker judges did not shortlist it).