Guantanamo Paperback by Dorothea Dieckmann

Product Details

• Publisher: Soft Skull (2007-03-28)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 160 pages
• ISBN-13: 9781933368542
• Item Weight: 170.1 grams
• Dimensions: 20.4 x 12.75 x 0.89 cm

At the beginning of the Afghan war, young Rashid, born in Hamburg to an Indian father and a German mother, travels to India to claim an inheritance. There, he befriends a young Afghan and continues his journey to Peshawar, where he ends up in the middle of an anti-American demonstration. He is arrested, handed over to the Americans, and taken to the notorious Guantanamo.

What ensues is a remarkable literary experiment, a novel based on meticulous research. In six scenes, it describes Rashid’s life at the camp. Sensitive yet utterly unsentimental, the novel explores the existential consequences of isolation, suppression, and uncertainty — paralyzing fear, psychotic delusions, manic identification with fellow prisoners, and ultimately, resignation. Written with fierce moral clarity and a remarkable economy of expression, Guantanamo functions as both a political statement and a fascinating examination of the prisoner/jailer relationship.

About the Author

Dorothea Dieckmann is an award-winning author from Germany. Her first novel to be translated into English is Guantanamo, which won the Best Translated Book Award.

Tim Mohr is a New York-based translator, writer, and editor.