Osama
⭐⭐⭐
Osama is speculative fiction written in the noir style, and it is not for the faint of heart. In honor of noir detectives everywhere, I paired it with a straight shot of bourbon.
I don't think I enjoyed this book. Part of that is due to the format - Osama is half speculative fiction, half noir. I've never found speculative fiction comfortable to read, although I'm making an effort to get more into the genre. And while I liked the few film noirs I vaguely remember watching years ago, I'm unfamiliar with any of the usual tropes or themes. I wish I'd read Osama either as someone more familiar with the noir genre or as a better student of history, as I also missed that many of the comic book scenes in Osama are events pulled straight from the our own world. I suspect this would have been a much more engrossing read if I knew the format or picked up more of the references in real time. (I read this for a bookclub; one of the other members pointed out that the author had used real events.)
Adding the discomfort of unfamiliarity to the emotionally charged plot - in an alternate universe where terrorism does not exist, a man is searching for the author of a graphic novel series that follows a vigilante hero named Osama Bin Laden. Yes. That Osama Bin Laden. 9/11 is one of my first real memories of a major world event, and while I've learned as an adult how important it is to always understand the 'why' behind messaging and news articles, at the time I just accepted the common wisdom. (Freedom Fries!) Reading Osama now forced me into a reckoning with my own internal biases. What's the difference between Osama bin Laden's terrorist network and the 'Lone Wolf' gunmen who coordinate on alt-right message boards? Much as See No Stranger forced me to empathize with the 'other' and understand the fear driving them, Osama forced me to acknowledge my own unexamined fears and biases.
Shot o’ Whiskey
Whiskey Glass
Evan Williams Kentucky bourbon
Pour whiskey into glass. Remember that you hate most whiskey cocktails, and that you only chose Evan Williams because it fit the book. Carefully pour it back into the bottle and find something better.
