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Seklies House The Guardian of Surfaces.
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
“A necessary masterpiece, proving that true fiction is not an escape into a dreamlike Wonderland but a cautionary excursion into the depths of the human condition.”
—Alberto Manguel, bestselling, critically acclaimed author of The History of Reading
“An urgent, sweeping call to arms for the protection of books and book lovers everywhere.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Meaning, metaphor, and the material are all at stake in this sly fable of a near-future won by censors who ban not just books but imagination, dreams, and desire. I’d follow these characters anywhere.”
—Emily Drabinski, president of the American Library Association
“Time will tell whether The Guardian of Surfaces possesses the same kind of world-changing verve of, say, Orwell’s 1984 . . . In the meantime, call all your friends, and especially your enemies . . . and let them know that you’ve heard that Al-Essa’s novel might, especially with its liberal use of unregulated rabbits, be even more dangerous than some already banned books.”
—Bruce J. Krajewski, Ancillary Review of Books
“An assertion of literature’s importance and the persistence of imagination, this novel echoes canonized tales of totalitarian dystopia. In this story driven by intertextuality, we follow a man as he discovers humanity in fiction and finds the fear of difference at the root of censorship.”
—Nath Mayes, Carmichael’s Bookstore
At all times, we must stay on the surface of language. The surface! Beware of wading into meaning. Do you know what happens to people who sink into meaning? An eternal mania strangles them and they’re left unfit to live. You are a guardian of surfaces. The future of humanity depends on you.
T H E F I R S T C E N S O R
The new book censor has not slept soundly in weeks. By day, he combs through manuscripts at a government office, looking for anything that would make a book unfit to publish—allusions to queerness, unapproved religions, any mention of life before the Revolution. By night, pilfered novels pile up in the house he shares with his wife and daughter, and the characters of literary classics crowd his dreams. As the siren song of forbidden reading continues to beckon, he descends into a netherworld of resistance fighters, undercover booksellers, and outlaw librarians trying to save their history and culture.
Reckoning with the global threat to free speech and the bleak future it all but guarantees, Bothayna Al-Essa marries the steely dystopia of Orwell’s 1984 with the madcap absurdity of Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, resulting in a dreadful twist worthy of Kafka. The Guardian of Surfaces is a warning call and a love letter to stories and the delicious act of losing oneself in them.
“A necessary masterpiece, proving that true fiction is not an escape into a dreamlike Wonderland but a cautionary excursion into the depths of the human condition.”
—Alberto Manguel, bestselling, critically acclaimed author of The History of Reading
“An urgent, sweeping call to arms for the protection of books and book lovers everywhere.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Meaning, metaphor, and the material are all at stake in this sly fable of a near-future won by censors who ban not just books but imagination, dreams, and desire. I’d follow these characters anywhere.”
—Emily Drabinski, president of the American Library Association
“Time will tell whether The Guardian of Surfaces possesses the same kind of world-changing verve of, say, Orwell’s 1984 . . . In the meantime, call all your friends, and especially your enemies . . . and let them know that you’ve heard that Al-Essa’s novel might, especially with its liberal use of unregulated rabbits, be even more dangerous than some already banned books.”
—Bruce J. Krajewski, Ancillary Review of Books
“An assertion of literature’s importance and the persistence of imagination, this novel echoes canonized tales of totalitarian dystopia. In this story driven by intertextuality, we follow a man as he discovers humanity in fiction and finds the fear of difference at the root of censorship.”
—Nath Mayes, Carmichael’s Bookstore
At all times, we must stay on the surface of language. The surface! Beware of wading into meaning. Do you know what happens to people who sink into meaning? An eternal mania strangles them and they’re left unfit to live. You are a guardian of surfaces. The future of humanity depends on you.
T H E F I R S T C E N S O R
The new book censor has not slept soundly in weeks. By day, he combs through manuscripts at a government office, looking for anything that would make a book unfit to publish—allusions to queerness, unapproved religions, any mention of life before the Revolution. By night, pilfered novels pile up in the house he shares with his wife and daughter, and the characters of literary classics crowd his dreams. As the siren song of forbidden reading continues to beckon, he descends into a netherworld of resistance fighters, undercover booksellers, and outlaw librarians trying to save their history and culture.
Reckoning with the global threat to free speech and the bleak future it all but guarantees, Bothayna Al-Essa marries the steely dystopia of Orwell’s 1984 with the madcap absurdity of Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, resulting in a dreadful twist worthy of Kafka. The Guardian of Surfaces is a warning call and a love letter to stories and the delicious act of losing oneself in them.
- GenresFiction
261 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2019
2 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
Bothayna Al-Essa
23 books234 followersBothayna El Essa (Arabic: بثينة العيسى) is a novelist from Kuwait. A well-known author in modern Arabic literature, her novel The Book Censor's Library was longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award for Fiction in their category for translated literature.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 22, 2024
By day, the new book censor spends his days combing manuscripts for anything deemed unfit by the regime; by night, he finds himself drawn into the worlds of pilfered, forbidden books…
I very much enjoyed this one - hardly a surprise given that it’s a book about books, the importance of reading and the human need for storytelling… But it’s also a serious critique of censorship and book-banning and an exploration of the role of literature in resisting oppression and prompting critical thinking - ultimately, one’s inner thoughts can never be fully controlled. (But that can also have consequences…)
I loved the writing - it was immersive but easy to read and entertaining. The strong, satirical streak of absurdity very much worked for me - scenarios are taken to the extreme, and yet…it didn’t feel unbelievable or too far-fetched. It feels like a possible future (sans rabbits). Which is terrifying.
Unsurprisingly, books are referenced throughout, but the complete overrepresentation of the anglophone literary canon was rather unexpected in a translated book and actually a little disorienting - surely works of dissent and critiques of autocracy have been written elsewhere, too? The flip side is that the story lends itself remarkably well to translation for an anglophone audience.
An immersive, absurd and pertinent satire of book banning, the human need for storytelling and the power of imagination.
I very much enjoyed this one - hardly a surprise given that it’s a book about books, the importance of reading and the human need for storytelling… But it’s also a serious critique of censorship and book-banning and an exploration of the role of literature in resisting oppression and prompting critical thinking - ultimately, one’s inner thoughts can never be fully controlled. (But that can also have consequences…)
I loved the writing - it was immersive but easy to read and entertaining. The strong, satirical streak of absurdity very much worked for me - scenarios are taken to the extreme, and yet…it didn’t feel unbelievable or too far-fetched. It feels like a possible future (sans rabbits). Which is terrifying.
Unsurprisingly, books are referenced throughout, but the complete overrepresentation of the anglophone literary canon was rather unexpected in a translated book and actually a little disorienting - surely works of dissent and critiques of autocracy have been written elsewhere, too? The flip side is that the story lends itself remarkably well to translation for an anglophone audience.
An immersive, absurd and pertinent satire of book banning, the human need for storytelling and the power of imagination.
May 18, 2025
When I finished this book, about five minutes ago, I felt quite emotional. Partly because of the plot’s ending (which I won’t spoil). Partly because I was so happy to have read this book. I think I might immediately read it again.
I’m a sucker for the concept: political satire, dystopia, and just a book about books. I’m drawn innately to both genres, and they are some of my favourites: 1984 on the one hand, Shadow of the Wind on the other. ‘The Arab world’s answer to 1984’, is one (probably lazy) spin (Bothayna Al-Essa is from Kuwait). I read a book like that a few years ago, called 2084, in which faith as a concept was abolished. It was a great idea but a hard plot to follow. In ‘Guardians of Surfaces’, imagination is the true thoughtcrime. And here, like 1984, the plot is sparse and simple, the focus on the puritanical, oppressive, despotism that seeks to regulate every aspect of society, including what is inside our heads and hearts.
At the start, al-Essa writes that the events of the story occur in a place that ‘would be pointless to name as it resembles every other place’. It is clearly speaking to a near future of a particular form of autocracy, a crack down on literacy and independent thought, a government invested in keeping its populace dumb and docile. What I loved was how much this is a love letter to books themselves. Books are living creatures here, in several ways. They feel pain, loneliness, love. There are five main sections of this story, each of which is literary reference: Alice in Wonderland, Fahrenheit 451, and ‘the father of the banned book’ - 1984. The author wears her influences on her sleeve, and I loved how deftly they were repurposed for this idea.
One review on the dust jacket said ‘Time will tell whether this book possesses the same kind of world-changing verve of 1984’ and I suppose that’s true. It’s a high bar. But this is the best homage, tribute, reimagining, revitalising of what I think is perhaps my favourite all time book. The same review ends ‘tell all your friends’, and I happily echo that.
I’m a sucker for the concept: political satire, dystopia, and just a book about books. I’m drawn innately to both genres, and they are some of my favourites: 1984 on the one hand, Shadow of the Wind on the other. ‘The Arab world’s answer to 1984’, is one (probably lazy) spin (Bothayna Al-Essa is from Kuwait). I read a book like that a few years ago, called 2084, in which faith as a concept was abolished. It was a great idea but a hard plot to follow. In ‘Guardians of Surfaces’, imagination is the true thoughtcrime. And here, like 1984, the plot is sparse and simple, the focus on the puritanical, oppressive, despotism that seeks to regulate every aspect of society, including what is inside our heads and hearts.
At the start, al-Essa writes that the events of the story occur in a place that ‘would be pointless to name as it resembles every other place’. It is clearly speaking to a near future of a particular form of autocracy, a crack down on literacy and independent thought, a government invested in keeping its populace dumb and docile. What I loved was how much this is a love letter to books themselves. Books are living creatures here, in several ways. They feel pain, loneliness, love. There are five main sections of this story, each of which is literary reference: Alice in Wonderland, Fahrenheit 451, and ‘the father of the banned book’ - 1984. The author wears her influences on her sleeve, and I loved how deftly they were repurposed for this idea.
One review on the dust jacket said ‘Time will tell whether this book possesses the same kind of world-changing verve of 1984’ and I suppose that’s true. It’s a high bar. But this is the best homage, tribute, reimagining, revitalising of what I think is perhaps my favourite all time book. The same review ends ‘tell all your friends’, and I happily echo that.
December 12, 2024
I felt it was more relevant as a primer to Arabic readers (in its original language) to the stories of 451 Fahrenheit, 1984 and Kafka’s stories. Nothing new or original.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews