The Man Who Snapped His Fingers

by Fariba Hachtroudi, Alison Anderson (Translator)

Winner of the 2001 French Human Rights Prize, French-Iranian author Fariba Hachtroudi's English-language debut explores themes as old as time: the crushing effects of totalitarianism and the infinite power of love. 

She was known as "Lure 455," the most famous prisoner in a ruthless theological republic. He was one of the colonels closest to the Supreme Commander. When they meet, years later, far from their country of birth, a strange, equivocal relationship develops between them. Both their shared past of suffering and old romantic passions come rushing back accompanied by recollections of the perverse logic of violence that dominated the dicatorship under which they lived.

The Man Who Snapped His Fingers is a novel of ideas, exploring power and memory by an important female writer from a part of the world where female voices are routinely silenced.

Genres: Fiction, Iran, Novels, France, 21st Century, Middle East, French Literature

144 pages, Paperback

First published February 2, 2016

Reviews

[Orsodimondo · Rating 3 out of 5]

PROMESSE INCROCIATE, AMORI SEGNATI



Storia notevole.
E anche l’intreccio è notevole: in un paese governato da un aberrante regime religioso e totalitario (facile riconoscere l’Iran), una donna, la prigioniera 455, passa diciotto mesi in un carcere di massima sicurezza, vittima di torture, violenza e abusi d’ogni tipo – ma non cede, anche di fronte al dolore più forte e all’umiliazione più profonda, tace, non fa nomi, dice solo “no”, costruendosi così, a sua insaputa, una fama leggendaria all’interno del carcere.
Dall’altro lato c’è invece un militare, pluridecorato nella guerra (Iraq- Iran), che suo malgrado fa parte della ristretta cerchia del Comandante Supremo, non uccide e non tortura ma assiste, non si sporca col sangue ma lo vede schizzare, ha l’incarico di riorganizzare le carceri, è membro dei servizi segreti.

I due si incontrano per caso nel paese dove entrambi sono riusciti a riparare (è automatico riconoscere la Svezia).
In breve, si capisce cosa li ha portati in contatto, adesso, e prima della fuga.
Il terzo e quarto personaggio del racconto sono la moglie amatissima del militare, un’astronoma di chiara fama, e il marito della prigioniera, un leggendario capo della ribellione.
Le due donne hanno lo stesso nome, Vima, sono entrambe di statura ridotta e alta bellezza.


Pubblica esecuzione di morte per sega nell’antica Persia. XVIII secolo.

Colpisce come il paese ospitante faccia una ben magra figura, e come i personaggi si riferiscano ai diritti umani con dileggio e un certo disprezzo (quanta retorica e quanta ‘politica’ si può nascondere sotto la bandiera dei diritti umani).

Scrittura, invece, così così.
Si percepisce che il vero mestiere della scrittrice non sia far letteratura, ma prima di tutto giornalismo.



Anche se il problema della scrittura è curiosamente un eccesso di scrittura: due io narranti (in più, in coda, anche un narratore terzo) – due io narranti, uomo e donna, che si esprimono in prima persona singolare, con un doppio monologo interiore – due io narranti che ricostruiscono la storia uno all’insaputa dell’altra.
Ma ci sono troppi punti, troppa punteggiatura in genere, le frasi sono troppo corte, troppo sospese, ci sono fin troppe ellissi.
Lavorando in apparenza per sottrarre e sincopare, Fariba Hachtroudi costruisce un gioco di specchi un po’ stucchevole, un po’ troppo retorico, un po’ troppo letterario (iperletterario?), si sforza di essere lirica e fallisce, parla tanto d'amore, eterno e sommo, senza riuscire a districarsi dalla cioccolata (baciperugina).



Probabilmente, tutto funzionerebbe meglio sul palcoscenico, è facile presumere, e anche auspicare, che se ne faccia un adattamento teatrale.

Mi viene da definirlo un tipico romanzo dove la storia prevale sulla scrittura.
Un tipico romanzo che invita all’intervista (sulla libertà e la repressione, la religione, la condizione della donna, i diritti umani…) più che all’analisi critica.

[Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a powerful story about a woman who was held prisoner in a fictional nation (inspired by totalitarian governments) and a colonel who worked at the prison in which she was kept. It deals with issues of resistance, unmitigated violence, betrayal, and ultimately, love. I think a re-read of this book would be really rewarding because even though it's quite a short novel, there is a lot going on. Hachtroudi handles the topic excellently, giving you enough to understand the characters at first, and then doling out information through their alternating perspectives to really bring you into their emotions. I thought it was a compelling story that shows the horrors of war en masse in light of the strength and resilience of individuals. 4 stars

[Roger Brunyate · Rating 4 out of 5]

 
The Murderer Madly in Love

My view of the world amounted to a few centimeters of space above the ground, and a few pairs of feet, sometimes with shoes, sometime without. You have to have survived a place like Heaven to understand how and why a world reduced to an insignificant patch of floor can suddenly become so vital. You have to have a real hunger for life, in spite of Heaven, to be able to capture that random shot of a pair of feet that spend more time kicking you than walking by. The net of your blurred gaze beneath the blindfold is the only thing connecting you to the world, and most of the time it is reduced to a pair of boots, shows, or worn-out old slippers splattered with blood, snot, or puke."

The Heaven here is no paradise, but the name of a notorious prison where the enemies of the Theological Republic are secreted, tortured, or murdered. The speaker is not even there for her own crime, but as a "bait" — Bait 455, to be precise — to be tortured as a means of breaking her dissident husband. But the woman is apparently unbreakable, withstanding every sort of degradation with no more than a single visceral "No!" Be warned, though, that this quotation is nothing; many of the early pages of Farida Hachtroudi's short novel call for a strong stomach.

The "Theological Republic" is not identified, but it is fairly clearly Iran, the country that Hachtroudi left after the revolution of 1979. The novella is set in another unnamed country to the North, possibly Sweden. "Bait 455," whose real name turns out to be Vima, has somehow escaped and won refugee status in return for her work as a translator. At the beginning of the book, she is called in to translate another asylum-seeker from her own country, the former Colonel in charge of the state prisons, a man whom she recognizes from his characteristic way of walking. For a while, we are in a situation very similar to that in Ariel Dorfman's play Death and the Maiden : the victim and her presumed torturer brought face to face in a situation where the facts are not so obvious as they first appear. Could he—the man who snapped his fingers—also have had a hand in her escape; and if so, why? So long as Hachtroudi maintains the mystery and tension, she had me gripped, almost as though I were reading a thriller. So far, a clear five stars.

The fine translation is by Alison Anderson, best known for Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog. But I almost wish I had read this in the original language. Because, although her subject is Iranian, Farida Hachtroudi's literary allegiance is French. There is a daring artificiality of construction; until the very end, the book proceeds entirely in alternating monologues, in Italics for her and Roman for him. There is thus a kind of theatricality to it, not the dialogue of the Dorfman play, but something more Gallic, a semi-abstract interplay of emotions, shifting almost Impressionistically in a shimmer of short sentences such as these [no spoiler; this comes very early]:

Fantasies. You in my bed and me inside you. In a little while, maybe I'll hear the magic words: Mr. 43221, your file is closed. Your case has been settled. The authorities, and God the father along with them, believe you. The appellate judge has handed down his decision: accepted! You have the right to become a citizen. The right to our documents. To our freedom. To our security. The right to live without trickery, without nightmares, terror, or the obligation to flatter anyone. The right to give the finger to the Supreme Commander, to forget him, to loathe him along with everything else. For you it's the light at the end of the tunnel.

This, of course, is the Colonel dreaming of the resolution of his case. But note the second sentence; all his monologues are framed as though they were letters to his wife back in his former home; he remains madly in love. She too is called Vima; she is beautiful, independent, and smart, with the determination to obtain a doctorate in astrophysics at a time when education for women was frowned upon. The other Vima, the torture victim, also thinks constantly of the spouse whom she has left behind, but she does not know whether he has betrayed her, still loves her, or even if he is alive.

Would I be wrong to see French influence in the conversion of a political drama into a love story? I regretted it, but mostly for how it was done. For as the distant Vima becomes more present in the story, the classical balance of the two voices loses its focus, and with it much of its urgency. In the last two dozen pages, we get sections that are not interior monologues, but written letters or third-person descriptions by a narrator who had hitherto been absent. I can't say I fully understand what is happening, but the mystification also seems French. Something meta-fictional going on, perhaps, about the writing of the book we are now reading? Something behind the decision to give both women the same name, Vima? Something cynical, that questions not only expediency but even love itself? At any rate, while I can see French critics lapping it up, the ending left me merely feeling empty, despite the horrible brilliance of the opening.

[Mainlinebooker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unforgettable novel ,winner of the 2001 French Human Rights Prize, is a powerful novel of impressions,meaning and totalitarian ideology. In a world where female voices are rarely given elevation, prisoner 455 is used as bait in an Iranian world to draw out her husband's subversive activities. Stoic and unbreakable she refuses to break despite the horrors inflicted upon her from the guards. The other voice is from a colonel whose close proximity to the Supreme Commander is fraught with his own internal turmoil. Switching from past to the present, the former colonel tries to seek asylum and is sent a translator who is none other than 455. The interior dialogue between the two lends incredible tension to an agonizing tale which left me breathless as they explored their memories of violence and love which rocked their world.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

A woman is working in an asylum centre as a translator and is called in to translate an interview due to the unavailability another person. She utters the word, she has all but banished from her vocabulary. Yes. Now she faces the man with the voice she recognises, the man who snapped his fingers and changed her life, in their country, years ago.

One last interview with an asylum seeker who's a bit of a problem, said my interlocutor, who was not anyone I knew. He went on It's a Colonel from the Theological Republic. But - I read your file. "Refuses to do any simultaneous translation for military or government personnel from her country of origin."

Fariba Hachtroudi's novella is a dual narrative, switching between two characters as they experience the present and remember the past in flashbacks, a kind of first person stream-of-conscious dual narrative that is tense and withholding, though ultimately revealing.

We know bad things have happened, but no one wishes to relive or explain them, their thoughts rarely go there. They both live with fear, paranoia and suffer from separation, from the memory and pain of love. However they seek answers, atonement and their brief meeting will move them closer to it.

They both live in isolation and with the memory of a great love and yet they have this terrible connection, which requires them to move past if they are to be of any benefit to each other. Can one overcome the memory of torture, the victim and the perpetrator?

It's a book that would benefit from being read twice as the narrative isn't chronological, the characters and their loved ones are revealed slowly so thoughts shared in the beginning without reader knowledge add more to the story if we flip back and reread them.

Though a short novella, it requires concentration and acceptance that the threads will become clear, and yet even while things are unclear, there is a mounting tension and discomfort that is hard to articulate, but is testament to the profound, tightly woven writing style of the author, this her first English translation.

Fariba Hachtroudi was born in Tehran, leaving Iran after the 1979 revolution. An account of her return to Iran after 30 years in exile was the subject of a memoir Twelfth Imam's a Woman?

[Celine · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who works on issues related to statelessness and refugees, I really wanted to love this book. Parts were incredible: the way Hachtroudi highlighted how awful and re-traumatizing the immigration/asylum process can be for many refugees, the vivid portrayal of the unsettled lifestyle of someone caught between two countries (forced to flee home, not yet granted passage into the U.S.), the haunting and vivid way she talked about the floor. Yes, the floor.

But other parts I honestly couldn't stand. Trite, tedious sentences such as "I was weeping like a metal retard" were scattered throughout. And so repetitive! On page page 70: "Then behind the trees. Furtive, wary." followed by "Gazes furtively around us. " two pages later, and again on page 81: “Our furtive glances meet briefly.” More repetition on page 66: "To transform a man in his prime into a vegetable," followed by "I have been vegetating. " on page 112. On page 86: “The contact of her skin is like a flame, burning me” but then on the next page: “My palm is burning, his palm has been branded." Ugh. Seemed so lazy and took so much away from the beauty of the story.

I appreciated so much about this book, and disliked it so much the same time. disappointing.

[Lucrezia Monti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Neppure 150 pagine per il libro più intenso, coinvolgente e sconvolgente che abbia letto negli ultimi dieci anni almeno.
In alcuni punti ho pianto senza ritegno.
Come solo una storia che senti vera può far piangere.
Perché, sebbene l'Iran non venga mai menzionato, non è difficile scorgerlo dietro la Repubblica teologica, così come non è affatto difficile trovare tanta umanità - con le sue passioni, le sue paure, le sue ossessioni, le sue fragilità - dietro a chi per pagine e pagine non ha neppure un nome: il colonnello e la 455.
La perfezione non è di questo mondo, ma "L'uomo che schioccava le dita" si merita le mie cinque stelle.

[Neema Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A powerful little book that offered a generous and vulnerable glimpse into the horrors experienced by some Iranian refugees. The book’s emotionally rich beginnings devolved into a series of overly intellectual letters and I felt the heart of the story fade with the changing structure.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intense depiction of internal turmoil and struggle, of two people who meet in two different times, two different places. An escapee to Europe from a "theological republic", her work as a translator of refugee deputations brings her literally cheek to jowl with one of her jailers, the man who was responsible for her release from the torture rooms. Their backstories are narrated in the first person. Gripping and intense, this work is a testimony to strength and courage amidst a miasma of subterfuge, hypocrisy and totalitarian injustice.

[Cubierocks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful, visceral, emotional story of hope, love, and resistance. There are some aspects, such as the author's dealing with mental illness and disability, that are somewhat concerning and did not age well, though.

Full Review here

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will miss the discussion of this book - very sad I will.

I started reading and had a hard time putting down this book. Vima (Bait 455) and The Colonel (finally get name for him at the end Ala) share a history together -unpleasant for them both.

The torture that Vima/455 went through, yet survived, under the Supreme Commander. Ala's willingness to risk all for HIS Vima in rescuing Vima 455, when he was part of the elite team working for the Supreme Commander. We are given a window into both sides of a brutal regime.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

The man who snapped his fingers is definetely one of my favourites of the books I have read this year. I really struggled to put it down and just wanted to keep reading. When I was forced to stop reading because you know life, all I could think about was getting back to reading it. I found that I really connected with the characters (well as much as you can when you've lived a safe life) and really wanted to know more about them. If you're thinking about reading it just start it, it's a fantastic read!

[Erin Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. So much of it was heartbreaking and unbearable. It was also powerful and beautifully written. It shows what one can endure for love. Prisoner Vima is like no character I've ever read. I wanted to say this book shows that no one is a perfect being but prisoner Vima is in a different class from Ala and scientist Vima. I'm confused about Del though. I'm not sure if I should despise him or pity him--it wasn't clear to me. And what about the toddler?!?!?

[Maud (reading the world challenge) · Rating 4 out of 5]

[#34 Iran] A former prisoner who endured torture in a totalitarian regime finds herself face to face with a colonel she met in prison. The novel is short but the writing is dense. It's the story of a monstrous error, the quest for the truth to one of them, for freedom and emotional release to the other. It's also the story of the irreparable damage the dictature had on their private lives. I really liked this story, especially the raw violence of its ending.

[Jax · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is well-written, and I like that the narrative is written from two different perspectives about the same event. The topic is one that is not seen often in mainstream Western books, so it is a much appreciated glance into the Theological Republic of Iran and the refugee and asylum seeking process (and the physical and emotional toll that it can take on individuals).

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly powerful little book with a lot of depth that took me a very long time to complete, not because of length (it's quite short) or the language used, but the sheer density and weight of the story. I'll have to read this again at some point in the future, but it's definitely a beautiful, powerful story that requires some serious deep thinking afterwards.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in France in 2001 (but the book shows it as having been translated from Italian?), and translated into English in 2016. Hachtroudi is Iranian/French. She is better known as a journalist, but this is a powerful political, and personal, novel.
Rather "meta" - is this the novel "Bait 455" has written? And presented from 3 POV. 455, the colonel, and his wife/scientist.
Set in an unnamed Theological Nation, that is obviously Iran, and a Scandinavian country.
They say that in a relationship one of the couple always loves more than the other - and that is part of the story here.
And while Iran and its leader may be evil, the West is not guilt free in any way either.
The connections between the main characters build a well told story. And Hachtroudi (who as a journalist returned to Iran under cover, and wrote about it) does not hesitate to share the torture and horror of the religious, nationalistic regime.
A bit hard to believe at times - the way people seem to easily escape Iran, that his family (especially his non-conformist wife) is not imprisoned or tortured after he leaves, or that no one locates the escaped 455, hidden in a military hospital.
But a well told and writen story, both political and personal.
My thanks to my local and state PL for an ebook loan of this title. I can't remember who or where, but there was an interview with an author, and she (not a fiction writer herself) recommended this book.

[Cristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un romanzo potente, una realtà difficile da immaginare. Io vivo in Italia, questa è la differenza. Per ora non devo fuggire, anzi non sono dovuta fuggire o inventare stratagemmi per poter realizzare i miei desideri.
Fariba Hachtroudi riesce a scrivere una storia cruda e pienamente convincente con personaggi credibili anche se tutti in modo diverso eccezionali. Idealizzate le figure femminili, le due Vima, eroine diverse e vincenti. Forse
più come ci piacerebbe che fossero.
Mi piace l'intreccio della storia, il suo svelarsi al lettore passo passo.
Bello il titolo italiano più di quello originale.
Letto molto volentieri e consigliato.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hard story to read, but important in how it shows the complexities of four humans during this political regime in Iran whilst being at the opposites of each other.

How she was able to mix the atrocities of this camp -named Heaven- and the love these characters feel so strongly and deeply. There is so much resilience in this novel, and while we didn't get a full resolution, I think it is very much true to life where there isn't always a direct end chapter of someone's traumatic experiences.

TW: graphic description of rape, suicide attempt.

[Zuly · Rating 5 out of 5]

What kind of regime would call a prison "heaven"? 2 narrators throughout most of the book and their effects on the love life experienced by the other (2 couples). The haphazard-ness of love and what it endures and why. The dark sides explored. When the two women of the same name come together, they understand themselves better.

Iran. Russia. Fictional unnamed.

This narrative is dense as it is beautiful. Worth a second read. Lovely and brutal passages.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult premise and read, and unique. Definitely not a read for everyone - “455’s” flashbacks of her experiences are difficult. I didn’t feel much resolution at the end of the book but that is perhaps the author’s point. It was of interest to see the differing perspectives and how the characters strived to find a way to survive.

[Peggii · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although it is a short novel, it is emotionally rich, thought-provoking on the topics of legacy of love, trauma, political suppression. I enjoyed the short sentence style and I found myself stopping on some of theme and reflecting for a whole on its richness. I am not surprised this book got an award.

[Ekta Chavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a while to catch on to the story, since the narrative felt like it's about to reveal something very predictable. But the book will surprise you, in ways you won't see coming.
Very well written and touches the heart and mind in the right place and in just the right proportions. Totally would recommend :)

[Rouchon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une construction de roman originale, les deux personnages principaux étant alternativement les locuteurs : le colonel s'adressant à sa femme restée au pays et Vima (l'appat 455) nous partageant sa souffrance et son questionnement, broyée par des circonstances aussi inattendues qu'excessives.

Un roman d'une grande actualité.

[Bea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fills into the Reading Women Challenge 2021 (3) A Book About Incarceration.

[James E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another one I could NOT put down. Finished it in 3 hours. A gripping story from modern Iran-- so realistic that it has to be at least partly autobiographical, I felt!

[Sara'la · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uniquely told.

[Daniel Polansky]

An Iranian interrogator and his former captive reconstruct their relationship, history while exiled in Europe in this paean to the power of love, false and true.

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yet another book from French TBR
of books purchased 8 years ago…finished!
My first F. Hachtroudi book and I can confirm it wiil be my last!
The narrative had potential…but just too confusing.

[F.]

"Per essere assolti non basta non aver ucciso con le proprie mani." (p. 50)