June 6, 2016
Readers will be uncomfortably stirred by this poignant novel about the haunting effects of war from Tremblay, a prolific Montreal actor, playwright, and author of over 30 books. Aziz and Amed are nine-year-old identical twins growing up in the war-torn Arab Middle East (their exact location left intentionally vague by the author) at their family's orange grove. When a bomb kills the boys' grandparents, a religious militant faction convinces their father, Zahed, that "revenge is the only answer for your grief." Zahed is given a belt of explosives and told to choose one of his sons to send on a suicide-bombing mission. In an act of desperation, their distraught mother tries to switch the boys' identities, leading to a tragic event that dishonors their family in the eyes of the militants and their religious community. A decade later, the surviving twin, plagued by regret and despair, builds a new life as an actor in Montreal, trying to find reason in art. This is a tale of the innumerable tragedies of warâbereavement, brainwashing, aftermathâtold with the lyricism of an epic parable or fairytale, one the reader will not soon forget.