Skip to main content

The House of Rust

 


What a bizarre little story. When I say bizarre, I mean that mostly in a good way. The House of Rust  by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber is a fantasy that takes place in and around Mombasa, and out to sea in a very strange sea. Our main character is Aisha, a girl who does not fit into the mold that everyone keeps trying to place her. When her father is lost at sea, she takes it upon herself to go out and bring him back (with the help of a talking cat).

There be monsters here.

Yes, Aisha finds monsters at sea. Monsters that she has to either outsmart or be eaten by. And on land it turns out the world is far more complicated than she could have imagined. It is not just cats who can understand her. Many animals can, though they pretend not to. It is an interwoven tapestry of a story that is filled with wonder. But at times the story takes a twist that leaves me puzzled.

The world is just too strange and wonderful for Aisha to possibly settle down. She has seen a glimpse of something bigger, and she wants it.  She knows that she does not want a traditional life. There is a nice boy that likes her, potential husband material. Grandmother is thrilled. Aisha is not. Her grandmother has been the dominant force in Aisha’s life, and Aisha genuinely loves and respects her, but when Aisha’s eyes are opened to a new world, we know that a choice will have to be made.

I really liked the first half of the House of Rust. It is filled with a magical adventure. It is weird and creepy and thought provoking. The second half doesn’t quite live up to the promise of the first half. Perhaps that is my fault. The book did not go where I wanted it to go. Authors are not obliged to go where I want them to go. My personal preference would have been for a better tie-in to the adventure from the first half. But to each their own.

I will say that The House of Rust is well written with compelling characters. If you are looking for something different in the fantasy realm, this is very different.

Star Liner

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove

  Despite both of us having science backgrounds, my wife and I share a leaning toward the artistic, though we may express it in different ways. In her life, my wife has been a painter, a poet, a singer, an actor, and a fiction writer. Not to mention a mother. I don’t remember what precipitated this event, but my wife, my son, and I were at home in the front room. My wife was responding to something my son said. She said, “remember, you get half your brains from me. If it wasn’t for me, you’d be a complete idiot.” To which my son started howling with laughter and said to me,” I think you have just been insulted.” Sometimes I feel like Rodney Dangerfield. I get no respect. But that is not an uncommon state of affairs for fatherhood. When my son was going to middle school and high school, my wife was always the one to go in with him to get him registered for classes. One time she was unable to go and I had to be the one to get him registered. “Ugh,” he said. “why can’t Mama do i...
1 comment
Read more

Empathy

  Websters defines Empathy as: “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another.” Empathy is what makes us human, though lord knows there are many humans who don’t seem to have any. A person without empathy is like a caveman, only concerned for himself. Selfish. It is a lack of community and by extension, a lack of the need for civilization. The person who lacks empathy can have a bit of community, but only with others exactly like himself. It seems like societies go through cycles of empathy and less empathy. Sometimes a single event can change the course of society. Prior to America’s involvement in WWII, the general feeling in America was not very empathetic. We had our own problems. We were still dealing with the lingering effects of the Great Depression, and had been for years. That kind of stress makes it hard to think of others. Hitler was slashing through Europe. He and his fol...
1 comment
Read more

A Deception

  I have a secret. I deceived my mother. Okay, it was like 50 years ago and she is gone now, but still . . .  I was generally a good boy. I did as I was told. My family lived a pretty strait-laced, middle-class, fairly conservative life. We were a G-rated family, well, until my older siblings broke the mold, but at this time, I was still in the mold. My friend Rich and I made a plan. Rich had asked me if I wanted to see Cabaret . He said he didn’t think much of Liza Minnelli, but he wouldn’t mind seeing her take her clothes off. We were like 13 years old and sex was ever-present on our minds as much as it was absent in our households. Cabaret was not rated R. It was rated PG. The ratings system has changed since that time. There was no PG-13; there was just the choice of G, PG, and R  (X was not an official rating).  Apparently the makers of Cabaret satisfied the ratings commission enough to escape an R rating, so it was PG.   There was therefore no law or ...
Post a Comment
Read more