 Wilbur Smith - Nehir Tanrısı / The River God ( ingilizce )/Kitap Özeti
First published in 1993 by Macmillan, River God is Wilbur Smith’s first book in his Egyptian series. Now considered a literary classic amongst many authors today, the book itself is a best seller in over ten countries and is considered by many Smith fans one of his best works. However, is this ‘literary classic’ really a landmark in fiction or just an over hyped attempt at creating a view into the lives of Ancient Egypt.
Firstly it is wise to point out that this publication is in fact Wilbur Smith’s 24th novel and therefore was bound to get a huge following by Smith fans; however is the book itself worthy of its self acclaimed fame?
The novel itself is set in Ancient Egypt in the dark years of this civilisation’s glory where Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt are not as one. Two separate rulers govern the lands but neither acknowledge the others existence. We are first introduced to Taita, a eunuch slave under the command of Lord Intef, a powerful Noble in Upper Egypt. Over the 662 pages, Taita himself introduces to us in extreme detail the political standings of Egypt at this time where Pharaoh Mamose is running a declining Egypt where bandits run the deserts and thieves and murders run loose.
With the help of one of the Army’s finest Tanus, Taita dreams of bringing Egypt back to its former glory and often explores these dreams in grand detail, but because of his low status, the dreams never seem to materialize at first until Tanus upsets the Pharaoh at the festival of Orsiris and is given the task of eradicating all the bandits in the land within a two year period or he shall face death. It is at this point where Taita accompanies Tanus on his journey where the adventure really begins, spanning across all of Upper Egypt in a epic tale that mixes action, death, sex and description to such an extent that many will be left wailing for more.
As stories go, River God is extremely interesting, not just because of the grand adventure that both Taita and Tanus embark upon but also because of the political viewpoints in Egypt at that time. It is evident that Smith had done extensive research in to the histories of Ancient Egypt.
The great thing about the story is how the most unexpected can happen at any moment, leaving you to feel excited about what it to become of certain characters or how certain events will unfold. Smith is truly an impressive story teller in terms of plot creating a story so full of life and action; it simply is hard to fault.
The question that struck me however whilst reading this was whether or not it was a complete fictional story or whether some of it was based on fact. In the authors note at the end of the story, Smith describes how he was asked to help excavate a tomb opened by archaeologist Dr Al Simma, where they across sealed Alabaster jars containing a story of events written down by an author named Taita describing the long adventures of a soldier named Tanus and his love Lostris, who set out to dethrone the Pharaoh. Upon my own research I have found that many of this to be untrue, which leaves me at a somewhat confused standstill as why Smith felt he needed to add this false statement in his book. Nevertheless, River God at its base is a fantastic story whether the events that happened are true or not.
The first thing that surprised me about this novel is the focus of present tense. Perhaps my age reflects my naïve attitude towards books, but I have never read a book this long before that is entirely written in the present tense and at times I’ve got to admit I found it a little confusing. Nonetheless, Taita plays the role of the narrative describing the events in real time, which to be honest works well in many occasions that ultimately allows Smith to use description much more effectively.
Characterisation is another one of Smith’s gifts as he portrays every single character to the fullest, with page after page of explicit description. Taita himself is most characterised person in the novel probably due to the fact of its written form. Sarcasm, wit and satirical humour is used over and over which only makes you form a closer connection with Taita as he himself is ignorant to all of these qualities. It’s extremely ironic, which is one of the hooks Smith uses to pull you into the novel and bond with his protagonist.
During his characterisation, Smith uses this time to unfold many different themes to give his characters personality, whether it’s the pious and loyalty that Tanus emits or the naivety and innocence of Lostris. His ‘bad guys’ are always extremely intelligent as well all with their own agendas which I must say is extremely effective. There is never a time when you are made to think of clumsy goons or over the top evil caricatures that many of today’s novelists use.
However despite Smiths use of fantastic word play during his characterisation and his brilliant plot, description is what ultimately works against this novel. Smith is extremely magnificent when it comes to describing things whether or not its wonderful backdrop and setting of the Egyptian deserts with its golden sands or whether it the gruesome detail of murder, but honestly this works to his disadvantage.
There at times when no action happens at all and there are just pages of description after description and quite honestly its nauseating at times reading so much into something. You can’t help feeling bored or letting your mind simply wonder elsewhere. His lexis use is exceptionally elevated and this is great when reading, but the problem is with the amount of detail he goes in to and you can’t help but feel sometimes that less important objects get more attention than certain plot moving events. This not only disrupts the flow of the story, which is slow to say the least, but also conflicts heavily with the great story that River God has to offer.
The extensive description also doesn’t help the reader when chapters seem to prolong on forever. If you, like me, enjoy reading books chapter after chapter when you don’t have much time to read, River God I’m afraid is not for you. Chapters are on average 20 pages plus and with so much description you find yourself at times flicking through the pages to find when the chapter ends.
The problem with this also is that the majority of the chapters happen straight after one another in real time and continue in prose and you feel that chapters are only included for the readers sake. I always feel that chapters are used to split up events or points in a book, but unfortunately this is not the case here.
I must say however that at times chapters are elongated for many historic and religious purposes as Smith goes into huge detail describing the way in which Ancient Egyptians go about their daily business and how religion played an important point in their lives. For anyone who is unfamiliar with Ancient Egyptian culture, Smith does a fantastic job at getting all of this through.
Ultimately River God, though difficult is a great read that will appeal to many readers out there, some who may not even realise it. It’s obvious that it only appeals to an Adult audience especially with the graphic description he goes into at times in particular to groin dismemberment that will never go down well with children. Once you find an ebb, River God never falters despite the length of it and I recommend this to Egyptian Lovers and adventure enthusiasts that fancy reading something a little different. Patience is truly a virtue with this book and though I would say I’m a competent reader, it took me over a month to read, but to many book lovers who have the time; River God will probably set you back a week. --------------Tualimforum İmzam--------------
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