Frankenstein in Baghdad

An explosion takes place near Tayaran Square, just as Elishva (or Umm Daniel, “Daniel’s mother”) boards a bus to the Church of Saint Odisho, as she does every Sunday, though she doesn’t notice it as she sits on the bus. After mass on Sundays, Elishva speaks with her daughters in Australia on Father Josiah’s cell phone. However, for the second week in a row, Father Josiah is unable to reach them. This distresses Elishva, but likely more because her daughters are the only two people who will still listen to her rant about her missing son Daniel.

Elishva’s neighbor, Umm Salim, believes she has special powers and brings good luck and safety to the neighborhood. Others believe she is just a poor old amnesiac and pity her instead of revering her. Two of the latter group are Faraj the realtor and Hadi the junk dealer. The former is a con artist who used the American invasion of Iraq as an opportunity to steal vacant homes and sell them at a profit; he has been trying to get Elishva to sell her home to him for years to no avail. Hadi is an alcoholic whose own humble dwelling is attached to Elishva’s; like Faraj, Hadi persistently tries to get Elishva to sell her belongings to him. Elishva reserves a special hatred for both of them. She also reserves the same hatred for Abu Zaidoun the barber, who Elishva believes is the cause of Daniel’s disappearance.

Back near Tayaran Square, Faraj is angry to see cracks in the window of his shop, although he can see shattered windows in other businesses, including the run-down Orouba Hotel across the street. The owner of the hotel, Abu Anmar, is likewise a rival of Faraj—his hotel, prior to the invasion, thrived with tourists, migrant workers, and students; however, like many others, it is now mostly empty, whereas Faraj’s business is now thriving.

Back at her house, Elishva resumes her evening ritual of conversing with the framed portrait of Saint George the Martyr that hangs between pictures of Daniel and her late husband. She treats the portrait as a friend, speaking to it informally while praying for the return of her son. Saint George tells Elishva that she’s too impatient.

Hadi the junk dealer is either a storyteller or a liar, depending on whom one asks. On this morning, he is telling a story to Mahmoud al-Sawadi, the journalist, and a German journalist who is trailing Mahmoud for the day. After a time, the journalists leave, noting to one another that Hadi was simply retelling a Robert De Niro film.

After they leave, Hadi continues telling his story to the coffee shop’s owner, Aziz, who enjoys listening to Hadi in part to try to catch him contradicting himself. Had is recounting the explosion in Tayaran Square. As Hadi watched the scene of the explosion, he looked for something in particular; once he found it, he grabbed it and left the scene.

Hadi previously lived with a colleague named Nahem Abdaki in what was known to the neighborhood as “the Jewish ruin” (although there was nothing obviously Jewish about it); the pair, who were outsiders to the neighborhood, took it over after the invasion. Shortly thereafter, Nahem married and moved out, but he and Hadi continued to work together and remained close despite being polar opposites. However, a few months before the Tayaran Square bombing, Nahem died in a separate car bombing. Nahem’s death greatly affected Hadi, whose tempers, addictions, and vices went into overdrive.

In the Tayaran Square explosion, Hadi was looking for—and found—a nose. He affixed the nose to a corpse he kept in his home, which he had been working to make complete “so it wouldn’t be treated as trash, so it would be respected like other dead people and given a proper burial” (27). After affixing the nose, Hadi left for an appointment with an old man in Karrada to try to convince him to sell his furniture.

Walking back from the appointment, Hadi passed the Sadeer Novotel hotel in Andalus Square, which he usually avoided by crossing the street so as not to upset the guard. Lost in thought, though, he forgot, prompting the guard to exit his booth. At that moment, a garbage truck raced into the garage and exploded; Hadi was thrown but survives, while the guard died in the explosion. Back home, Hadi fell into a deep sleep. When he awakened the next day, the corpse was gone. Here, Hadi finishes his story; this bothers the patrons, who want to know what happened to the corpse, but Hadi apathetically departs. 

The hotel guard, Hasib, is 21 years old and has been working for the hotel for seven months at the time of the explosion. The bomber fails in his attempt because Hasib fires at the driver, causing him to detonate the explosives early; however, Hasib dies as a result. The burial is symbolic, as there is not much of the body left.

As the truck explodes, Hasib observes the explosion from outside of himself, feeling a strange calm. In his new form, he observes the city as he has never been able to before. In the river, he sees a corpse that tells him to find his body. Back at the hotel, Hasib is unable to find his body. After searching for some time, it occurs to him to try the cemetery. There, he encounters a teenager who tells him that he needs to stay close to his body, or at least a body; otherwise it won’t be good for him. Wandering the city, Hasib encounters a naked man who looks “strange and horrible” (39). Seeing the sunrise coming and worried what might happen to him, he enters the body of the corpse in Hadi’s home. 

Mahmoud is asleep when the explosion happens in Tayaran Square; the bomb wakes him up, but he has a headache and goes back to sleep until his editor orders him to cover the story. Mahmoud’s photographer friend Hazem took Mahmoud to drink and party with sex workers the night before; Hazem had intended to make Mahmoud relaxed and forget about Nawal al-Wazir. Nawal is a film director and close friend of his editor, Ali Baher al-Saidi; although many suspect that they are sleeping together, Mahmoud refuses to believe it.

Before moving to Saidi’s magazine, al-Haqiqa, Mahmoud was working at a smaller newspaper. He started his career back in his hometown, but for secretive reasons, he spontaneously moved to Baghdad to try his luck there. Mahmoud was offered the job at Saidi’s magazine through his friend Farid, who was already working there. Mahmoud took to Saidi immediately.

After lunch, Saidi calls Mahmoud into his office. Saidi tells him that none of the rest of the staff are writing good stories, and he is planning to fire them all. Additionally, he makes Mahmoud editor-in-chief of the magazine. Later, over drinks with his colleagues, who are unaware of Saidi’s decision, Mahmoud tries to drop hints that Saidi is unhappy with their work. However, they are dismissive of him: They don’t care about their work at the magazine, which is “just journalism.” As they walk home, they happen to be passing near the Sadeer Novotel hotel when the truck bomb goes off. Mahmoud sees Hadi run away. Shaken, they all part ways.