The Ministry of Special Cases

[Ian David]

The Ministry of Special Cases
A Novel
by Nathan Englander
RH Audio, 2007
Review by Bob Lane, M.A. on Jul 31st 2007
Volume: 11, Number: 31

Imagine a country so paranoid that it empowers its police forces, its military, and its paramilitary forces with special powers to arrest, to detain, to torture and to eliminate its own citizens. It is, I'm sure, difficult to imagine, but in order to enjoy this novel you must try. Imagine further living in such a country, with the gnawing fear of arrest for no reason or execution with no trial. Got it?

Now imagine that suddenly your only son is arrested and taken away right under your eyes.

The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander is a first novel by the writer who made his literary debut with the award-winning collection of stories, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges. Set in Buenos Aires in 1976, this historical novel depicts a family headed by an outcast who makes his living defacing Jewish gravestones in order to erase the past for his Jewish clients. Englander writes about the fate of those who disappeared in Argentina in the 1970s, about the fate of the Jews, and by extension the fate of humankind: waiting, waiting for the return of a loved one.

<snip>

One theme developed in story and image is the idea of what we can know and how knowledge relates to belief. Officials lie but not consistently. Sometimes what they say is true or suggestive. Sometimes they are just brutal and filled with lies. Rumor and speculation is all that is available. The last resort for those who believe that a loved one has been "disappeared" is the Ministry of Special Cases, a Kafka like castle with guards, clerks, priests, files, folders, doors, floors and no answers. People who arrive there are arriving at the front end of a government bureaucracy that has no exit, "bureaucracy in Argentina goes round and round" one character announces.

<snip>

Only in a fictional world? Not at all. While listening to Arthur Morey read The Ministry of Special Cases I was reminded of the non-fictional story of Maher Arrar, the Syrian born Canadian who was kidnapped by the US on his way home to Canada from a trip to Tunis. He was arrested and deported to Syria for interrogation and torture without a thought given to his rights or liberties as a Canadian citizen. Several agencies from Canada and the USA were involved including the RCMP, CSIS, and the CIA. Arrar's family in Canada, like the fictional family of Pato, waited and worried, wondered and anguished as they sought to find answers from the ministry of special cases.

More:
http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php?type=de&id=3753

[porphyrian]

1. "Suspicion Breeds Confidence" - Ministry of Information sign - n/t