Review: Interesting Historical Setting in Lebanon, But No Story
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 06 1, 2014
“Dynamite Fishermen” by Preston Fleming is set in Lebanon in the early 1980s -- I think -- during the time when Henry Kissinger was US Secretary of State. The characters are almost interesting, most being in the US (or some other country’s) diplomatic corps (in truth – spies) with the local spies and the spy-wannabes they run, and the detailed short history of the never-ending mid-east conflict within the political realities or the era is quite good. It is the time of the Iran-Iraq conflict.I don’t have much to write in review because actually there is no story here. It’s more like a diary than any other story mode. The author tells this anecdotal story mainly via conversation among his characters, as they walk the ever-mysterious fine line between betrayal, info-gathering and violence – which characterized Beirut at the time. For me, the story never once made sense, never moved beyond a snapshot of the dangerous life of foreigners in Beirut at the time.Throughout my reading of this very short book, I kept hoping that the story would actually begin, and once in a while it almost did -- in fits and starts. The shooting scene in the apartment was well done, for instance, but sadly that’s all there is to say about this attempt at fictionalizing a fascinating, recent mid-east history.It’s a 1.49, rounded down to a 1. Sorry, this book just isn’t very good, and mainly because there is no story at all, no denouement, no thrills, no point of view – just dialogue without a discernible plot