Al Jazeera - the novel? Booksurge announces publication of "The Dream of the Decade" by former Jazeera journalist, Afshin Rattansi.
Publishers of Amis, Rushdie, McEwan, Murakami, Saramago, Ackroyd, Tremain and Theroux praise former Al Jazeera journalist, Afshin Rattansi, for new collection of novels published in one volume under the title "The Dream of the Decade".
Published by Booksurge, ISBN 1-4196-1686-2
For the first time, a journalist from Al Jazeera has published a work of fiction - though the Arabic TV station's detractors might have it another way. The Dream of the Decade - a quartet of novels - is out in one volume published by U.S. publisher, Booksurge. It's a big tome that charts the lives of Londoners when the gaps between rich and poor are inexorably rising, even as the lives of the rich are becoming fabulously wealthy.
Released on 1 February 2006, it treats the fear and loathing of terrorism only in one novel, head on, in an account of Londoners trapped in a bar during a bombscare. Though there is no mention of Al Qaeda, it is the background of the author that makes one think that the fear is post 9/11.
The book itself is praised by Dan Franklin, publisher of Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie and Ian McEwan who says that Rattansi "captures the atmosphere of the late 1980s." Christopher MacLehose, the publisher of Richard Ford, Haruki Murakami, Georges Perec and Jos?? Saramago, said that he could still feel the force of "The Dream of the Decade."
It's no wonder as the ambitions of the novels are large. The first and title novel charts the downfall of a stereotypical working-class-made-good-under-Thatcher yuppie as he begins to learn what British society lost as it gained. The third is about Londoners' - and even Los Angeles-residents' - perplexing relationship with property. The final novel, entitled, "Good Morning, Britain" examines the travails of an ingenue at a big television station, learning and prospering as he produces news for the populace. It should be noted that Rattansi produced for the BBC's Today program which was caught up in the Weapons of Mass Destruction fiasco when Andrew Gilligan reported that the British government has "sexed up" a dossier to persuade the UK parliament to vote for the Iraq War.
Rattansi worked on Al Jazeera's flagship program, "Top Secret" and given the Arabic language station's ability to source material where no media outlet has contacts, one can only imagine what assignments the author must have undertaken. He won a Sony Award for his outstanding contribution to media in 2002, shortly after setting up an international 24 hour news station in the Middle East. The quartet begins with a reflection by one of the female characters in the book, the love of the first novel's protaganist, as she holidays in the Maldives ahead of the Asian Tsunami. It is when you imagine the scope of such a book, its themes, its politics and its emotional range allied to the quality of writing which impressed so many of Britain's arbiters of literary prowess, that you begin to understand what an event publication of "The Dream of the Decade - The London Novels" really is.
Selected Quotes
"I can still feel the force of it, as a passing gale" Christopher MacLehose, Collins Harvill.
"I admired it, particularly the pace and atmosphere." Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, Sinclair Stevenson Ltd.
"He captures the atmosphere of the late 80s." Dan Franklin, Martin Secker and Warburg.
"Interesting and involving." Laura Longrigg, William Heinemann Ltd.
Title: The Dream of the Decade
Subtitle: The London Novels
Author: Afshin Rattansi
ISBN: 1-4196-1686-2
LCCN: 2005909384
Category: Fiction
Length: 622 pages
Retail Price: $21.95
Binding: 5.25" x 8" trade paperback
Illustrations: Line Art and Photographs
For the first time, a journalist from Al Jazeera has published a work of fiction - though the Arabic TV station's detractors might have it another way. The Dream of the Decade - a quartet of novels - is out in one volume published by U.S. publisher, Booksurge. It's a big tome that charts the lives of Londoners when the gaps between rich and poor are inexorably rising, even as the lives of the rich are becoming fabulously wealthy.
Released on 1 February 2006, it treats the fear and loathing of terrorism only in one novel, head on, in an account of Londoners trapped in a bar during a bombscare. Though there is no mention of Al Qaeda, it is the background of the author that makes one think that the fear is post 9/11.
The book itself is praised by Dan Franklin, publisher of Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie and Ian McEwan who says that Rattansi "captures the atmosphere of the late 1980s." Christopher MacLehose, the publisher of Richard Ford, Haruki Murakami, Georges Perec and Jos?? Saramago, said that he could still feel the force of "The Dream of the Decade."
It's no wonder as the ambitions of the novels are large. The first and title novel charts the downfall of a stereotypical working-class-made-good-under-Thatcher yuppie as he begins to learn what British society lost as it gained. The third is about Londoners' - and even Los Angeles-residents' - perplexing relationship with property. The final novel, entitled, "Good Morning, Britain" examines the travails of an ingenue at a big television station, learning and prospering as he produces news for the populace. It should be noted that Rattansi produced for the BBC's Today program which was caught up in the Weapons of Mass Destruction fiasco when Andrew Gilligan reported that the British government has "sexed up" a dossier to persuade the UK parliament to vote for the Iraq War.
Rattansi worked on Al Jazeera's flagship program, "Top Secret" and given the Arabic language station's ability to source material where no media outlet has contacts, one can only imagine what assignments the author must have undertaken. He won a Sony Award for his outstanding contribution to media in 2002, shortly after setting up an international 24 hour news station in the Middle East. The quartet begins with a reflection by one of the female characters in the book, the love of the first novel's protaganist, as she holidays in the Maldives ahead of the Asian Tsunami. It is when you imagine the scope of such a book, its themes, its politics and its emotional range allied to the quality of writing which impressed so many of Britain's arbiters of literary prowess, that you begin to understand what an event publication of "The Dream of the Decade - The London Novels" really is.
Selected Quotes
"I can still feel the force of it, as a passing gale" Christopher MacLehose, Collins Harvill.
"I admired it, particularly the pace and atmosphere." Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, Sinclair Stevenson Ltd.
"He captures the atmosphere of the late 80s." Dan Franklin, Martin Secker and Warburg.
"Interesting and involving." Laura Longrigg, William Heinemann Ltd.
Title: The Dream of the Decade
Subtitle: The London Novels
Author: Afshin Rattansi
ISBN: 1-4196-1686-2
LCCN: 2005909384
Category: Fiction
Length: 622 pages
Retail Price: $21.95
Binding: 5.25" x 8" trade paperback
Illustrations: Line Art and Photographs
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