George's review
The Ministry of Special Cases
by Nathan Englander
George's review
The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander
George's review
rating:
Set in Argentina during a time when an authoritarian government has imposed a rule of fear, paranoia, and ruthless bureaucracy, The Ministry of Special Cases centers on a single family's struggles with power and authority. Despite the comedy inherent in some of the interactions with the various bureaucrats -- kind of like Terry Gilliam's Brazil -- this is not a happy book and even the humor quickly gives way to darkness. Such a government has been well described before, but Englander does, for the most part, a good job of avoiding the cliches or simply presenting us with images that we've seen/read before. The heart of the novel is the notion of disappearance, from the ways we forsake our ancestors, to the ways we attempt to hide who we really are, to the actual physical disappearance of so many people under the new regime.
