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The Illegal
Keita Ali is on the run.
Desperate to flee Zantoroland, a mountainous island that produces the fastest marathoners in the world, Keita Ali signs on with notorious marathon agent Anton Hamm, who provides him with a chance to run the Boston marathon in return for a huge cut of the winning purse.
But when Keita fails to place among the top finishers, rather than being sent back to his own country, he goes into hiding in Freedom State—a wealthy nation that has elected a government bent on deporting the refugees living within its borders in the community of AfricTown. Keita can only be safe if he keeps moving and eludes Hamm and the officials who would deport him to his own country, where he will face almost certain death.
This is the new underground. A place where tens of thousands of people deemed to be “illegal” live below the radar of the police and government officials.
As Keita surfaces from time to time to earn cash prizes by running local road races, he has to assess whether the people he meets are friends or enemies: John Falconer, a gifted student intent on making a documentary about AfricTown; Ivernia Beech, an elderly woman who is at risk of being forced into an assisted living facility; Rocco Stanton, a recreational marathoner who is the Immigration Minister; Lula DiStefano, self-declared Queen of AfricTown and Madame of the community’s infamous brothel; and Viola Hill, one of the only black reporters in the country, who is investigating the possibility of corruption linking the highest officials in Freedom State and Zantoroland.
Keita’s very existence in Freedom State is illegal. As he trains in secret, eluding capture, the stakes keep getting higher. Soon, he is running not only for his life, but his sister’s life, too.
Fast-moving and compelling, The Illegal addresses the fate of an undocumented refugee who struggles to survive in a nation that does not want him.
Desperate to flee Zantoroland, a mountainous island that produces the fastest marathoners in the world, Keita Ali signs on with notorious marathon agent Anton Hamm, who provides him with a chance to run the Boston marathon in return for a huge cut of the winning purse.
But when Keita fails to place among the top finishers, rather than being sent back to his own country, he goes into hiding in Freedom State—a wealthy nation that has elected a government bent on deporting the refugees living within its borders in the community of AfricTown. Keita can only be safe if he keeps moving and eludes Hamm and the officials who would deport him to his own country, where he will face almost certain death.
This is the new underground. A place where tens of thousands of people deemed to be “illegal” live below the radar of the police and government officials.
As Keita surfaces from time to time to earn cash prizes by running local road races, he has to assess whether the people he meets are friends or enemies: John Falconer, a gifted student intent on making a documentary about AfricTown; Ivernia Beech, an elderly woman who is at risk of being forced into an assisted living facility; Rocco Stanton, a recreational marathoner who is the Immigration Minister; Lula DiStefano, self-declared Queen of AfricTown and Madame of the community’s infamous brothel; and Viola Hill, one of the only black reporters in the country, who is investigating the possibility of corruption linking the highest officials in Freedom State and Zantoroland.
Keita’s very existence in Freedom State is illegal. As he trains in secret, eluding capture, the stakes keep getting higher. Soon, he is running not only for his life, but his sister’s life, too.
Fast-moving and compelling, The Illegal addresses the fate of an undocumented refugee who struggles to survive in a nation that does not want him.
392 pages, Hardcover
First published August 12, 2015
320 people are currently reading
7363 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Hill
35 books1,761 followersHill is the author of ten books of fiction and non-fiction. In 2005, he won his first literary honour: a National Magazine Award for the article “Is Africa’s Pain Black America’s Burden?” published in The Walrus. His first two novels were Some Great Thing and Any Known Blood, and his first non-fiction work to attract national attention was the memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada. But it was his third novel, The Book of Negroes (HarperCollins Canada, 2007) — published in some countries as Someone Knows My Name and in French as Aminata — that attracted widespread attention in Canada and other countries.
Lawrence Hill’s non-fiction book, Blood: The Stuff of Life was published in September 2013 by House of Anansi Press. Blood is a personal consideration of the physical, social, cultural and psychological aspects of blood, and how it defines, unites and divides us. Hill drew from the book to deliver the 2013 Massey Lectures across Canada.
In 2013, Hill published the essay Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book: An Anatomy of a Book Burning (University of Alberta Press).
His fourth novel, The Illegal, was published by HarperCollins Canada in 2015 and by WW Norton in the USA in 2016.
Hill is currently writing a new novel and a children’s book, and co-writing a television miniseries adaptation of The Illegal for Conquering Lion Pictures. Hill is a professor of creative writing at the University of Guelph, in Ontario.
Lawrence Hill’s non-fiction book, Blood: The Stuff of Life was published in September 2013 by House of Anansi Press. Blood is a personal consideration of the physical, social, cultural and psychological aspects of blood, and how it defines, unites and divides us. Hill drew from the book to deliver the 2013 Massey Lectures across Canada.
In 2013, Hill published the essay Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book: An Anatomy of a Book Burning (University of Alberta Press).
His fourth novel, The Illegal, was published by HarperCollins Canada in 2015 and by WW Norton in the USA in 2016.
Hill is currently writing a new novel and a children’s book, and co-writing a television miniseries adaptation of The Illegal for Conquering Lion Pictures. Hill is a professor of creative writing at the University of Guelph, in Ontario.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,276 reviews
October 4, 2015
I wanted to like this more than I did. A lot of the dialogue felt really artificial and the ending was too neat and tidy.
October 20, 2015
“The Book of Negroes” is one of my all-time favourite novels. Loved it. So when Lawrence Hill’s newest book, “The Illegal”, came out, I was super excited and couldn’t wait to dive in.
I absolutely hate to give this book only two stars, but I really didn’t enjoy it very much. I’m sooo disappointed! The story is so relevant: a young man must flee his country and becomes an illegal refugee in a neighbouring country that is under pressure from its citizens to stem the flow of refugees and send them back to their homeland. How timely is this to what is happening to the refugees in Europe right now? Unfortunately, what should have been a compelling read turned out to be rather boring.
I can’t quite put my finger on what I didn’t like. Maybe too many characters, many of whom didn’t feel very real to me? The dialogue, which often seemed kind of stilted? I even found the fictional countries of Zantoroland and Freedom State…. irritating. Don’t ask me how you can find a fictional country irritating, but I did. Their descriptions just didn’t sound authentic to me; they seemed very fake. Even their names sounded false. I never once felt like I was actually in a real country, reading about real people. And the ending, when I finally got there, just wrapped up a bit too neatly.
I had a really hard time getting through this book. I think Hill was just trying a bit too hard to make his point. In the end, I’m just very disappointed.
I absolutely hate to give this book only two stars, but I really didn’t enjoy it very much. I’m sooo disappointed! The story is so relevant: a young man must flee his country and becomes an illegal refugee in a neighbouring country that is under pressure from its citizens to stem the flow of refugees and send them back to their homeland. How timely is this to what is happening to the refugees in Europe right now? Unfortunately, what should have been a compelling read turned out to be rather boring.
I can’t quite put my finger on what I didn’t like. Maybe too many characters, many of whom didn’t feel very real to me? The dialogue, which often seemed kind of stilted? I even found the fictional countries of Zantoroland and Freedom State…. irritating. Don’t ask me how you can find a fictional country irritating, but I did. Their descriptions just didn’t sound authentic to me; they seemed very fake. Even their names sounded false. I never once felt like I was actually in a real country, reading about real people. And the ending, when I finally got there, just wrapped up a bit too neatly.
I had a really hard time getting through this book. I think Hill was just trying a bit too hard to make his point. In the end, I’m just very disappointed.
September 9, 2015
Lawrence Hill is a character master. Whether he's speaking about himself, people he knows, or people who exist entirely in our imaginations, you will feel like you know them; know their innermost joys and fears, their quirks, the rhythm of their hearts. This book is timely (it will definitely give you even more perspective on the international news of late), full of heart and obviously, has unforgettable characters. Basically, I'd like to be friends with Ivernia Beech. You'll see why.
April 25, 2017
CANADA READS 2016 WINNER
Lawrence Hill, of The Book of Negroes fame, returns with The Illegal, a relatively by-the-numbers thriller that is somewhat-redeemed by a strong cast of characters. Taking place in 2018, The Illegal opens with aspiring runner Keita Ali spending his days running through the streets, trails, and tracks of his home country, the fictional Zantoroland. Keita's introduction to the reader is idyllic, his character's optimism infectious, and so it comes as a surprise when Keita is forced to run, not for love of sport, but for his life. Zantoroland, one of the world's poorest nations, undergoes a dramatic shift in government that precipitates a dramatic disintegration of Keita's family. As he becomes a refugee in the country of Freedom State, Keita ends up tangled in a web of corruption that expands the cast exponentially.
Despite being a highly recommended book, I've never gotten around to reading The Book of Negroes.
I know, I know. Have mercy.
Yet seeing Lawrence Hill flex his muscles with a diverse cast of characters, it is easy to understand how The Book of Negroes became such a hit. The Illegal boasts an extremely diverse cast of POV characters. I met refugees, pimps, cops, politicians, elderly white ladies, and a wunderkind child. However, it is Viola Hill, a former refugee who lived in Freedom State's slums, that steals the show. Viola is a reporter in Freedom State who operates efficiently with her wheelchair as she faces discrimination due to her black skin, her disability, and her sexuality. When she was first introduced, I feared that Hill was trying to create some sort of ultra-minority character just for the sake of diversity. This, however, was not the case. Viola is a certified badass and, aside from Keita, the most compelling character in the novel.
My main gripes with the book have to do with the plot itself. Though this opens in what seems like a tale of athletic achievement, the read becomes a bit muddled as Hill squeezes in a politically-conscious thriller that fails to thrill. At the centre of the book is a political conspiracy that involves refugees, illegal deportation, and the lining of the 1%'s pocket. Your mileage may vary on this one, but I rarely felt as if any of the characters were in any serious danger.
It becomes fairly obvious when the bulk of the cast has been introduced (about halfway through the novel), that all the pieces were in place for the end of the race. Though it did deviate slightly in the minor details, I had the plot more-or-less figured out and every character's role to play in the finale. This is also disappointing because the novel's loose ends are tied up in a neat bow that eschews the plausibility of the earlier chapters. Also, what's up with the use of fictionalized countries? The story would have been much more compelling set in real countries.
There are much worse books for you to read than The Illegal. In fact, the characters are memorable enough that you might be able to look beyond the standard plot. Hill's writing is, for the most part, spot on. On occasion, usually when someone pulls a gun, Hill employs dialogue that is plain clunky. Something along the lines of:
"You're staring down the barrel of a semi-automatic luger pistol, popular with the Germans during WWI and WWII."
(Note: not an actual quote from the novel, but not far off either)
This may be doing something for the firearm-enthusiasts, but it totally took me out of the experience of enjoying the book. This novel is quite topical and I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up coming out as top dog at Canada Reads 2016; however, the plot is really nothing to write home about. Come for the author's prestige, deal with the lacklustre thriller, and stay to spend time with a compelling cast of characters.
Lawrence Hill, of The Book of Negroes fame, returns with The Illegal, a relatively by-the-numbers thriller that is somewhat-redeemed by a strong cast of characters. Taking place in 2018, The Illegal opens with aspiring runner Keita Ali spending his days running through the streets, trails, and tracks of his home country, the fictional Zantoroland. Keita's introduction to the reader is idyllic, his character's optimism infectious, and so it comes as a surprise when Keita is forced to run, not for love of sport, but for his life. Zantoroland, one of the world's poorest nations, undergoes a dramatic shift in government that precipitates a dramatic disintegration of Keita's family. As he becomes a refugee in the country of Freedom State, Keita ends up tangled in a web of corruption that expands the cast exponentially.
Despite being a highly recommended book, I've never gotten around to reading The Book of Negroes.
I know, I know. Have mercy.
Yet seeing Lawrence Hill flex his muscles with a diverse cast of characters, it is easy to understand how The Book of Negroes became such a hit. The Illegal boasts an extremely diverse cast of POV characters. I met refugees, pimps, cops, politicians, elderly white ladies, and a wunderkind child. However, it is Viola Hill, a former refugee who lived in Freedom State's slums, that steals the show. Viola is a reporter in Freedom State who operates efficiently with her wheelchair as she faces discrimination due to her black skin, her disability, and her sexuality. When she was first introduced, I feared that Hill was trying to create some sort of ultra-minority character just for the sake of diversity. This, however, was not the case. Viola is a certified badass and, aside from Keita, the most compelling character in the novel.
My main gripes with the book have to do with the plot itself. Though this opens in what seems like a tale of athletic achievement, the read becomes a bit muddled as Hill squeezes in a politically-conscious thriller that fails to thrill. At the centre of the book is a political conspiracy that involves refugees, illegal deportation, and the lining of the 1%'s pocket. Your mileage may vary on this one, but I rarely felt as if any of the characters were in any serious danger.
It becomes fairly obvious when the bulk of the cast has been introduced (about halfway through the novel), that all the pieces were in place for the end of the race. Though it did deviate slightly in the minor details, I had the plot more-or-less figured out and every character's role to play in the finale. This is also disappointing because the novel's loose ends are tied up in a neat bow that eschews the plausibility of the earlier chapters. Also, what's up with the use of fictionalized countries? The story would have been much more compelling set in real countries.
There are much worse books for you to read than The Illegal. In fact, the characters are memorable enough that you might be able to look beyond the standard plot. Hill's writing is, for the most part, spot on. On occasion, usually when someone pulls a gun, Hill employs dialogue that is plain clunky. Something along the lines of:
"You're staring down the barrel of a semi-automatic luger pistol, popular with the Germans during WWI and WWII."
(Note: not an actual quote from the novel, but not far off either)
This may be doing something for the firearm-enthusiasts, but it totally took me out of the experience of enjoying the book. This novel is quite topical and I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up coming out as top dog at Canada Reads 2016; however, the plot is really nothing to write home about. Come for the author's prestige, deal with the lacklustre thriller, and stay to spend time with a compelling cast of characters.
October 6, 2015
Pales in comparison to Hill's previous book, and the ending was way too wrapped up. It was like a Disney story. Not saying I didnt enjoy the book, but it was a far cry from the critic's claim of "unable to put it down".
January 11, 2016
I wanted this book to end as quickly as Keita could run!
I loved The Book of Negroes and can hardly believe this was written by the same author.
The characters, even the main character, were superficial, uninteresting and predictable. The writing style seemed basic, like it was trying to be an allegory for the bigger issue of refugees but fell way short. I don't know if it was the way everything seemed to work together in Keita's favour from the time he landed in Freedom State. It seems what would have been a much harder road for most refugees the main character avoided because he was a great runner. Unrealistic.
The ending was one of the most frustrating and painful chapters I have ever read, it may as well have simply read 'and they all lived happily ever after'.
I loved The Book of Negroes and can hardly believe this was written by the same author.
The characters, even the main character, were superficial, uninteresting and predictable. The writing style seemed basic, like it was trying to be an allegory for the bigger issue of refugees but fell way short. I don't know if it was the way everything seemed to work together in Keita's favour from the time he landed in Freedom State. It seems what would have been a much harder road for most refugees the main character avoided because he was a great runner. Unrealistic.
The ending was one of the most frustrating and painful chapters I have ever read, it may as well have simply read 'and they all lived happily ever after'.
February 14, 2016
This is a novel about two fictional countries, Zantoroland and Freedom State, set in the Indian Ocean. Zantoroland is a poor country that produces a lot of great marathon runners while Freedom State is the third richest country in the world, so many people want to go there.
Keita, the main character in the book, is one of those people, a runner from Zantoroland who is an illegal in Freedom State, meaning that he is a refugee. This book is all about refugees, so with what is going on in the world now, makes it a very topical novel. It is also about corruption in government, which goes on in many, if not most, of the countries in the world today.
It took Hill 5 years to write this book, but it was well worth the wait. It's extremely well written and is a real page turner as well, with a very compelling plot. And the author is Canadian!
Keita, the main character in the book, is one of those people, a runner from Zantoroland who is an illegal in Freedom State, meaning that he is a refugee. This book is all about refugees, so with what is going on in the world now, makes it a very topical novel. It is also about corruption in government, which goes on in many, if not most, of the countries in the world today.
It took Hill 5 years to write this book, but it was well worth the wait. It's extremely well written and is a real page turner as well, with a very compelling plot. And the author is Canadian!
October 22, 2015
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I hesitated to read it because I heard it was about a marathon runner and running is not a sport in which I have much interest. I’m glad I overcame my reticence because the book is about so much else and, considering the news from Europe, proves to be so timely. The book is about undocumented refugees and the uncertainty they face: will they be accepted, persecuted or deported?
Keita Ali is a refugee from the island nation of Zantoroland; he has to flee because his father was a journalist critical of the dictator ruling the country and because he is a member of an ethnic minority. Dissenters and members of the minority are routinely tortured and killed so many escape to Freedom State where they live in AfricTown, a makeshift settlement of shipping containers. Freedom State is the island nation closest to Zantoroland; its economy was built using slaves from Zantoroland, and though slavery was abolished, the descendants of those slaves are marginalized, and undocumented migrants are deported to the country from which they fled. Keita is an elite runner who hopes to use his talent to win his freedom and citizenship in Freedom State, but he ends up running from authorities and running to save a family member.
Zantoroland and Freedom State (with its wonderfully ironic name) are fictional countries separated by the fictional Ortiz Sea in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Undoubtedly, the author used invented countries so they can represent any number of actual countries. Zantoroland could be Cuba or Vietnam or Mexico or Syria and Freedom State could be the United States or Canada or any number of European countries.
The characters are many. There are villains: corrupt politicians, power-seekers, money-launderers, torturers, and thugs. There are also the good people who are willing to subvert the laws in order to assist those labelled as illegals. The reader will find him/herself cheering for the latter. The major characters are realistic, possessing both good and bad traits. Lula DiStefano, for example, helps refugees by providing shelter and food in AfricTown, but she also exploits them to her benefit. Rocco Calder is a minister in the corrupt government of Freedom State but he struggles with his role. Viola Hill and John Falconer are both ambitious, in-your-face investigative journalists, but they are determined to expose some unpleasant truths
The book examines serious issues, especially the treatment of refugees and undocumented immigrants. I loved Viola’s argument that “it was fair to accuse somebody of doing something illegal but not to say that they were illegal” (71). The novel also touches on racism, ageism, discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation, the tenuous position of mixed-race people, global inequity, and the hypocrisy of the richest nations not acknowledging that their economies owe much to the marginalized.
Despite its seriousness, the book also has comic relief. Often it stems from the antics of Viola Hill and John Falconer as they relentlessly pursue the truth, making many uncomfortable in their willingness to ask incendiary questions. There are also the tongue-in-cheek comments about Canada: “The tenth [runner] was a Canadian. But he didn’t really count as a Canadian, because he was black and born in Kenya. . . . Canada, all the way across the world, had been smart about recruiting the immigrant, giving him Canadian citizenship. Now the country of snow and ice had a chance to win a medal in the next Olympic marathon” (126).
And there is suspense and romance. Will Keita be able to win the races and get sufficient money in time to rescue a threatened family member? Will he be able to elude the marathon agent wanting money from him? Will he be able to avoid the authorities who want to deport him? Can Keita really trust Lula and Ivernia to help him? Should he have a relationship with Candace who hides from him her occupation in the service of Freedom State?
Marathon running serves as a perfect metaphor. Keita runs to freedom in Freedom State, but he ends up running from imprisonment in that state. Citizens of Freedom State run from the truth about their government and its deportation policies. A marathon is a long endurance test. Refugees undertake marathons (three-week journeys on overcrowded fishing boats) to escape Zantoroland but then run figurative marathons every day, trying to avoid the deportation raids. An elderly woman must survive a six-month administrative marathon in order to keep her independence.
One element that bothered me is how the villains tend to reveal all when they think they have nothing to lose. This happens a couple of times (354, 372). The confessions of an important figure (349, 360) are also made to two people at very convenient times. Such plot manipulation is a weakness.
In the end, the conflicts are tidily resolved. All loose ends are tied up. But, like all good literature, this book will have a lingering effect. It raises moral issues that people should consider and debate. The novel is set in 2018 but its moral questions are relevant to the present.
Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
Keita Ali is a refugee from the island nation of Zantoroland; he has to flee because his father was a journalist critical of the dictator ruling the country and because he is a member of an ethnic minority. Dissenters and members of the minority are routinely tortured and killed so many escape to Freedom State where they live in AfricTown, a makeshift settlement of shipping containers. Freedom State is the island nation closest to Zantoroland; its economy was built using slaves from Zantoroland, and though slavery was abolished, the descendants of those slaves are marginalized, and undocumented migrants are deported to the country from which they fled. Keita is an elite runner who hopes to use his talent to win his freedom and citizenship in Freedom State, but he ends up running from authorities and running to save a family member.
Zantoroland and Freedom State (with its wonderfully ironic name) are fictional countries separated by the fictional Ortiz Sea in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Undoubtedly, the author used invented countries so they can represent any number of actual countries. Zantoroland could be Cuba or Vietnam or Mexico or Syria and Freedom State could be the United States or Canada or any number of European countries.
The characters are many. There are villains: corrupt politicians, power-seekers, money-launderers, torturers, and thugs. There are also the good people who are willing to subvert the laws in order to assist those labelled as illegals. The reader will find him/herself cheering for the latter. The major characters are realistic, possessing both good and bad traits. Lula DiStefano, for example, helps refugees by providing shelter and food in AfricTown, but she also exploits them to her benefit. Rocco Calder is a minister in the corrupt government of Freedom State but he struggles with his role. Viola Hill and John Falconer are both ambitious, in-your-face investigative journalists, but they are determined to expose some unpleasant truths
The book examines serious issues, especially the treatment of refugees and undocumented immigrants. I loved Viola’s argument that “it was fair to accuse somebody of doing something illegal but not to say that they were illegal” (71). The novel also touches on racism, ageism, discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation, the tenuous position of mixed-race people, global inequity, and the hypocrisy of the richest nations not acknowledging that their economies owe much to the marginalized.
Despite its seriousness, the book also has comic relief. Often it stems from the antics of Viola Hill and John Falconer as they relentlessly pursue the truth, making many uncomfortable in their willingness to ask incendiary questions. There are also the tongue-in-cheek comments about Canada: “The tenth [runner] was a Canadian. But he didn’t really count as a Canadian, because he was black and born in Kenya. . . . Canada, all the way across the world, had been smart about recruiting the immigrant, giving him Canadian citizenship. Now the country of snow and ice had a chance to win a medal in the next Olympic marathon” (126).
And there is suspense and romance. Will Keita be able to win the races and get sufficient money in time to rescue a threatened family member? Will he be able to elude the marathon agent wanting money from him? Will he be able to avoid the authorities who want to deport him? Can Keita really trust Lula and Ivernia to help him? Should he have a relationship with Candace who hides from him her occupation in the service of Freedom State?
Marathon running serves as a perfect metaphor. Keita runs to freedom in Freedom State, but he ends up running from imprisonment in that state. Citizens of Freedom State run from the truth about their government and its deportation policies. A marathon is a long endurance test. Refugees undertake marathons (three-week journeys on overcrowded fishing boats) to escape Zantoroland but then run figurative marathons every day, trying to avoid the deportation raids. An elderly woman must survive a six-month administrative marathon in order to keep her independence.
One element that bothered me is how the villains tend to reveal all when they think they have nothing to lose. This happens a couple of times (354, 372). The confessions of an important figure (349, 360) are also made to two people at very convenient times. Such plot manipulation is a weakness.
In the end, the conflicts are tidily resolved. All loose ends are tied up. But, like all good literature, this book will have a lingering effect. It raises moral issues that people should consider and debate. The novel is set in 2018 but its moral questions are relevant to the present.
Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
May 16, 2016
Compelling read - however not up to the standard of Hills' previous book ~ "The Book of Negroes" - aka "Someone Knows My Name".
This novel featured Keita Ali, a marathon runner, who went underground having escaped from Zantoroland - a land in turmoil - to Freedom State, which is cracking down on undocumented residents. With our current state of affairs this book has a very up to date ring.
Ali comes out of hiding to run marathon races trying to win money to ransom and bring his sister to safety. He becomes a very well known presence as he begins to win races.
I was not engrossed in this book like I was "Someone Knows My Name". It did not have the same feel of authenticity to it. There were parts of the book that I felt just did not belong and could easily have been eliminated. I did not connect with Ali or any of the other characters. Although not a complete waste of time reading this novel, it is not one that I would recommend. Hill has much better stuff out there.
This novel featured Keita Ali, a marathon runner, who went underground having escaped from Zantoroland - a land in turmoil - to Freedom State, which is cracking down on undocumented residents. With our current state of affairs this book has a very up to date ring.
Ali comes out of hiding to run marathon races trying to win money to ransom and bring his sister to safety. He becomes a very well known presence as he begins to win races.
I was not engrossed in this book like I was "Someone Knows My Name". It did not have the same feel of authenticity to it. There were parts of the book that I felt just did not belong and could easily have been eliminated. I did not connect with Ali or any of the other characters. Although not a complete waste of time reading this novel, it is not one that I would recommend. Hill has much better stuff out there.
November 25, 2015
Wow! What a disappointment! The theme of The Illegal is so relevant and topical, but honestly I found the dialogue and plot development extremely immature. Hill is a much lauded, experienced writer and this book did not read like a product from that source. I tried to convince myself that Hill wanted to deliver a book with a strong message in a simple style, but some of the dialogue was painful to read. The ending felt like a Disney film.
January 22, 2018
SO GOOD. I know Lawrence Hill is best known for The Book of Negros, which I have not read, but if The Illegal is any indication, it's well worth it.
It's a book about immigration, race, politics, and running. It's kind of dystopian, but kind of not. It's remarkably readable (I was supposed to be reading this with Sally, but I couldn't help but finish it in a week).
This is a great book. You should read it.
It's a book about immigration, race, politics, and running. It's kind of dystopian, but kind of not. It's remarkably readable (I was supposed to be reading this with Sally, but I couldn't help but finish it in a week).
This is a great book. You should read it.
September 20, 2017
3.5 stars. First book I've read by Lawrence Hill. This was a fast-paced story, set in two made-up lands situated in the Indian Ocean. Lawrence Hill covers lots of topical things: refugees and illegal immigrants and the reasons they migrate, racism, corrupt governments, suppression of the press, hiring practices, treatment of sex workers, all conveyed through the eyes of long-distance running main character Keita Ali.
I found this story to be Dickensian, in that a set of characters kept circling around each other and intersecting, with luck and coincidences aplenty. I enjoyed this story, despite this. There are no answers regarding refugees and illegals, but there is sympathy throughout this story for those who are forced to flee their homes.
I found this story to be Dickensian, in that a set of characters kept circling around each other and intersecting, with luck and coincidences aplenty. I enjoyed this story, despite this. There are no answers regarding refugees and illegals, but there is sympathy throughout this story for those who are forced to flee their homes.
November 8, 2015
I really love Lawrence Hill and the Book of Negroes is an incredible and heartbreaking story. This book just felt mostly fake and kind of pandering. Like something a student in high school would come up with to illustrate a simple point. I really wanted to like this book but it just felt artificial and very pandering. I do very much feel for the characters and messages portrayed in here, I just couldn't get into something that felt so transparently false.
November 16, 2015
My Review: Lawrence Hill is one of my favourite authors. I adored his Book of Negroes (which was my very first book review post) as well as Any Known Blood. But if it weren't for Mr Hill's name on the cover I don't think that The Illegal is the kind of book I would typically pick up. And yet I'm so glad that I did.
The Illegal is a tale set in the very near future in two fictional countries, Freedom State and Zantoroland, and their issues (some quite violent) surrounding refugees as well as an underlying storyline involving long distance running. By using two fictional countries Hill allows himself some leeway with his storytelling while bringing this serious and timely issue to the forefront of people's minds.
The book focuses on Keita, a boy who had the misfortune to be born into the lower class of people in Zantoroland, and his struggle to freedom for himself and those like him. Hill weaves his plot using multiple points of view with a cast of strong and truly memorable characters. From feisty octogenarian Ivernia Beech, tenacious teen John Falconer, tough as nails paraplegic reporter Viola Hill as well as those in positions of power, these characters are all well drawn out and showcase the different points of view involving the refugee issue.
Hill also adds some humourous moments and dialogue between his characters and, as a fellow Canadian, I loved the repeated references to Canada - especially the reference to Tim Horton's. You've gotta love and respect a proud Canuck!
Hill gives his readers a lot to think about regarding the issue of refugees and you really feel for Keita and all that he, and his fellow 'illegals' have gone through. Readers will easily get behind Keita as he runs towards freedom for himself and those like him who only had the misfortune to be born in a country who didn't value their worth. Like Keita this book is fast-paced and Keita's struggle to freedom was so compelling.
While I really enjoyed this book I can't say that I loved it as much as some of Hill's previous works but The Illegal still holds it's own. It has a different feel to it than Hill's other books but it still has Hill's signature compelling, compassionate writing that brings serious issues to the forefront of people's consciousness. It is a very timely and important story especially with the issues that were raised here in Canada in our recent election. Hopefully, at the very least, this book will make people think about the horrors that many of these refugees face in their home countries as they try to make better lives for themselves and their families.
My Rating: 4/5 stars
**This book review can also be found on my blog, The Baking Bookworm (www.thebakingbookworm.blogspot.ca) where I share hundreds of book reviews and my favourite recipes. **
The Illegal is a tale set in the very near future in two fictional countries, Freedom State and Zantoroland, and their issues (some quite violent) surrounding refugees as well as an underlying storyline involving long distance running. By using two fictional countries Hill allows himself some leeway with his storytelling while bringing this serious and timely issue to the forefront of people's minds.
The book focuses on Keita, a boy who had the misfortune to be born into the lower class of people in Zantoroland, and his struggle to freedom for himself and those like him. Hill weaves his plot using multiple points of view with a cast of strong and truly memorable characters. From feisty octogenarian Ivernia Beech, tenacious teen John Falconer, tough as nails paraplegic reporter Viola Hill as well as those in positions of power, these characters are all well drawn out and showcase the different points of view involving the refugee issue.
Hill also adds some humourous moments and dialogue between his characters and, as a fellow Canadian, I loved the repeated references to Canada - especially the reference to Tim Horton's. You've gotta love and respect a proud Canuck!
Hill gives his readers a lot to think about regarding the issue of refugees and you really feel for Keita and all that he, and his fellow 'illegals' have gone through. Readers will easily get behind Keita as he runs towards freedom for himself and those like him who only had the misfortune to be born in a country who didn't value their worth. Like Keita this book is fast-paced and Keita's struggle to freedom was so compelling.
While I really enjoyed this book I can't say that I loved it as much as some of Hill's previous works but The Illegal still holds it's own. It has a different feel to it than Hill's other books but it still has Hill's signature compelling, compassionate writing that brings serious issues to the forefront of people's consciousness. It is a very timely and important story especially with the issues that were raised here in Canada in our recent election. Hopefully, at the very least, this book will make people think about the horrors that many of these refugees face in their home countries as they try to make better lives for themselves and their families.
My Rating: 4/5 stars
**This book review can also be found on my blog, The Baking Bookworm (www.thebakingbookworm.blogspot.ca) where I share hundreds of book reviews and my favourite recipes. **
October 8, 2015
The Illegal didn’t keep me as interested as I thought it would. I wasn’t a bad book but it took while to get to the points he was trying to explain. Lawrence Hill is a very descriptive writer. He gave a really long backstory so you can understand why Ketia’s sister was kidnapped or why illegals were being killed. He also was very descriptive. There were a lot of characters that played a big part in the story and it was somewhat hard to keep track of everyone at first. He also chose to tell the story in many different points of views using multiple characters to tell the side of the story. I really liked the ending of the book. The last few chapters were the best to me. I was really into the book when Ketia found out his sister was kidnapped and being held for ransom. At that point I couldn’t put the book down.
Reading this book made me think a lot about illegals and racism. It made me think about how illegals are treated and what needs to change. This is the type of book that makes you look at our world and say we need change.
Kayla Landry
AAMBC Reviewer
Reading this book made me think a lot about illegals and racism. It made me think about how illegals are treated and what needs to change. This is the type of book that makes you look at our world and say we need change.
Kayla Landry
AAMBC Reviewer
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2015
Maybe 3.5. I'm rather disappointed. Definitely an interesting story, but some dialogue and events seemed contrived and unrealistic. The ending was very neat and tidy.
Read
September 14, 2018I AM FINALLY DONE THIS BOOK OH MY GOD
February 16, 2016
This is a repost of a longer review found here: http://booksandtea.ca/2016/02/the-ill...
Keita Ali is a gifted long-distance runner and a native of the small island of Zantoroland, in the middle of the Indian Ocean. When Zantoroland undergoes a political coup and his journalist father is tortured and killed, Keita goes on the run to the nearby prosperous island of Freedom State. As an undocumented refugee in a country reaching new heights of xenophobia, Keita needs to lay low. But that’s an option he can’t afford to take after his sister gets kidnapped and held for ransom — the only way he can earn enough money to win her freedom is by running, and winning, local long-distance races.
That’s not the only problem in Freedom State. AfricTown, the country’s largest slum, is ruled with an iron fist by Lula DiStefano — in addition to being the slum’s de-facto landlord, she also runs brothels and generally has her fingers in many unsavoury pies. She is desperately trying to get the government to install local infrastructure and she’s not above blackmailing the Prime Minister to get things done. At the same time, two journalists — one a gifted student and the other a marginalized reporter looking to get off the sports pages — start sniffing when word gets around about a young prostitute who got deported to Zantoroland and died under torture.
Okay, so we’ve got military coups in third-world countries, lots of refugees fleeing towards safe harbour, and the residents of those safer countries trying to deport newcomers back to where they came from. Considering that there’s a certain refugee crisis filling the headlines right now, this book is full of Very Topical Geopolitical Issues. This is clearly a book that has Important Things to say.
Alas that it could not say them in a way I found engaging. I had several issues with the book.
Let’s start with the fact that I found it hard to take The Illegal seriously from page one because of two particular words: Freedom State. At the risk of sounding pedantic, that’s a shitty, unimaginative name for a fictional country. It’s a fictional name so politically baldfaced and ostentatious that I can’t take the story seriously as anything more nuanced than a manifesto, or, at best, an extremely clumsy parable. I mean, if I opened a restaurant and called it “The Food Place”, would you consider me a serious restauranteur? Probably not. You’d think, at best, that I was an insufferable hipster aiming for meta humour.
This lack of imagination extends to describing exactly what it is that makes Freedom State so special. Throughout the book, both the characters and the omniscient narration say repeatedly that Freedom State “is one of the best countries in the world”, has a “strong economy”, and so forth. But what exactly makes Freedom State such an attractive place to live? What are its chief industries? Does it have a thriving technology sector, like in the US? Is it, like Canada, built primarily on the extraction of natural resources? The book doesn’t say.
It’s fair to assume that like many English-speaking first-world economies (e.g., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.S.), Freedom State is a former colonial state. However, unlike other former colonial states, there’s very little evidence of any culture outside of the Western/European norm bubbling up from the bottom to give the country its own stamp — no non-Eurocentric place names, no unusual slang, no sense of uniquely “Freedom-Statonian” cuisine.
Thus, like its economy, Freedom State’s cultural identifiers are cobbled together from a mishmash of elements from other developed countries. Everyone seems to listen to country music and get coffee from Tim Hortons. There’s a restaurant at a major intersection in the capital city called The Lox and Bagel. When Keita attempts to open a bank account, he briefly considers going to a Bank of Montreal branch. Freedom State’s main newspaper, The Clarkson Evening Telegram, is constantly stated to be one of the best in the world and is frequently mentioned in the same breath as such luminaries as The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, and… uh… The Toronto Star. (Hill is Canadian. I happen to think he lays on the CanCon love a little thick here.)
Speaking of which, this book takes place in 2018, yet there’s little to no mention at all of the pressures that the newspaper is industry is facing over the Death of Print. When you consider that one of the main characters is a newspaper journalist who files her stories via email, the vaunting of print seems a little out of place. If you’re writing a story that takes place in the near future where one of the main character is a journalist, and yet refuse to engage with the way the internet is radically shaking up the industry, that seems both lazy and highly implausible.
So, the worldbuilding is cardboard thin. What about the people inhabiting that world? What are they like?
With a few exceptions, they’re also pretty thin. Perhaps the most vibrant character is Viola Hill, a journalist struggling to be taken seriously at the Telegram. Black, gay, and using a wheelchair, Viola’s under no illusions about how she has to work harder than anyone else around her to get a shred of respect:
But few of the others fare so well. John Falconer, a high school student trying to make a documentary about AfricTown for a school project, is basically an annoying boy genius. Rocco Calder, Freedom State’s new and beleaguered Minister of Immigration, develops little more depth beyond the idea that he’s in over his head. Ivernia Beech, a spunky senior citizen, pretty much exists to solve people’s problems and act as living proof that Not All White People In This Story Are Awful.
And Keita? Aside from the rash decision he makes to abandon his sports agent and go underground in Freedom State, he’s seen as a golden boy. People constantly remark on how handsome he is, how well-trained he is, how polite he is. Nearly everyone who meets him treats him kindly and shields him from the true harshness of being an undocumented refugee. Ivernia offers to have him stay at her house. Lula DiStefano gives him a big meal and even some impromptu medical treatment. The director of a local race repeatedly offers to train him so that he can join Freedom State’s Olympic marathon team. Hell, a local cop falls for him and has a one-night stand with him; in the epilogue, they become a couple and both try out for the Olympic marathon team. How convenient is that?
I sense an uncomfortable subtext to the way that Keita is treated: in essence, he’s a Model Minority. Be talented and polite like Keita, the story seems to say, and the ugly realities of life as a refugee will cease to apply. If you’re living a substandard life as a refugee, well, it’s just because you don’t have enough innate dignity to make the right kind of people want to help you.
Hill is a biracial author whose past works have dealt intimately with the topic of racial discrimination. Isn’t it kind of disingenuous for him to create a character who survives because of such preferential treatment?
The Illegal fails on several levels of craft, as well: it’s dialogue is belaboured, its ending wraps up too neatly, and it features some truly clunky (and unnecessary) info dumps. All of the political allegory in the world can’t make me overlook such narrative flaws.
Keita Ali is a gifted long-distance runner and a native of the small island of Zantoroland, in the middle of the Indian Ocean. When Zantoroland undergoes a political coup and his journalist father is tortured and killed, Keita goes on the run to the nearby prosperous island of Freedom State. As an undocumented refugee in a country reaching new heights of xenophobia, Keita needs to lay low. But that’s an option he can’t afford to take after his sister gets kidnapped and held for ransom — the only way he can earn enough money to win her freedom is by running, and winning, local long-distance races.
That’s not the only problem in Freedom State. AfricTown, the country’s largest slum, is ruled with an iron fist by Lula DiStefano — in addition to being the slum’s de-facto landlord, she also runs brothels and generally has her fingers in many unsavoury pies. She is desperately trying to get the government to install local infrastructure and she’s not above blackmailing the Prime Minister to get things done. At the same time, two journalists — one a gifted student and the other a marginalized reporter looking to get off the sports pages — start sniffing when word gets around about a young prostitute who got deported to Zantoroland and died under torture.
Okay, so we’ve got military coups in third-world countries, lots of refugees fleeing towards safe harbour, and the residents of those safer countries trying to deport newcomers back to where they came from. Considering that there’s a certain refugee crisis filling the headlines right now, this book is full of Very Topical Geopolitical Issues. This is clearly a book that has Important Things to say.
Alas that it could not say them in a way I found engaging. I had several issues with the book.
Let’s start with the fact that I found it hard to take The Illegal seriously from page one because of two particular words: Freedom State. At the risk of sounding pedantic, that’s a shitty, unimaginative name for a fictional country. It’s a fictional name so politically baldfaced and ostentatious that I can’t take the story seriously as anything more nuanced than a manifesto, or, at best, an extremely clumsy parable. I mean, if I opened a restaurant and called it “The Food Place”, would you consider me a serious restauranteur? Probably not. You’d think, at best, that I was an insufferable hipster aiming for meta humour.
This lack of imagination extends to describing exactly what it is that makes Freedom State so special. Throughout the book, both the characters and the omniscient narration say repeatedly that Freedom State “is one of the best countries in the world”, has a “strong economy”, and so forth. But what exactly makes Freedom State such an attractive place to live? What are its chief industries? Does it have a thriving technology sector, like in the US? Is it, like Canada, built primarily on the extraction of natural resources? The book doesn’t say.
It’s fair to assume that like many English-speaking first-world economies (e.g., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.S.), Freedom State is a former colonial state. However, unlike other former colonial states, there’s very little evidence of any culture outside of the Western/European norm bubbling up from the bottom to give the country its own stamp — no non-Eurocentric place names, no unusual slang, no sense of uniquely “Freedom-Statonian” cuisine.
Thus, like its economy, Freedom State’s cultural identifiers are cobbled together from a mishmash of elements from other developed countries. Everyone seems to listen to country music and get coffee from Tim Hortons. There’s a restaurant at a major intersection in the capital city called The Lox and Bagel. When Keita attempts to open a bank account, he briefly considers going to a Bank of Montreal branch. Freedom State’s main newspaper, The Clarkson Evening Telegram, is constantly stated to be one of the best in the world and is frequently mentioned in the same breath as such luminaries as The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, and… uh… The Toronto Star. (Hill is Canadian. I happen to think he lays on the CanCon love a little thick here.)
Speaking of which, this book takes place in 2018, yet there’s little to no mention at all of the pressures that the newspaper is industry is facing over the Death of Print. When you consider that one of the main characters is a newspaper journalist who files her stories via email, the vaunting of print seems a little out of place. If you’re writing a story that takes place in the near future where one of the main character is a journalist, and yet refuse to engage with the way the internet is radically shaking up the industry, that seems both lazy and highly implausible.
So, the worldbuilding is cardboard thin. What about the people inhabiting that world? What are they like?
With a few exceptions, they’re also pretty thin. Perhaps the most vibrant character is Viola Hill, a journalist struggling to be taken seriously at the Telegram. Black, gay, and using a wheelchair, Viola’s under no illusions about how she has to work harder than anyone else around her to get a shred of respect:
To be given a crack at serious news stories, Viola Hill had to be perfect on the job. Always on time. Always ready. Invincible. Got the flu? Don’t tell anybody. Having a day when all she could think about was that she wished her mom were still alive? Swallow that emotion. Having a rare burst of phantom pain, like a knife ripping through her thighs? How bloody fair was that, to feel ten-out-of-ten agony in a part of her body that she no longer even owned? Even phantom pains she had to mask. She had learned not to scream when they came out of nowhere. She could not have people thinking she’d keel over and die. They would never promote her. Viola was sick and tired of having to be unassailable. But she answered the phone whenever it rang, because that’s what professionals did.
But few of the others fare so well. John Falconer, a high school student trying to make a documentary about AfricTown for a school project, is basically an annoying boy genius. Rocco Calder, Freedom State’s new and beleaguered Minister of Immigration, develops little more depth beyond the idea that he’s in over his head. Ivernia Beech, a spunky senior citizen, pretty much exists to solve people’s problems and act as living proof that Not All White People In This Story Are Awful.
And Keita? Aside from the rash decision he makes to abandon his sports agent and go underground in Freedom State, he’s seen as a golden boy. People constantly remark on how handsome he is, how well-trained he is, how polite he is. Nearly everyone who meets him treats him kindly and shields him from the true harshness of being an undocumented refugee. Ivernia offers to have him stay at her house. Lula DiStefano gives him a big meal and even some impromptu medical treatment. The director of a local race repeatedly offers to train him so that he can join Freedom State’s Olympic marathon team. Hell, a local cop falls for him and has a one-night stand with him; in the epilogue, they become a couple and both try out for the Olympic marathon team. How convenient is that?
I sense an uncomfortable subtext to the way that Keita is treated: in essence, he’s a Model Minority. Be talented and polite like Keita, the story seems to say, and the ugly realities of life as a refugee will cease to apply. If you’re living a substandard life as a refugee, well, it’s just because you don’t have enough innate dignity to make the right kind of people want to help you.
Hill is a biracial author whose past works have dealt intimately with the topic of racial discrimination. Isn’t it kind of disingenuous for him to create a character who survives because of such preferential treatment?
The Illegal fails on several levels of craft, as well: it’s dialogue is belaboured, its ending wraps up too neatly, and it features some truly clunky (and unnecessary) info dumps. All of the political allegory in the world can’t make me overlook such narrative flaws.
March 10, 2016
A-mazing! Lawrence Hill is a master of Can-Lit. And now that I've read the book, so many inclusions of the book seem obvious.
Of course, Freedom State (FS) is an island nation just off the African continent that is largely populated by white people. Of course, corrupt white bureaucrats have made secretive payments to corrupt black government officials in Zoroland, an adjacent African nation, to stop refugees from staying in FS. Of course, FS would have a token, black police Sergeant, who is attracted to political refugee and protagonist, Zeita Ali. Much entanglement ensues.
And there are some surprises, too. But having read the book, these also seem the only way that things could have gone.
Tight plot. Tight climax. Great Canadian Literature.
Of course, Freedom State (FS) is an island nation just off the African continent that is largely populated by white people. Of course, corrupt white bureaucrats have made secretive payments to corrupt black government officials in Zoroland, an adjacent African nation, to stop refugees from staying in FS. Of course, FS would have a token, black police Sergeant, who is attracted to political refugee and protagonist, Zeita Ali. Much entanglement ensues.
And there are some surprises, too. But having read the book, these also seem the only way that things could have gone.
Tight plot. Tight climax. Great Canadian Literature.
February 14, 2022
This story condemns anti-immigrant cultural attitudes and policies. It has the feel of a morality tale, the good characters (mostly those of color) are all good, smart and talented; the bad characters (mostly those who are white) are all bad, arrogant and stupid. Although real places and events are included, the primary action takes place in fictional countries, an impoverished tropical island with a brutal dictatorship and an affluent country with a corrupt government and irrational anti-immigrant policies. The scene that brought the plot to a resolution felt as if it had been lifted from a comic book; only the speech bubbles with “bam” and “wham” were missing. The fictional setting with its unnuanced characters put a distance between me and the story that I could never bridge. Although I am very concerned about the plight of immigrants today, I never came to care about those in this novel. 2.5 stars
April 25, 2021
I admit, I gave this book an extra star because I loved all the references to places local to me here in the Toronto area (even if they were transplanted to the fictional lands of Zantoroland and Freedom State). Yes, "Avenue Road" is a ridiculous name for a street and I appreciated that the author took a few sentences to mention it. :) Really, though, the story is very good. I was born in Canada, where we accept and welcome refugees and immigrants. I see that these people still suffer from discrimination by locals who question the give-and-take between these new settlers and our social support systems. It's not all sunshine and roses here in Canada. I imagine new immigrants often wonder what is better: the oppression, violence and corruption of their old country or the so-called "civilized and free" life here in Canada. Okay, it's not a fine line, but Hill reminds us that it's not a clear black & white situation. It's not easy for us to see the challenges that immigrants endure below the surface.
I enjoyed Keita Ali's story. I was rooting for him the whole time and I liked him as a character. The characters were vivid and the fictional world was richly depicted. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was great, too. There were many songs throughout the story (part of the Zantoroland cultural identity) and the narrator can sing! Thanks to Audible, who gave this, free, as an Editor's monthly pick.
I enjoyed Keita Ali's story. I was rooting for him the whole time and I liked him as a character. The characters were vivid and the fictional world was richly depicted. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was great, too. There were many songs throughout the story (part of the Zantoroland cultural identity) and the narrator can sing! Thanks to Audible, who gave this, free, as an Editor's monthly pick.
July 18, 2016
I enjoyed The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill and was intrigued by his Massey Lecture series Blood: The Stuff of Life. He gives a good interview–thoughtful, insightful and always respectful. Kind and generous, I suspect. An intelligent man.
Which is why I was so disappointed by The Illegal. The characters seem one-dimensional, the fabricated setting on the two mythical island countries, Zantoroland and Freedom State, somewhere in the Indian Ocean cobbled together, and the plot as predictable as a Harlequin Romance – maybe one from the Suspense line: “Heart-stopping stories with intrigue and mystery – where true love always triumphs.”
Seriously. There’s not a character – from the book’s central character, marathoner Keita, to the feisty old lady being subjected to elder abuse by her greedy son and the state; to the evil queen of Africtown with a heart of gold; to the black, lesbian, legless journalist (I kid you not); to the beautiful female cop/marathoner always fighting off advances from fellow officers; to the naïve Minister of Immigration, a former car salesman who shows not one modicum of political or even sales sense; to Keita’s Harvard scholarship sister; to the young gifted boy taping everything in sight – who shows any complexity, who is drawn to the dark side, who is tempted to not do the right (or the wrong) thing. Who understands that the basic modus operandi of every repressive regime is to co-opt its citizens by making them complicit in the atrocities they themselves deplore.
Aha, I thought. It’s a fable! These are the stock characters who act out a story meant to teach us many moral lessons. Becoming an excellent runner is hard work, but sticking with it will bring rewards. You shouldn’t judge people by the colour of their skin, by their land of birth, by their sexual orientation, by their gender, by their age, by their disability (all of these are covered). You shouldn’t torture and murder people. Corrupt politicians have secrets, want money, should be exposed. Oh, and there are good and bad people in sports programs. Fancy that. Gosh, this was all new to me and now I understand.
Mostly, I was embarrassed to think that many people who should know better (it won Canada Reads, for heaven's sake), people I admire, gave it such sterling reviews. That Lawrence Hill himself let it go out into the world. Sigh.
Which is why I was so disappointed by The Illegal. The characters seem one-dimensional, the fabricated setting on the two mythical island countries, Zantoroland and Freedom State, somewhere in the Indian Ocean cobbled together, and the plot as predictable as a Harlequin Romance – maybe one from the Suspense line: “Heart-stopping stories with intrigue and mystery – where true love always triumphs.”
Seriously. There’s not a character – from the book’s central character, marathoner Keita, to the feisty old lady being subjected to elder abuse by her greedy son and the state; to the evil queen of Africtown with a heart of gold; to the black, lesbian, legless journalist (I kid you not); to the beautiful female cop/marathoner always fighting off advances from fellow officers; to the naïve Minister of Immigration, a former car salesman who shows not one modicum of political or even sales sense; to Keita’s Harvard scholarship sister; to the young gifted boy taping everything in sight – who shows any complexity, who is drawn to the dark side, who is tempted to not do the right (or the wrong) thing. Who understands that the basic modus operandi of every repressive regime is to co-opt its citizens by making them complicit in the atrocities they themselves deplore.
Aha, I thought. It’s a fable! These are the stock characters who act out a story meant to teach us many moral lessons. Becoming an excellent runner is hard work, but sticking with it will bring rewards. You shouldn’t judge people by the colour of their skin, by their land of birth, by their sexual orientation, by their gender, by their age, by their disability (all of these are covered). You shouldn’t torture and murder people. Corrupt politicians have secrets, want money, should be exposed. Oh, and there are good and bad people in sports programs. Fancy that. Gosh, this was all new to me and now I understand.
Mostly, I was embarrassed to think that many people who should know better (it won Canada Reads, for heaven's sake), people I admire, gave it such sterling reviews. That Lawrence Hill himself let it go out into the world. Sigh.
September 21, 2015
I loved this book. I had previously read a review in which the novel was described as "unputdownable" and I was initially skeptical since I have precisely no interest in marathons. However, while Keita is an elite athlete, this character is so much more. The novel is full of well-drawn characters who might have been broad stereotypes in another author's work.
Fan's of Lawrence Hill's may notice that the book is engaging in a very different way than The Book of Negroes. Both stories deal with difficult subject matter with unusual sensitivity and use provocative titles -- I'm told that the term "illegal" is a pejorative -- and both of these books earn the right to these titles. Hill humanizes all of his characters even as the title of the book uses a word often used to deny the humanity of individuals whose stories are so much more complex than their documentation. Hill's complex characters include some of his villains but I can't go into more detail since I don't want to give anything away. This is a book worth reading with twists and turns to the very end.
Fan's of Lawrence Hill's may notice that the book is engaging in a very different way than The Book of Negroes. Both stories deal with difficult subject matter with unusual sensitivity and use provocative titles -- I'm told that the term "illegal" is a pejorative -- and both of these books earn the right to these titles. Hill humanizes all of his characters even as the title of the book uses a word often used to deny the humanity of individuals whose stories are so much more complex than their documentation. Hill's complex characters include some of his villains but I can't go into more detail since I don't want to give anything away. This is a book worth reading with twists and turns to the very end.
March 17, 2016
this is a very plot-driven novel and it is definitely compelling. i found the story interesting and i was eager to turn each page to see how it was all going to play out. in many ways this felt like a thriller, and it was quite entertaining. there is a 'but', though... because it is plot-driven, the characters didn't feel fully realized. some were better than others, and certainly there were some very quirky secondary characters, but you never really got in to them too deeply. i would love to have known more about a few of them. a couple of plot points didn't play out well for me -- in particular, the storyline of anton hamm which felt very clunky. i also felt the ending fizzled. so while i did enjoy the read, i didn't end up loving it as much as i had hoped, based on other reading friends' responses. but, i am glad i read it. :)
in the context of 'canada reads', and the theme of 'starting over', it's an interesting book to have on the panel. given the competition aspect of the story - keita is a runner - clara hughes should offer some cool insights in this regard. the issue of immigration, and how countries treat immigrants, is a very important and timely concern and will be very topical during the 'canada reads' debates.
edited 17 march 2016 -- downgraded from 3½-stars, to 3. the book hasn't really stuck with me and the further i get from it, i only think on the weaknesses. hmmm.
in the context of 'canada reads', and the theme of 'starting over', it's an interesting book to have on the panel. given the competition aspect of the story - keita is a runner - clara hughes should offer some cool insights in this regard. the issue of immigration, and how countries treat immigrants, is a very important and timely concern and will be very topical during the 'canada reads' debates.
edited 17 march 2016 -- downgraded from 3½-stars, to 3. the book hasn't really stuck with me and the further i get from it, i only think on the weaknesses. hmmm.
November 3, 2016
3.5 stars - Parts of this book were brilliant but the ending felt way too contrived. Given the situations described in this book it is hard for me to buy into a happy ending for all the good guys. Life just doesn't work that way. I enjoyed the parts about the races and I found the immigration issues to be very timely even though this takes place in an entirely fictional country. While I did find the plot engaging and I definitely wanted to keep reading, I wanted to like this more than I ultimately did.
October 7, 2015
I am always reluctant to give a poor review because I realize how difficult it must be to author a book. However, I only got to the middle of this book, where the main character is making dinner for an older women who he befriends and the book describes the making of the meal in detail. The main story is interesting but there are way too many side stories and the characters are very stereotyped. I enjoyed "The Book of Negros" but really did not like this book.
January 16, 2016
Love his writing!
January 9, 2019
"The Illegal" is a solid read, rating somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars. Hill's most recent work, The Illegal follows the story of Keita Ali, an elite marathoner from Zantoroland who is running for his life (and his sister's) in the nearby country of Freedom State.
Freedom State and Zantoroland are island nations, sitting in the Ortiz Sea in the southern Indian Ocean. The two nations are separated by only several hundred miles but are vastly different. Zantoroland is a nation of blacks, economically depressed and is ruled by a corrupt government that is persecuting its Faloo people and murdering those it labels as "dissidents". Freedom State, a nation of whites, is one of the richest nations in the world; while it's government was democratically elected, it was elected on the promise that it would deport boatloads of "illegals" - refugees, asylum seekers and migrants who have fled their homes for Freedom State and the hope of a better life, as well those Freedom Statonians who cannot prove their citizenship.
Keita's story becomes entangled in a political intrigue, and along the way he encounters Freedom State's Minister of Immigration, Lula DiStefano, the unofficial "Queen of AfricTown" (a shanty town on the outskirts of Freedom State's capital city), an elite high school student from AfricTown, an elderly sympathetic Freedom Statonian and a journalist like his late father. All Keita wants to do is outrun those who are chasing him so that he can save his sister Charity from the clutches of the Zantoroland government.
The Illegal is, in the end, a story about human resilience, what it means to belong and lengths people will go to for their ideals. It starts slowly, but picks up speed and barrels forward to a satisfying finish.
Freedom State and Zantoroland are island nations, sitting in the Ortiz Sea in the southern Indian Ocean. The two nations are separated by only several hundred miles but are vastly different. Zantoroland is a nation of blacks, economically depressed and is ruled by a corrupt government that is persecuting its Faloo people and murdering those it labels as "dissidents". Freedom State, a nation of whites, is one of the richest nations in the world; while it's government was democratically elected, it was elected on the promise that it would deport boatloads of "illegals" - refugees, asylum seekers and migrants who have fled their homes for Freedom State and the hope of a better life, as well those Freedom Statonians who cannot prove their citizenship.
Keita's story becomes entangled in a political intrigue, and along the way he encounters Freedom State's Minister of Immigration, Lula DiStefano, the unofficial "Queen of AfricTown" (a shanty town on the outskirts of Freedom State's capital city), an elite high school student from AfricTown, an elderly sympathetic Freedom Statonian and a journalist like his late father. All Keita wants to do is outrun those who are chasing him so that he can save his sister Charity from the clutches of the Zantoroland government.
The Illegal is, in the end, a story about human resilience, what it means to belong and lengths people will go to for their ideals. It starts slowly, but picks up speed and barrels forward to a satisfying finish.
February 12, 2016
(3.5 stars. After taking more time away from it) Now that was one compelling page turner! When The Illegal was originally released I was somewhat hesitant to read it. There was just something that had me keep it on the backburner, even though it was the new Lawrence Hill novel. Then it was shortlisted for the Canada Reads 2016 competition and was the first one I was to read (although, I have already read Bone & Bread). Well, by page 7 I was completely drawn in and rooting for the main character, Keita. With a great paced plot, excellent secondary characters, this was a wonderful read. It is clear why it fits well within the "Starting Over" theme for the CR 2016 competition. It will be quite interesting to hear Clara Hughes' defend this one. (And, first book completed for the GR CBC Books Bingo!)
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January 26, 2016Hill’s fantastic new novel takes place in the fictional country of Zantaland. After his journalist father is murdered by the government, a young man named Keita Ali flees to the country of Freedom State. Keita Ali is a marathoner, but he becomes a different sort of runner when he escapes his country. He struggles to survive and elude capture as he lives life as an illegal in a foreign country. Making things more difficult is the kidnapping of his sister. Can he find a way to come up with the ransom money before it's too late? Like Hill’s previous novels, The Illegal is smart and engrossing.
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