The forbidden Realm (sometimes 'The Forbidden Kingdom')- JJ Slauerhoff

[Amanda]

An interesting book that combines a tale of the brutal Portuguese colonization of Macau, China, and the tale of a lost Irish Sailor.

The first plot, occurring in the 16th century, follows the conquistador that ‘founded’ Macau after razing a Chinese city, and later the travels of poet Luis de Camoes (author of the Lusiads, which is also on this list) to Macau where an ill-fated romance takes place. The second, which follows a drug-addicted Irish sailor lost at sea near Hong-Kong who thinks he is the descendent of washed up conquistadors , ends up merging with the first and it becomes unclear whether things are happening to Camoes or the sailor.

It's a great narrative device to portray the idea that we are still the recipients of the legacy of colonization. Whether in how Eurocentric and white-supremacist ideals still confers privilege to some, and the after effects of it still trickle down into domestic conflicts and power imbalances in formerly colonized nations and people. The sailor's drug dependence in the seas around Hong Kong hints to the horrifying story of the British Opium Wars against China. The narrative also pulls no punches in describing the violence and dehumanizing philosophies that undermined the colonial age.

I gave it 4 stars.