something is crawling inside their minds

and I fear that it will reveal itself soon

Fiction, 2019

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to simmer in a pot of social tension, knowing that sometime soon, the lid will pop off? Perhaps you’ve never had to because you live in it. In fact, I can’t think of anyone anywhere in the world who wouldn’t be living in it. If that’s the truth, then the idea of spending your time immersed in a novel that replicates this exact feeling probably wouldn't appeal to you. For the rest of us who love to worry, it is a delectable feast to devour.

Prelude to a Riot is a story that does a lot. It’s centred around one town, and the various characters in it, from the drunken tenth-grade social science teacher, a Dada who cares about his family and garden in equal measure, and women like Mariam who are caretakers, bakers, and masseurs. Every chapter shifts in perspective, so you hear what different voices think about, what they say, and more importantly, what they do not say. Cut in between these characters are clippings from the local newspaper: anonymous poems that mock the piles of testosterone that litter the streets, letters sent to the Editor warning them to stop publishing said poems, and a one-liner about a boy found dead in a ditch. This is a story about being drenched in communal tension awareness.

Though I micro-dosed the novel—reading a couple of pages every few hours—it’s one that you can definitely get through in one sitting (it’s only 180 pages). When I finished it, in my room at the turn of the afternoon into evening, I’m ashamed to admit that I too, was ready to riot.

Song - Bad Moon Rising

Film - The White Lotus Season 2 (Once again, I know it isn’t a film, but it oddly fits in the sense that everything that was once so beautiful, starts to feel claustrophobically sinister.)