Review for
Dark Heart
by P.J. Richmond
While I was reading P.J. Richmond's, "Dark
Heart," I could not help but think of history of the
middle east, Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness, and
T.E. Lawrence's "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom."
Richmond has combined them to form an engaging Greek tragedy.
Richmond who has spent time in the Middle East, traveling,
has studied his subjects well. The issue of revolution and
political awareness is an escarpment not for the squeamish.
For it is a very complex landscape.
Richmond gives us a protagonist in Torc, that's somewhere
between Che Guevera, Osama Bin Laden, and a prideful man
of honor and decency. Tossed into the throes of a situation,
where any man must survive on his guile and courage.
First, we see Torc as a man of ideals who wants to help
his tribe, then he's infatuated by the city to see its wonders
and treasures. Then, he loses himself, becomes corrupt through
revolution, and turmoil. But in order to protect himself,
he almost loses his soul to the darkness of pesonal gain.
Even killing a friend and others to moralise his new philosophy.
In Heart of Darkness, we saw Willard. Search the Congo to
find Kurtz, only to see Kurtz, a sickly monster, drunk by
power, who thinks himself a god. Later, he speaks of horror
as he dies at the end. In Dark Heart, Torc is both hero
and villain, corrupted then redeemed, an antihero who must
live with his misdeeds.
In this mindset, when you think of a Taliban, Al Queada,
any revolutionary, or insurgent, what is their motivation?
They want to protect what's theirs without outside interference.
In Dark Heart, you see a microcosm of the Middle East, and
the last 85 years and what happened after Europe took hold
to drill for oil. But the Mid East has been in turmoil for
thousands of years, through Viziers, Sultans, and Shieks
alike, long before Islam became a religion. Darkness is
as timeless as the burning fires of a Zoroaster monastery.
They've been burning for over 2,000 years.
Dark Heart is a tale of caution to fundamentalism. Zealotry
is not the danger but the machinism of time, ignorance,
and greed that creeps out when people lose their identity.
They will fight back. That maybe the greatest tragedy of
all, by fighting, they lose everything. As do Torc and his
people.
Joel L. Young, Author
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