Frankenstein in Baghdad

This Frankenstein is not the product of mad science, nor does he serve as a condemnation of the hubris of mankind or our fear of the other. Here, composed of the body parts of bombing victims, he is an avatar of pure vengeance. And as he changes from hunting down the killers of his composite body parts to indiscriminately killing innocents to keep himself from decomposing, the allegory is far from subtle but it works.

But the creature is only part of this book, which is also a mosaic novel about the inhabitants of a Baghdad neighborhood during American occupation. Their stories are tangled up in a disjointed patchwork, very much like the creature's body. The standout story strand is that of an elderly woman, refusing to accept the long ago death of her son. But many of the other characters get short shrift. And the story that get the most attention, of a journalist who falls under the thrall of his shady publisher, unfortunately lacks any real interest and continually drags the book down.