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21 March 2020 THE WEEKARTS
“Ihadassumed,after 40 yearsof
researchingandwritingaboutwarin
the 2 0thcentury,thatIwasprepared
forjust aboutanyhorror,”saidAntony
BeevorinTheSpectator.Butjournalist
ChristinaLamb’sstudyofthemass
rapeofwomenandgirlsduring
wartimeinrecenthistory“shookmetothecore”.Thisis“the
mostpowerfulanddisturbingbookIhaveeverread”.
Sexualviolencehasalwaysbeenpresentinwar,saidMelanie
ReidinTheTimes.In1 94 5,theRedArmyrapedanestimated
twomillionGermanwomen.Inrecentconflicts,ethnicand
sectariangroups–SerbsinBosnia,HutusinRwanda,IslamicState
inIraq,BokoHaram inNigeria, governmenttroops inMyanmar
–have used italmostas“aweapon ofmassdestruction”,Lamb
writes.Notonlyisitcheap,itcan be“moredevastatingthana
macheteoraKalashnikov”asaweaponof ethniccleansing,since
it “emptiesvillages,turnswomenandgirlsintohollow shells,
begetschildren whoarerejected asbad blood”.And unlike with
otherwarcrimes,ther eare“no corpses,nooutcry,littleevidence”- sotheperpetratorstendtogetaway
withit.Lambhaswrittena“shocking
anddevastatinglyauthentic”book.
Attimesitis“unbearablydifficultto
read”,saidDominicSandbrookinThe
SundayTimes.LambmeetsYazidigirls
soldandresoldassexslavesbyIsis;
andRohingyawomenwhotellherof
beinglinedupinricefieldsandgang-
rapedbyBurmesesoldiers.Bangladeshi
survivorsofthewarofindependence
intheearly1970sdescribehavingtheir
babieskilledinfrontofthembefore
beingrapedbyPakistanisoldiers.
Later,theywere“ostracisedbytheir
villages”.What’salsohighlydisturbing
ishowlittleoutragesuchatrocities
haveinspired.Forcenturies,Lambwrites,thegeneralattitudeto
warrapehasbeenoneof“tacitacceptance”.
Ourcollectivefailuretoconfrontthisissue“shamesusall”,said
PeterFrankopaninTheObserver.Asifwhatwomenhavebeen
forcedtoenduredownthecenturieswasn’tbadenough,they
havefacedthefurtherindignityofbeing“writtenoutofhistory”.
To thisday,the Russiangovernmentstillrefusestoacknowledge
thattheirsoldiersrapedanyoneduringWWII.Andthoughrape
was classifiedby the InternationalCriminalCourt asawar crime
in 1993, ithasneversuccessfullyconvictedanyoneof it. By
exposingthe astonishingscale oftheproblem,and revealinghow
littlehasbeen done tostopit, Lamb haswrittenahighly
importantbook, which“shouldberequired readingforall”.
Our Bodies, Their
Battlefield
by Christina Lamb
William Collins 432pp £20
The Week Bookshop£16.99Review of reviews: Books
Bookoftheweek
Ifyou’regoing tosubtitleyourmemoirAStory
of ChipShopsandPop Songs,you’d“better
serveupatastyhit”,saidHannahJane
Parkinsonin TheObserver.Fortunately,
journalist Pete Paphides’s memoir ofgrowing
upin1 97 0sBirminghamis“lip-licking,dance-
around-the-livingroomgood”.Thesonof
Greekimmigrantswho ranaseries offishand
chipshops,Paphides(right)wasananxious
child, tornbetweenhis Greekand Brummieidentities, and selectivelymutefrom
the ages of four to seven. To escape,he immersedhimself in British pop culture,
oftenofaslightlynaff variety, saidJohn HarrisinThe Guardian:Abba were
firm favourites,as wasLeo Sayer.“Allthe musicIliked was performed by
people whomight feasiblystep in andtake careofmeifsomething happenedto
my parents,” he recalls. Paphides’s skills asamusic writer arewell known, but
inBroken Greekhe “does something much more singular, whichis to describe
the deepimpact musiccan haveonaparticular sort of child, longbefore they
areawareof thecodesofc oolthat dictate whatone should andshouldn’tlike”.
Paphidesalso“lovingly evokes” howmusi cwas co nsumedin th osedistant
pre-digital days, saidJoeClayinThe Ti mes–atime when everyhigh street
had arecord shop, everydepartment storeamusicsect ion, andwhen you
couldhearthe latest hits by phoning British Telecom’sDial-a-Discservice. For
amemoirwhich coversamere decadeof its author’slife,Broke nGreekis quite
the“doorstop”: Paphides’s “forensicapproach”,with “pagesdevotedtosuch
subjects astherecordingprocessofAbba’sVoulez-Vousalbum”, willnot appeal
to ever yone.Yetoverall, it’s an“epic childhood memoir”–“tender, humane,
heartfeltand very funny”.Broken Greek
by Pete Paphides
Quercus 592pp £20
The Week Bookshop£16.99Novel of the week
AThousand Moons
by Sebastian Barry
Faber 272pp £18.99
The Week Bookshop£15.99Sebastian Barry’s last novel, the CostaPrize-
winningDays WithoutEnd,told the storyof
two secretly gaysoldiers intheera ofAmerica’s
India nand civil wars, said FrancescaCarington
in TheDaily Telegraph. Itende dwith thepair
adoptingaNativeAmerican girl, Winona. Now
in herlateteens, Winona narrates this powerful
sequel,setinmid-1870sTennessee.She is
“bright, loved andeduca ted”, worksasa
clerkand hopestomarry alocal man, said
LucyAtkinsin TheSunday Times.But when
she suffersaviolen tassault,it setsher on a
diff erent course–one that concludeswith her
falling for an outlaw girl namedPeg.
This “tricky” novelfeels “over-engineered”
at times,said Erica Wagnerin theFT: Winona’s
romance with Peg, forexample, has“the air
of adecision made by the authorrather than
somethingorganic andtrue”. It maybeless
satisfying than itspredecessor,butit’s“stilla
page-turnerwithheart and soul”,said Robert
Douglas-FairhurstinThe Times.Asi nall his
best fiction,Barry capturesthe“accidental
poetryofthe ev eryday”.©C
AMERA PRESS/LAIF; PETE PAPHIDES
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