Title: Spotless
Author: Camilla Monk
First published May 12, 2015
332 pages, Kindle Edition
Rating: 4.01
Overview
In Camilla Monk’s thrilling novel, Spotless, Island Chaptal is a nerdy IT engineer by day and a hopeless romantic by night. However, her life takes an unexpected turn when she walks into her messy New York apartment to find Mr. Clean waiting for her.
Mr. Clean, aka March, is a professional killer with a severe case of OCD and a mission to find a stolen diamond that Island’s late mother stole for a criminal organization. Island agrees to help him find it, leading her on a dangerous journey from Paris to Tokyo.
With March by her side, she faces deadly adversaries who don’t hesitate to use violence. As she races against time, Island finds herself falling for the enigmatic hitman, but loving a killer is far from safe…
Editoral Review
Kamila Shamsie’s 2017 novel Home Fire delves into complex themes of identity, loyalty, and family ties in the context of a modern-day retelling of Sophocles’ Antigone. Shamsie, a Pakistani-British writer, gives voice to the experiences of Muslim families living in the UK and their struggles to balance traditional values with the realities of contemporary society.
The novel was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Women’s Prize for Fiction. The plot centers around the Pasha family, in particular, siblings Isma, Aneeka, and Parvaiz.
Isma has taken on the role of caretaker for her younger siblings after their parents’ deaths, and she is studying in the US when she meets a fellow student, Eamonn, whose father is a prominent politician in the UK. Isma’s brother Parvaiz, who had been estranged from the family, has become radicalized and joins ISIS in Syria.
Aneeka, in her quest to bring her brother home, develops a relationship with Eamonn, complicating the already-tense political landscape. The novel is set against a backdrop of rising Islamophobia in the UK and the fraught relationships between immigrants and their adopted countries.
Shamsie’s prose is elegant and eloquent, and her characters are nuanced and fully-realized. She deftly examines the complexities of family dynamics and the tensions that arise when individuals pursue their own desires at the expense of the group.
While the novel is clearly rooted in contemporary issues, it also draws on timeless themes of love, sacrifice, and the struggles of the human heart.
One of the novel’s strengths is the way that it transcends simplistic portrayals of Muslim identity and acknowledges the diversity within the community.
Isma, Aneeka, and Parvaiz are all deeply affected by their relationship to their culture, but they each have their own distinct personalities and motives. This makes them feel like fully-rounded human beings rather than just representatives of a particular group.
However, the plot occasionally feels too contrived and far-fetched, as if the characters are being manipulated to serve the plot rather than following their own natural inclinations. This occasionally robs the narrative of the emotional resonance it could have had.
Additionally, while the novel deals with complex social issues, it sometimes feels didactic in its handling of these issues.
Overall, Home Fire is an important and thought-provoking novel that offers insight into the ways in which immigrant communities navigate the dual pressures of preserving their traditions and adapting to the norms of their new homes.
Shamsie’s writing is insightful and elegant, and her characters are deeply empathetic. The novel has some minor flaws in terms of plot contrivances and overexplaining its themes, but these are outweighed by its many strengths.
I highly recommend this novel to readers willing to engage with complex issues and explore the intricacies of the human heart.
Score: 4 out of 5 stars.