Karen Connelly

So consummate is Karen Connelly's skill in The Lizard Cage that elements [of the life of a political prisoner in Burma] compel us to keep turning the pages. Her writing is muscular and taut, bringing inmates and warders fully alive. Impressive

Expertly constructed, often harrowing thriller

In a feat of epic vision, Karen Connelly uses her every art to tell the urgent story of what the New York Times calls "Myanmar, arguably the most repressive regime in the world". The suspense never relents. Hope is small, but it lives, strengthened by this powerful book.

Connelly reminds me of Latin American writers and poets like Pablo Neruda, who wrote so eloquently about the ills of their homelands. Like these writers, too, Connelly finds beauty and kindness and the potential for redemption in the most unexpected places.

The story unfolds perfectly and unaffectedly, with Connelly striking a remarkable balance in a tale that by turns delights, surprises and shocks. But even when writing of some of the darkest depths to which humanity can sink, her poet's heart shines through; she observes with lucidity and without moralizing.

In The Lizard Cage, Connelly peels away much of the political rhetoric and gives us the human story, which is both fragile and resilient.

Connelly is fluid and well-paced, and her fictive prison world, set in the actual political hellhole that is present-day Burma, is as affecting as any UN statistical report about the conditions of life in that ruined country.

Teza once electrified the people of Burma with his protest songs against the dictatorship. Arrested by the Burmese secret police in the days of mass protest, he is seven years into a twenty-year sentence in solitary confinement, cut off from his family and contact with other prisoners. Enduring the harsh conditions with resourcefulness, Buddhist patience and humour, he searches for news and human connection in every being and object that is grudgingly allowed into his cell. 
Despite his isolation, Teza has a profound influence on the world of the cage. He inspires the conscience-ridden senior jailer to radical change. His very existence challenges the brutal authority of Handsome, the junior jailer. Even though his server, the criminal Sein Yun, sees compromising the singer as a ticket out of jail, Teza befriends him, risking falling into the trap of forbidden conversation, food and the most dangerous contraband of all, paper and pen. 
Lastly there's Little Brother, an orphan child growing up inside the walls. Teza and the boy are prisoners of different orders, but their extraordinary friendship frees both of them in utterly surprising ways. Overturning our expectations, Karen Connelly presents us with a mystifying world that celebrates the human spirit, and spirit itself, in the midst of injustice and violence.

The Lizard Cage

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Karen Connelly

Praise for The Lizard Cage

So consummate is Karen Connelly's skill in The Lizard Cage that elements [of the life of a political prisoner in Burma] compel us to keep turning the pages. Her writing is muscular and taut, bringing inmates ...

Expertly constructed, often harrowing thriller

A chilling and powerful story

So consummate is Karen Connelly's skill in The Lizard Cage that elements [of the life of a political prisoner in Burma] compel us to keep turning the pages. Her writing is muscular and taut, bringing inmates ...

Expertly constructed, often harrowing thriller

A chilling and powerful story

So consummate is Karen Connelly's skill in The Lizard Cage that elements [of the life of a political prisoner in Burma] compel us to keep turning the pages. Her writing is muscular and taut, bringing inmates ...

Expertly constructed, often harrowing thriller

A chilling and powerful story

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