The Smell of Wet Bricks

Book excerpt: The Smell of Wet Bricks is a pioneering short novel in English by a Kurdish author. ”The smell of wet bricks” is a fresh voice from a region marked by violence and wars over a century. An author from Kurdistan in Iran, Parvizpur “craves to become the voice of a rich repository of powerful stories.” Excerpt: “His life was not empty of excitement; never did he have a monotonous life, and, even now that his body is lying in a corner thereunder a tree, never will he be immune from menace. Wanderer, nomad, homeless, or whatever you may call him will not make a change in his path, since he is an emperor. Nothing else matters to him except for his mission. He is in thorough possession of freedom and, equally, emancipated from any kind of blameworthiness.” … “The girl closes the notebook. She thinks about the day that she can go to Resho’s room to be exposed to his inspirations. She would smell the bricks of his room’s wall from which Resho detached its plasters to pour water on them. He loved the smell of wet bricks.”