The Sound of
Language
by Amulya Malladi
(2007)
(Read on Kindle in
February 2019)
This is a story about a
young woman, Raihana, who comes as refugee to Denmark from
Afghanistan, fleeing from the war and chaos in Kabul. In Denmark, she
is staying with relatives, a couple with a small child. As is
prescribed for all immigrants, she goes to language school to learn
Danish. At first, the Danish language sounds to her like the buzzing
of bees. But thinking of the sound of bees also stirs up some good
childhood memories for Raihana, of visiting an uncle who had a bee
farm back in Afghanistan. She finds a new friend in her Danish
language teacher, and when in some context Raihana mentions thee
bees, the teacher is inspired to help her to get an apprenticeship
with a man she knows who keeps bees. This man, Gunnar, is an elderly
recent widower. He and his wife started beekeeping as a hobby and
enjoyed working with this together. After his wife died, Gunnar has
sunk into a state of depression, and doesn't really care much about
anything any more – including the bees. However, he reluctantly
agrees to have Raihana coming to help him with the bees three days a
week.
In the beginning, both of
them feel rather skeptical and awkward about the arrangement, and so
do their families (Gunnar's daughter-in-law, and the family Raihana
is staying with). But they decide to give it a trial period. In the
beginning, Gunnar and Raihana don't really communicate much at all,
and Raihana doesn't even come into his house (the beehives are
outside in the garage). But with time, they get used to each other,
and a sort of friendship grows between them. Raihana also finds a
beekeeping journal that was kept by Gunnar's wife (Anna), and uses
that (with Gunnar's permission) to learn more both about beekeeping,
and the Danish language.
The author also uses
quotes from Anna's beekeeping journal as introduction to each
chapter, subtly indicating certain parallels between the behaviour
of bees vs people. Slowly, we also get to know each of the characters
in the book better – their strengths as well as their prejudices
and weaknesses, and also background stories which perhaps explain why
they react and feel like they do.
It's all put to a serious
test when violence and persecution towards immigrants shows its ugly
face even in Denmark, awakening bad memories for the refugees – but
also challenging the local Danish community to take a stand.
I was somewhat surprised
to learn from the Afterword in the book that the author is neither
Afghan nor a beekeeper herself. (So the background story in the book
must have involved quite a lot of research.) Amulya
Malladi was born 1974 in India, studied
electronic engineering and journalism in the US, lived for several
years in Copenhagen (Denmark), and has written seven novels. Her
books have been translated into several languages, including Dutch,
German, Spanish, Danish, Romanian, Serbian, and Tamil.
I liked the book because
although I was never under the pressure of being a refugee seeking a
new life in a foreign country, I do recognize the difficulties (and
joys!) involved in learning foreign languages. Moreover, as Denmark
and Sweden are neighbour countries with a lot in common, I also
recognize the social structure and the range of difficulties and
fears involved in meetings between immigrants and ”natives” -
from both sides! I think the author describes all that very well.
I downloaded this book to
my Kindle for free in May 2018. It's no longer free but still
quite cheap, if anyone feels tempted.
