Blind Spot

“Blind Spot” is an unassuming—perhaps even slightly dull—starter that grows genuinely gripping, only to end in such haste that it sours the reader's mood. And yet it’s an eminently readable, distinctive, and valuable novel. Over 246 pages, Naig Babayev shows just how much can be done with a simple plot line; the more I read, the more impressed I was. Bravo.

There's a welcome sense of cohesion in the text; the author doesn't forget in one place what he has said in another. The characters, so to speak, are people of their word. Speaking of words, the novel makes liberal use of slang, and I take it that in the sections voiced by Shahmar the author's aim is to bring us closer to the character's inner world and cast of mind. Still, I don't think it quite works. In my view, there should be a pronounced stylistic gulf between the author's own narration and Shahmar's voice; the reader ought to know whose section he is in not by the grammatical person of the telling or by the presence of jargon, but by a substantive difference in register. The gap between a street kid’s idiom and a crafted literary text shouldn't be defined at the level of slang alone.

Another strength is the author's habit of stepping off the plot line at intervals to touch on various social and political questions. He also offers sharp observations and telling formulations along the way. These are excellent, give the novel a special tint, and compound the pleasure of reading. Overall, I liked the book very much; its least pleasant aspect was how quickly it ended—there was at least a hundred pages' worth of talk still left in it, and then it was over. I'm now waiting, with patience, for Naiq Babayev's next work.

Since the book was published by Parlag Imzalar (Bright Signatures), there's no need to dwell on production: printing, trim, readability, portability—in short, the physical qualities—are all of a very high standard.

I don’t think “Blind Spot“ will remain a blind spot in our contemporary literature. My congratulations to the author; I wish him continued success.