The Bleeding of the Stone

Ibrahim Al-Koni's novel The Bleeding of the Stone was some what odd to me. I enjoyed the book due to it's "mystical"(for lack of a better term right now) story line. There were several moments in the book that seemed captivating, yet those moments were competing against the times during my reading where I was truly confused. Yet, the novel had it's "bright spots" to me. An example of such positive outlooks in the reading to me seems ironic considering I found it from a "negative" character.

The character Cain (which many would consider an "antagonist" in terms of stories) peaked my interest greatly throughout the novel. His actions and thoughts were so strong and somewhat uncalled for (although they were in order for the plot to play out.) His constant greed and lust to take from a land that he felt had done nothing for him, and what he did to take it was to me the very definition of evil (as describe in class.)

We took some time out in our discussion of his character, and we came across Cain's similarities to characters in novels we have previously read. The most potent one was the comparison of Cain's role in The Bleeding of the Stone and El Hadji's role in the novel Xala. We find that both of their character's attributes were derived from elements of greed, deception, in being inconsiderate. Their roles are further related du

e to them both having curses (although they weren't the same.)

All around the novel has its ups and downs but I can't complain. It was actually more of an interesting read than I had originally gave it credit for. Yet, it all revolves around the main topic we've been discussing somehow.