The Disappeared by Roger ScrutonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
In and around the Angel Towers housing project five lives intertwine: two men, two women, and a young girl. In a decaying society, these characters seek safety, freedom, love, and meaning. Around them, the customs and traditions of England are being overwritten by multiculturalism, as well as dark new practices that exploit the gaps in a society struggling with mass immigration from tribal cultures.
Powerful and disturbing, this fiction weaves together the characters' fates in a world where the past is fading and the future seems dismally opaque. As teacher Stephen concludes, "The Christian religion, he decided, was the heart of our civilization. This heart had grown old and weak, and culture had been put in the place of it. But the heart transplant didn't take, and our civilization, after gasping for a while, had died."
Stephen finds himself drawn toward protecting a young student, Sharon, from a rape gang. In doing so, he soon experiences emotional conflict that, if unchecked, could destroy his career and land him in jail.
At the same time, Justin, a rising star in the field of green energy, becomes enamored with beautiful intelligent Muhibbah. Having spurned her Afghan family's suffocating ways, Muhibbah seemed destined to excel in modern society. But Justin soon learns, that this enchanting woman is a hive of unwholesome secrets.
At the same time, accountant Laura flees the embers of a dashed romance, going to work for Justin. But her safety is jeopardized after a criminal element mistakes Laura for another woman.
Scruton's deep, well-crafted tale eventually comes full-circle. And while I had some difficulty with the time frame, and the puzzling use of second person for one character, the author's ability to forge empathy was excellent.
The writing is powerful. The imagery strong as in this passage describing Angel Towers: "All the surfaces were covered with the same black graffiti, a repeated pattern that, in its meaninglessness, seemed to exude a bestial anger. It was as though worms had been spat on this wall, spoiling its unclaimed spaces, and preventing any human thought from breeding there."
A suitable read for lovers of literature, as well as a good book for discussions of our post-modernist world.
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