The Lizard Cage

By Karen Connelly

Book Overview

Set during Burma's military dictatorship of the mid--1990s, Karen Connelly's exquisitely written and harshly realistic debut novel is a hymn to human resilience and love.

In the sealed-off world of a vast Burmese prison known as the cage, Teza languishes in solitary confinement seven years into a twenty-year sentence. Arrested in 1988 for his involvement in mass protests, he is the nation's most celebrated songwriter whose resonant words and powerful voice pose an ongoing threat to the state. Forced to catch lizards to supplement his meager rations, Teza finds emotional and spiritual sustenance through memories and Buddhist meditation. The tiniest creatures and things-a burrowing ant, a copper-coloured spider, a fragment of newspaper within a cheroot filter-help to connect him to life beyond the prison walls.

Even in isolation, Teza has a profound influence on the people around him. His integrity and humour inspire Chit Naing, the senior jailer, to find the courage to follow his conscience despite the serious risks involved, while Teza's very existence challenges the brutal authority of the junior jailer, perversely nicknamed Handsome. Sein Yun, a gem smuggler and prison fixer, is his most steady human contact, who finds delight in taking advantage of Teza by cleverly tempting him into Handsome's web with the most dangerous contraband of all: pen and paper.

Lastly, there's Little Brother, an orphan raised in the jail, imprisoned by his own deprivation. Making his home in a tiny, corrugated-metal shack, Little Brother stays alive by killing rats and selling them to the inmates. As the political prisoner and the young boy forge a cautious friendship, we learn that both are prisoners of different orders; only one of them dreams of escape and only one of them achieves it.

Barely able to speak, losing the battle of the flesh but winning the battle of the spirit, Teza knows he has the power to transfigure one small life, and to send a message of hope and resistance out of the cage.

Shortlisted for both the Kiriyama Prize for Fiction and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, The Lizard Cage has received rave reviews nationally and internationally.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679313281
• ISBN13: 9780679313281
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Vintage Books Canada
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

a shining light on Burma's dark hours

Karen Connelly, Canadian poet, created an illuminating novel set almost entirely inside Burma's prison complex. Her depiction of Burma's power structures within power structures is dead right on, as are her descriptions of tastes, sounds and smells. She has a fine hand with metaphor, her novel delicately scaffolded with cages, boxes, bones. This is beautiful, harrowing, important work. The ordeal of her fictional hero, Teza, is very much like what is being endured by current prisoners of conscience like Min Ko Naing and the hip hop artist Zayar Thaw.

The power of remembrance

Karen Connelly is a superb author, she brings both skilled craftsmanship of story-telling, and a penetrating evaluation of the human soul that soars beyond the confines of the cage. We live in a world where we are all connected, and, it is critical in a time where we cannot save Teza, or other cruel victims of repression - that we remember. The story of Teza is replayed in Burma every day, but as well, in far too many places in our world. We cannot save all victims of terror - but - thanks to Karen Connelly, we can at least not forget - we can keep them in mind, we can share the feelings of their terror, and rejoice in her story that reminds us that the human spirit can overcome both terror and the cage. Until Burma is free, until there are no more victims of repression, at least let us remember Teza's soul and spirit and song, as taught to us by Karen Connelly. You will as well be rewarded by discovering as incredible new author.

A literary lesson about Myanmar/Burma

If you're interested in getting both a historical and emotional understanding of what's happening in Burma (Myamar, as the generals have named it), then THE LIZARD CAGE is a must read. It will not only help you understand why it is so difficult to get aid into the country after the tragic hurricane, but it will also inspire you the way THREE CUPS OF TEA has done. However, even if you don't care about the effects of the hurricane on the long-suffering Burmese people, you will want to read this book for its fine imagery, meticulous characterization, and exploration of humanity and compassion. It's a classic, great novel along the lines of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. (Yes, it really is that well-written). The Laguna Book-Worm

Compelling and memorable

This is one of the most compelling and haunting stories I've ever read, and I've read a LOT! I would say that this is in my top 20 all time favorites. If you have ever read Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, then you will understand what this book is about. No matter how desperate, how demeaning, how hopeless the situation, you are always free to choose your attitude. The author, Karen Connelly, can magnify even the most insignificant detail into an entire day's focus for the main character. Very Zen. You will not soon forget this book once you've read it.

The Lizard Cage

Imagine serving a 20 year sentence for writing protest songs, or eating lizards (raw) to ward off starvation and disease. Imagine that possession of a pen could add another 10 years to your sentence, along with beatings and disgusting tortures. This is Teza's world, as narrated by Karen Connelly, in this honest portrayal of life under the generals in Burma (Myanmar). Connelly doesn't pull any punches. Nor does she offer false hopes and solutions for her characters to assuage the reader's sensibilities. This can make the book, at times, a hard read. However, don't let this put you off. Despite the horrors, one thing shines through - the indefatigable human spirit. Karen Connelly is a poet and this is her first novel. Her poetic talent is evident in the descriptions of the beauty of Burma, its history and its people. Her poet's soul leads me to my one minor criticism - I think it sometimes interrupts the story's momentum. But this small quibble doesn't prevent me from giving the book 5 stars. I had known a little about Burma and its problems before reading The Lizard Cage, but had not given it much thought, because of, I suppose, lack of media coverage. A sad comment on our media (and me). Anyone who reads this book will surely be unable to extinguish Burma from their thoughts and, hopefully, will add their voice to the campaign against the inhumane regime of the generals.