Wow this book was so unique and interesting I’ve never read anything like this before. It was weird in a good way, beautifully written and entertaining I really loved it! It’s exactly that kind of book that impossible to describe because you need to experience it.
I highly recommend reading this brilliant book, it’s just became my new favorite!

Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

🍀 Release Date: September 12, 2023 🍀

Strong writing and story make this an engaging read. I look forward to his future work.

Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!

I found the writing style to be a little choppy. I did appreciate presentation of the struggles and presentation of limits faceing a society full of censorship and lack of basic human freedoms and rights.

South is a novel that has taken me a while to process – the bleak, blunt prose is divisive and initially hard to get along with, but since I’ve finished it, my mind has filled in more and more layers. I think it needs time to digest, and it’s a novel I will definitely return to.

This dystopian story follows B, as he goes undercover to join the crew of an oil rig. The world is stark, grey and jarring. It is almost our world, yet it is not. B’s mission to write a report about recent strikes on the rig slowly falls apart, and in doing so, reveals more details about B’s past, his father’s mysterious disappearance and his relationship. As the novel unwinds, so does the structure of B’s life – the surveillance and authoritarianism of this dystopian world packs a punch against a hazy, dreamlike background.

The writing is minimal and almost harsh, with Lakghomi eschewing details that initially I wished were present. I finished the novel feeling confused and almost empty – a feeling which, on reflection, echoes the style of writing well and is not necessarily negative. Lakghomi conjours the feeling of a world that is not just teetering on the brink of something dark but has stepped over the precipice and is now in free fall. There is a creeping, insidious sense of dystopia that lodges itself in your mind and really makes you think. It is a haunting and somewhat uncomfortable read, but that is what makes it great.

South grabbed my attention from the start. For some reason, the writing style in the beginning reminded me of the Alchemist. But this story is more interesting. Even though I did get lost in the middle a couple of times. I would say the beginning and ending were my favourite parts, the middle had me confused at so many times. I do understand why this book can be described as haunting and hallucinatory. It gave me chills and left me feeling a bit empty. It's a dystopian story and for some reason, it feels as if the ending might be our future.

Lakghomi conjures a bleak and often times disjointed narrative in this dark fiction. The protagonist is a writer trying to interview workers on an oil rig for a story. In the background, the world is falling apart. Riots and civil discord are disrupting the status quo, but readers never get a clear image of the world Lakghomi creates. Anchoring and necessary scene setting information is left off the page leaving readers on their own to piece together scattered fragments of the theme and premise. While this book seems to be an attempt at something parallel to 1984 or V for Vendetta, South doesn't let readers sit with characters long enough to get to know them or feel sympathy for their situation. So much is purposefully not included that the story feels incomplete. Overall, this one wasn't for me.

I received an advance digital copy of the book, courtesy of the author and publisher, via Netgalley, for review.
The novel resonates very well with the current protests in Iran. For those who follow the events, you can see that the Islamic Republic’s regime has responded to demonstrations with deadly force, censored unfavourable media narratives and blocked access to some social media platforms.
As an exiled Iranian journalist, there are a lot of familiar memories, feelings, and pains in there for me that I can relate to it.
I think the novel has the potential to have a sequel based on what is now going on in Iran. In this story, the totalitarian regime suppresses the protesters, and the situation changes for worth. However, it can benefit from the bravery of the Iranian women and men who do not stand back despite the brutalities of the dictator.

A stark story of a dystopian world effected by climate change ,the story is set in an undefined country and follows a journalist as he stays on an off shore oil rig investigating the way the workers are treated.
The author has a strongly defined writing style which is poetic in style but sparse often brutal in its simplicity of language. He describes a Nightmare world with brooding conspiracy theories the language serves to leave the reader feeling deliberately confused as if by reading the novel they are part of the conspiracy .its creepy and left me with almost paranoid feelings . defiantly a novel that plays with how you feel yourself as well as describing the characters emotions and story . Its not often that I read a novel that has this effect on my own thinking whilst im immersed in the story /
the novel would best be decided as a literary novel it is unique and quirky and I don't think I can compare it to anything else I've read
I personally wanted to know more about where exactly the story was meant to be set as it was never really explained , were we in Africa or in a dystopian warmed up America
I read an early copt on Netgalley uk the book is published in the UK by Dundum Press on12th September 2023

The synopsis of this book sounded so completely intriguing to me, so I was excited to receive an advanced review copy. While I did enjoy the first 1/3 of the book, the remainder of the novel totally lost me. The book starts with B leaving for a journey “south”. He crosses a desert and sees some strange things, then he ultimately ends up on an oil rig. After he gets there, even weird things start taking place. The incredibly succinct writing style made this a quick read, but at the same time, several portions of symbolism were lost on me. I found it interesting to read something set in totalitarian government, and I think the way the story concluded was well-thought out. The key issues that kept me from rating the book higher were just that I wasn’t very interested in the story as a whole, and the way it was written with random symbolism thrown everywhere made it even harder for the book to keep my attention.

when you think of a contemporary novel that has great social commentary, exquisite diction, captivating imagery, beautifully written characters, and a message that will haunt you for the rest of your life, you should think of this novel from babak lakghomi. b is a man with a strained marriage who wants nothing more to be published. he travels to an oil rig and assimilates into the population of employees. the culture of the southern people captivates him, and he is desperate to know why his father came here, then left b and his mother forever. b writes, he is first and foremost an author, but he soon learns that an honest first hand documentation of life on the rig and the abuse of employees might lead to his death.

it has been a long time since a novel truly shocked me and made me question consumption of products harvested unethically. “south” made me question my duty as a writer. the prose is expertly written; it truly grips you. i read this in one sitting, desperate to know what was going to happen next. lakghomi is incredibly talented, and i cannot wait to read more from him. read. this. book.

many thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy in exchange for an honest review! i am truly grateful to be an early reader of what i believe will be a novel that wins many, many awards.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

B. is on a search for truth and for purpose when he heads from his home to the South. I saw the cover of this book and the description and knew I had to read it. It sounded captivating. I am sorry to say I was horridly disappointed.

I think the initial issue was that I just didn't mesh with the writing style. It was very...unembellished. Which is fine, especially for this type of novel, in and of itself, but it was TOO jarring. There wasn't enough variation in the sentence style. There were lots of fragments that made too little sense as fragments. Plus, I couldn't find a reason to sympathize with this main character. I usually root hard for people who feel love slipping away but with this dude, I was like, "Of course she wants to leave you dude you're literally the Most Boring Human."

I could see sprinkles of "haunting" aspects of this book, and I was interested just enough in the mysteries presented within B's world that I didn't DNF. The ending had moderate pay-off for finishing...and I do see that some other people might be super into this narrative style. Since I think for me it's mostly a style preference and expectation not aligning with the reality of the book, I give this book 2 stars because I don't doubt others might find it suits them.

Overall I really enjoyed this novel. I honestly wish it could’ve been longer but the pacing was really well done and there was never a slow or dull moment.

My 5-star review on Goodreads:

A brief and affecting novel that wears its influences confidently on its sleeve, without succumbing to pure Orwellian pastiche. A difficult line to straddle, and Lakghomi manages it gracefully.

Not everyone will appreciate the open-ended ambiguity of its final chapters, but those who do will find this to be an immensely rewarding reading experience.

It took a second for the events of South to stew in my mind.

The novel follows B, a freelance journalist, who per the instructions of his latest assignment is sent to the south of his country to investigate the worker strikes that have been occurring at off-shore oil rigs. His journey was difficult as he cross the treacherous desert, passed superstitious villages and dealt with solitude, disappearances and surveillance at the oil rig.

The term 'hallucinatory' is perfect to describe the second and third acts of the novel, where chapters are occasionally interspersed with flashes of B's writing and hazy experiences that blur the line between imagination, memory and reality. It ends up meddling with your experience of time in the novel and causes uneasiness to settle into the crook of your neck as, like B, you begin to become paranoid of the south, increasingly uncertain of your grip on reality and numb towards the concept of truth. The staccato, bullet-like language is highly reminiscent of Mersault's voice from The Stranger by Albert Camus, which South has been compared to so it's a befitting comparison.

Thanks to Netgalley, Rare Machines and Dundurn Press for providing me with the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book that tells us how we might live in the coming decades or even years. It grabbed me from the beginning and I liked how the story went on. It is a book about totalitarianism, how we rely on surveillance, and the direction our societies are heading.

I loved how atmospheric and eerie this book was. Very well written, and gripping from the first page right to the very end.

3.5 stars rounded up

South was an interesting story about the fate of a journalist in a dystopian totalitarian state. The story was instantly fascinating, eerie and menacing - not unlike 1984 or Brave New World. Although I enjoyed reading South, it felt rushed in places, especially the ending left me wanting a bit more. Overall, I reckon this would have been even better in a slightly longer, more fleshed-out version.

In a distinctly Orwellian world increasing immersing itself in totalitarianism, one journalist travels to the titular South for a story and finds himself overstepping some invisible line and becoming a victim of the regime.
It was meant to be a simple enough assignment: spend some time on an oil rig and write about it. For a reporter whose last story tanked, who desperately needs money, it was a no-brainer. But then this got very dark very quickly, which is exactly how it plays out when government and its whims are the scariest thing around.
Told in strategically simple brief sentences (think artwork rendered in thick quick brushstrokes), this novel packs a deceptive weight. It sort of sneaks up on a reader – the darkness, the heaviness of it. First, on the rig, there isn’t much to it, but then once the journalist is taken in, it veers straight into 1984.
Actually, it’s impossible not to compare this novel to 1984, which I’d just read. It has the same tone, the same bleakness, even the near-same arc. It’s also a very good (though not as iconic) read. Intelligent, stark, cleverly subtle, this was pretty good. A worthy dystopian read. A very quick one at that. Thanks Netgalley.

"South": The work of fiction by Babak Lokghomi is a solid rating of 4.25 from me.
Being a reimagination of life under the totalitarian regime, frankly, it is hard for me to rate the author's work, it feels like the work has a solid memoir-like base.
***Plot/Structure-5 points
***Characterization-4.5 points
***Prose-3 points ( granted the author mentions that the writing is very dry, which was pretty fitting for the work)
***Setting- 4 points ( personally would love to have a bit more folklore woven into work, like the idea of menmenda)
***Enjoyment-4.5 points ( just for my personal taste, descriptions like "horny" and such are not more enjoyable, but that is a very personal preference)

It reminded me of the work by Y. Zamyuatin, "We", which is also exploring life under a totalitarian regime, the "seductive agents" regime places to control people, and at the end the death of fight and opposition.
Also, Azar Nafisi's work "Read dangerously" is a very alike memoir, if one wishes to dive into experiences different authors shared.
The symbolism of the wind is veiled in every aspect of the work, which in my understanding the allegory of unrest, and resistance against radical regimes.

***Review with spoilers***
The work portrays the life of different classes, workers, intellectuals, fishermen, and such under the totalitarian regime, their struggles, ways of control and breaking personal will by totalitarian governments, and the physical and intellectual, emotional abuse one faces under such regimes. Rumors, sudden disappearances, and demoralization of character are the tools of the regime.
The work, in my opinion, also touches on the problem of people accepting revolutions ( in this case allegory of the author's assignment) and the optimism and minimal info people have when throwing themselves into the new regime.
The work portrays tools of control- one's usage of only approved canals of information interchange with the world, extreme censorship, tracking of every single cell of the society, the limitation of very basic resources of life, and breaking a person to the point of having no opinion or interest if you are not working for the regime, abuse of drugs to keep people "calm", the disappearances.
I appreciate the author mentioning the hallucinatory aspect of the work, it made my reading experience much better, as throughout the book you keep seeking answer whether what is happening is just a product of imagination, or not.

Would love to read more from the author. The work pretty much kept me on the edge of my seat.