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The Lizard Cage: A Novel Hardcover – March 20, 2007

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Karen Connelly (Author)
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Karen Connelly (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 115 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Nan A. Talese; First U.S. Edition edition (March 20, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0385518188
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385518185
  • Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 1.4 x 9.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (115 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #869,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsThe Lizard Cage
By Chris Hilton on March 15, 2007
Format: Paperback
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.
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4.0 out of 5 starsBeautiful writing in a strong story!
By Armchair Interviews on July 13, 2007
Format: Hardcover
How can a book be both beautiful and luminescent, and also dark and painful? The pain is because this book is based on stories out of Burmese prisons. Connelly, the author of Touch the Dragon, a Thai Journal, lived for almost two years on the Thai/Burma border among Burmese exiles and dissidents.

Teza, a young singer, is sentenced to prison for 20 years for his work against the repressive regime in Burma. Teza supports dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was placed under house arrest. (Even though she won the election in 1989--this part of the book is based on actual events).

Teza has been in prison for seven years, in solitary confinement. Teza calls his home the Lizard Cage, because of the importance of the little green lizards in his life. Sometimes he catches and eats them to help keep him alive. And sometimes he watches them, because they inspire him. One day he has a new warder, a food server, a young orphaned boy.

The book follows their relationship, and their relationship with the Senior Jailor Chit Niang and other prisoners. They all seem to be a sort of insane dysfunctional family--one trying to survive incredibly brutal and inhumane conditions. Teza and the boy both find a different sort of release, with the boy truly freeing Teza.

There is brutality and pain in the world and there is genocide, torture, families being driven apart, disease, abandoned orphaned children. It is hard to remember all this in our privileged, calm and stable lives. Can we do something? Yes, sometimes we can--and should.

Is this book easy to read? Is it fun? There are light and beautiful moments, moments of transcendent joy. Connelly is also a poet, and her words are strung together almost like a long prose poem, like natural pearls strung on a cord, warm to the touch and reflecting light.

Armchair Interviews says: Hard to read because of the subject but beautifully written.
1 Comment 29 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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5.0 out of 5 starsCompelling and memorable
By Book Addict VINE VOICE on November 14, 2007
Format: Hardcover
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.
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5.0 out of 5 starsOne of the best novels that I have ever read. Read this book and experience its power
By Evelyn Getchell TOP 500 REVIEWER on March 21, 2011
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I bless the day that I discovered Karen Connelly's 2005 novel The Lizard Cage. I read this book over a year ago and was so deeply effected, I had to put it aside and allow my emotions to surface before I could review it. I cannot remember reading a novel as riveting, or as gut wrenching, yet as full of so much compassion as this vitally important work of literary art. With radiant prose that is gripping and revelatory, Connelly has given us a rare look inside the grimmest, most shuttered police state in the world.

At the highly charged core of this electrifying story is Burma, a country and its people. It is the country now known as Myanmar, the most repressive regime in the world and a country few outsiders know. But Connelly knows Burma and she knows it well. She visited there frequently during the 1990s and lived along the Thai-Myanmar border for two years. Among the many Burmese she has interviewed for her story is Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been incarcerated or under house arrest in Burma for varying lengths of time since 1989. Aung San Suu Kyi is now free from house arrest but Connelly is banned from returning to the country by Myanmar's ruling military junta.

Connelly's story of The Lizard Cage is vast of vision and potent in message. The brutal force of incarceration and the cruelties with which political prisoners of Myanmar are tortured succeed in shrinking a world of limited personal freedom down to nothing more than the smallest of cages.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsStrength vs cruelty.

The lizard cage is beautifully written but it's difficult subject matter. It's based on true stories in Burma/Myanmar. The prison life and military brutality are tough to read.

Published 2 months ago by Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 starsVery sad but hopeful

In a nutshell, this book is about a young man whose songs of freedom landed him in solitary confinement in Burma/Myanmar for decades. It's brutal, sad, but also brims with hope. Read more

Published 4 months ago by P
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Life affirming, goodness in the middle of cruelty and degredation.

Published 4 months ago by Brian P Tanguay
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Excellent

Published 4 months ago by Margaret Bales
3.0 out of 5 starsso so

Just not my type of book. Also didn't care for the swearing.

Published 4 months ago by Donna M
4.0 out of 5 starsKaren Connelly definitely is praised for her research done in ...

Karen Connelly definitely is praised for her research done in this book. I found it to be heart wrenching, but well written.

Published 5 months ago by Marjorie Garrett
2.0 out of 5 starsTwo Stars

Too painful to read. Extremely graphic. I could not finish it.

Published 5 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Informative, disturbing, well worth the read!

Published 5 months ago by Judy O
3.0 out of 5 starsUnsatisfactory end, and too much graphic violence.

I would have been happy with the story if the characters had been more complicated, they were almost too one sided with no ability to see or empathize with other people. Read more

Published 6 months ago by ginger
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Subject matter is hard to read but it was well written.

Published 6 months ago by ChelseaGirl

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