I read the first and the second volume. Very interesting, but very variable level, because of the long list of authors. Correction on the colonialistsI read the first and the second volume. Very interesting, but very variable level, because of the long list of authors. Correction on the colonialists view....more
Ik ga eerlijk zijn: dit is een boek waar je niet vrolijk van wordt. Hoe kan het ook anders: het geeft een overzicht van 25 jaar extreme miserie in ConIk ga eerlijk zijn: dit is een boek waar je niet vrolijk van wordt. Hoe kan het ook anders: het geeft een overzicht van 25 jaar extreme miserie in Congo, een land dat in die periode van een corrupt autoritair regime (Mobutu) via extreem bloedige oorlogen naar een corrupt semi-democratisch regime (Tsjisekedi) evolueerde, en al die tijd in mensonterende chaos bleef steken. Katrien Vanderschoot schetst die evolutie via de bezoeken die ze zelf bracht aan het land als journalist van de Vlaamse openbare omroep VRT. Ze zet vooral haar ontmoetingen met concrete Congolezen in de verf, en voert ook 2 representatieve figuren ten tonele, in de persoon van kind-soldaat Isaac en vreedzaam opposant Rebecca. Het onnoemelijk leed van de afgelopen 25 jaar krijgt daarmee ook een gezicht en een stem, en dat is absoluut de verdienste van dit boek. Het zet ook in de verf wat de nefaste rol is van de elite in het land.
Vooral in het oosten lijkt men van de regen in de drop te belanden, vooral door de ontregelende tussenkomst van het dictatoriaal regime in buurland Rwanda, door de systematische roofbouw van de rijke grondstoffen in de ondergrond, door milities die de bevolking terroriseren (vooral verkrachting wordt als wapen gebruikt) en door de geregelde uitbarstingen van de vele actieve vulkanen in het gebied. Af en toe wordt Vanderschoot persoonlijk en stelt ze zichzelf de vraag die je al lezer al veel langer op de lippen brandt: waarom blijf ik dit land waar niks lijkt vooruit te gaan, volgen? Een direct antwoord krijgen we daar niet op, maar dat hoeft wellicht niet expliciet, want uit haar boek blijkt overduidelijk het onverwoestbare levensoptimisme van de Congolezen ....more
“War has no woman's face”, already noted Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich. Maaza Mengistu presents her own version of this, based on the history“War has no woman's face”, already noted Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich. Maaza Mengistu presents her own version of this, based on the history of her homeland Ethiopia, but in a very different way. While Alexievich dryly registered the testimonies of dozens of women and only intervened in the composition and style, Mengiste offers an almost completely fictionalized story, in a truly epic style. As others have already written (my GR-friend Orsidomondo for instance), you kind of find yourself in a Verdian opera, so bombastic and 19th centurish the style of Mengiste is, especially in the battle scenes between the Italian invasion army and the Ethiopian rebels. I also regularly had to think of the Iliad, only the intervening gods are missing. That's not a farfetched reference: Mengiste regularly also brings in a chorus to support the story and comment on it from a broader context. That epical-lyrical character, with an ancient Greek flavour, is both repulsive and attractive.
It is clear that Mengiste is not only focussing on her people's heroic resistance to the brutal Italian occupation after 1935 (for which, to my knowledge, Italy was never punished). This is also apparent from the fact that she is very selective about historical facts (and does not mention, for example, the Eritrean complicity in the Italian adventure, probably because that does not suit the current rulers in Ethiopia). According to the long closing sentence, her focus was mainly on the position of women in the Ethiopian resistance. Through the duo Hirut-Aster she illustrates how remarkable women also took up arms and ventured into battle. I have not been able to verify her claim that this is based on historical facts. With both Hirut and Aster she also underlines the dubious nature of the female position: despite their merits, both are clearly subdued by the formidable resistance leader Kidane, also in a sexual way; this Kidane therefore takes on a very ambiguous character. Personally, I had some issues with the character drawing of both women: Mengiste tries to give them some psychological layering but does not quite succeed in that. Hirut in particular remains a bit stuck in a quagmire of conflicting feelings.
Strangely enough, the Italian protagonists, the vicious colonel Fucelli (a kind of Kurtz) and the terrified soldier-photographer Ettore Navarra, seem to come out much better, as characters I mean. Through the jew Navarra, Mengiste also makes a link with the holocaust, and here she clearly misuses historical facts (in 1935 jews weren’t sent to extermination camps yet, and certainly in Italy there wasn’t a full-blown antisemitic policy yet). It is also significant that she gives this book the title of The Shadow King, whilst the story on the double of emperor Haile Selassie is just an entertaining and minor side-intrigue. This clearly undermines her gender focus.
In short, there are definitely some snags to this novel. But if you like a compelling story, if you are sensitive to gender aspects, and not afraid of bombastic prose, you will certainly enjoy this novel. I know I did....more
When reading this book, you have to separate two things: the story of the Sudanese refugee Valentino/Dominic Achak Deng and what Dave Eggers did with When reading this book, you have to separate two things: the story of the Sudanese refugee Valentino/Dominic Achak Deng and what Dave Eggers did with it. I'll start with Deng.
It's impossible not to feel sympathy for Deng's story. What he describes is horrendous and endearing at the same time: the persecution of the dinka minority in South Sudan by the Islamic-Arab regime in Khartoum, the long deadly marches of the 'Lost Boys' to Ethiopia and, after their expulsion there, to Kenya , the difficult life in refugee camps, the existential choice between joining the armed resistance or staying aside, between accepting the offer to resettle in the rich West or returning to your family, and finally the problematic integration in the United States. The way Deng brings us his story is very authentic, especially because he tells it without much frills, even at the hardest of moments, and with great attention for the very mixed feelings he had towards what happened around him. The great merit of this story is that you learn how complex the refugee existence is, and how daunting the challenges are a refugee has to face.
The story is not only horrendous, but also endearing. Deng seems to be someone who has an unrestrained and open attitude, always tries to see the good and almost never gives up. That can be incredible: with all that happened to him you would expect him to be cynical and bitter or very fanatical and radical. That's not the case, and I believe him. The endearment also stems from the fact that his story at times becomes a very classic 'coming of age' story, for example, where he talks about the confrontation with the great mature world of the rebels, and more so when he describes his struggle with the other gender. At such moments, it seems like you're getting a picture of an ordinary puberty in an ordinary context, but of course that's not the case at all. And precisely that's one of the charms of this book.
Of course there also are a few shortcomings. As Deng says in the introduction, he brings a very personal and thus subjective story. The reader better be warned that he shall absolutely not get an objective picture of the complex conflict in Sudan in recent decades. For example: Deng is very short on the ethnic conflicts within South Sudan itself (between dinka and nuer), which, unfortunately, have become all too clear after the independence in 2011, with another awefull round of civil war as a consequence.
But then there's the role of Dave Eggers. The American author has been working with Deng for three years, listening to his story for hours and hours on end, and processing all of it in this book. Initially, I found that the method used by Eggers, a frame-story, really works. The opening scene in which our main character is brutally attacked and robbed in his Atlanta appartment, is brilliant: it immediately avoids that the whole story of Deng csan be seen as a succesfull rescue story ("Sudanese refugee is pulled out of the African pool of misery and builds a glorious future in the paradisiacal United States of America"). Also, the rapid succession of Deng's internal monologues to the robbers, looking back on more violent episodes in Sudan, has been done brilliantly. But then the dynamic of the story slows, and Eggers lets Deng bring longer and longer flashbacks, often also about his highly personal feelings, and thus at the expense of the tempo of the story.
So from a literary point of view, the book is not an overall success. But let’s not make too much of a fuss about that. "What's the What?" is a worthy human document. Maybe the tragedy it deals with wasn't the biggest of the last decades (what happened in Rwanda and Congo was actually much and much worse), but it remains a gruesome testimony of what people are doing to each other in this modern age and how the victims are dealing with this tragedy, each in their own way.
Finally of course, the question remains, "What is the What?". Do not expect an explicit answer to this question, even though the attentive reader will probably find enough clues to formulate a satisfying answer. Fortunately, Eggers uses this gimmick only very sparingly, because actually it’s not more than that: a gimmick....more
"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it”
I hadn't seen the movie, so I could read this book"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it”
I hadn't seen the movie, so I could read this book without prejudice. For starters: it's an epistolary novel and that pleased me a lot, because this genre (very popular in the second half of the 18th Century) is a handy method to tell a story in bits and pieces (and thus create suspense), and to offer lots of perspectives and introspections. And Walker did this in a succesful way. On top of that the basic themes of this novel are multiple and very interesting: the female condition, slavery, racism, and from an individual point of view: inferiority complex.
It's not a pretty picture of the world the protagonist Celie offers in her letters: discrimination, abuse and brutality rule. But through Celie Walker shows how you can deal with these problems: by getting to know your own strengths, growing through trust and love from others, by acceptance of the vicissitudes of life, and by an openess to all things beautiful and good. And that is what we see Celie does, step by step, in a remarkable process of personal growth with strong spiritual accents, becoming a very strong woman. Apart from that there is also a remarkable message about the complexity of black and white relationships: both 'races' are capable of racism and repression; and of course there's the striking focus on the sexual aspect of the female condition.
On the downside: once in a while Walker is a bit too pedantic, too moralising, too educative, to my taste. But nevertheless: this is a really beautiful story about perseverance, courage, love, trust and forgiveness. The happy end was not necessary to enforce this message....more
A short, but multi-layered novel. A white middle-class family, with a liberal world view and living in South-Africa at the time of apartheid, has to fA short, but multi-layered novel. A white middle-class family, with a liberal world view and living in South-Africa at the time of apartheid, has to flee for a black military upraising with the help of Cubans and Russians. They are sheltered by their black servant July, in his little village.
Two theme's are worked out: the difficult process of adaption of the white family to living in a strange, 'uncivilized' environment, without their certainties. And the reversal of power-relations: the white family is dependent on their former servant, and their liberal world vision suddenly doesn't seem that morally superior any more.
Gordimer brings all this (and much more) in a masterly way, transferring the feeling of desorientation the white family suffers from, on the reader. One downside though: just as in Burger's Daughter, I had some difficulty with the writing style of Gordimer; there's something rough-unpolished in it, and that made the reading at times a bit stiff....more
Beautiful, multi-layered story, set in an unnamed African country, but very simular to the Congo or Zaïre in the time of dictator Mobutu. The storytelBeautiful, multi-layered story, set in an unnamed African country, but very simular to the Congo or Zaïre in the time of dictator Mobutu. The storyteller, Salim, is of Indian origin, and takes over a shop in a town, deep inland, (by a bend in the river), just after independence. He observes the waves of unrest and uncertainty and the rise of a Great Man in the capital.
You can read this novel as a lucid political story (the making of a gruesome dictator, and how different people cope with it), a fine psychological story (the search for its own place in life and the desillusions accompanying it), an exploration of the African soul (though Naipaul can be very stereotypical about that), and a study on cultural interaction or non-interaction.
This novel reminded me of the better work of Graham Greene, but without the morality-layer. There also was a bit too much of Conrads 'Heart of Darkness' ("the horror, the horror") in it. I know he hasn't a good reputation when it comes to racism and other issues, but I definitely have to read more by Naipaul!...more
Excellent read, mainly due to the balanced composition: a historical narrative interwoven with testimonies that sometimes are really captivating. ReybExcellent read, mainly due to the balanced composition: a historical narrative interwoven with testimonies that sometimes are really captivating. Reybrouck of course depends on witnesses to make things a little more tangible, but this occasionally weakens his story, especially in the turbulent period of Kasavubu and Lumumba. Also the real character of Mobutu remained somewhat obscure, foremost in his later period. And the efforts of Van Reybrouck to give his work some literary flair, at times resulted in cheap effects. That does not mean that this is not a wonderful book. His emphasis for instance on the Congolese music scene was new to me. And then of course it really is distressing how such a magnificent country and people, with so much potential, don't get out of the swamp. In this respect the final chapter on the Congolese colony in China certainly is interesting and remarkable; it's an illustration of how people are looking for a way out of misery; but perhaps it was not a good focus to end this book with, because it's all about the big money gain by some handy people. I think that in Congo itself there are to find many more points of light for the future....more
Nature or man? This is one of the early works of Romain Gary, though written when the author was already in his fourties. Gary has a cosmopolitan backgNature or man? This is one of the early works of Romain Gary, though written when the author was already in his fourties. Gary has a cosmopolitan background: born in Lithuania, with Jewish-Russian-Polish roots, but raised in France and very engaged in the Second World War, and afterwards as a diplomat for France.
This novel testifies to his capability to focus on the concept of human dignity in its existential context. The story is situated in what was formerly French Equatorial Africa, stretched between Congo-Brazzaville and Chad. And it focuses on the fight of a French idealist, Morel, against elephant hunters. The elephant is allegorical for human dignity that is threatened by Western modernity. This modernity now (the fifties of last century) also threatens Africa, by Gary presented as one of the last resorts where primordial nature can be found.
Around protagonist Morel circulate a lot of other, engaging and ambiguous figures. Especially the black "évolué" Waïtari testifies to the prophetic talent of Gary. Morel also has a holocaust-related background, and - remarkably - that is the source of his ecological commitment. The story is built in very complex way with continuous changing narrators and time jumps, making it one of the most interesting novels of the twentieth century!...more
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