Es el año de 1903, y todo va bastante bien en Yangambi, la estación militar que la Force Publique del rey Leopoldo II tiene en el corazón de África. Los oficiales blancos encargados de que los recolectores de caucho no desfallezcan en su labor sufren lo suyo, pero hacen lo que tienen que hacer y se defienden como soldados de verdad. Pero las cosas empiezan a ser diferentes con la llegado de un nuevo oficial, Chrysostome Liége, y con el anuncio que en su villa de la Costa Azul hace Leopoldo II: quiere visitar el Congo, “su jardín de tres millones de metros cuadrados”, y dotar a los diferentes pueblos que allí habitan de una reina comme il faut, es decir de una reina que esté a la altura de las circunstancias. Por decirlo así, el anuncio dispara todas las ilusiones de la primera autoridad de Yangambi, el capitán Lalande Biran, y la situación se vuelve un tanto difícil.

Muy bien descrita la "normalidad" del Congo. Leopoldo II en quien se inspiró Juan Carlos I, que quiere hacer reina del Congo a una actriz americana....

Toda esa normalidad que ahora nos parece incomprensible, donde lo cotidiano es lo que está bien, que somos una sociedad respetuosa y avanzada en lo referente a los derechos humanos... supongo que de aquí a un tiempo otros nos miraran y les daremos el mucho asco, el mismo asco dan todos los protagonistas de la novela.

De todas formas me gustó. Gracias a la libreria "punto coma" de Bruselas por la recomendación ( )

A dark book written like a light one, this story of colonialism and murder is actually great fun. It's a lot more accessible than [Obabakoak] which I also loved and I think it would be a great first Atxaga for lovers of off-beat literary fiction. ( )

Junto el río Congo, el ejércitp de Leopoldo II de Bélgica impone el orden bajo la autoridad de Lalande Biran, un poeta con deseos de amasar fortuna y regresar a las tertulias de los cafés de París.
habla del lado siniestro de nuestro mundo. ( )

The book opens with a rather dour new officer arriving by boat on his first posting abroad. The officer, Chrysostome, doesn’t attempt to fit in with his fellow officers and they, in turn, despise his puritan upbringing, not only is he blatantly religious to a fundamental degree, but he refuses the usual soldierly fun of gambling, getting drunk and raping the native womenfolk . They also fear him. This man could shoot the eyebrows of a mosquito at five hundred paces.

The setting for this novel is the garrison of Yagambi, on the banks of the River Congo and the year is 1903. The senior officer is Captain Lalande Biran, who would prefer to be back in Paris frequenting the lounges of the Literati with his wife (more of her later), & releasing the odd book of poetry than commanding eighteen white officers of the Force Publique and the Askaris - native soldiers recruited to help quell the other natives who have the audacity to rebel intermittently.

Time goes really slow here, with very little to do beyond overseeing the slaves as they work, producing rubber and mahogany and keeping the natives in order. So time is spent drinking, gambling & consorting/raping the natives, there are dangers even here as STD’s* seems to be everywhere, although most of the officers are not particularly worried. Except the Captain, he is so terrified of catching syphilis, that he has an officer pick & test girls for their virginity & then keep them caged until he’s ready.

Captain Lalande Biran’s wife, Christine, is a stunner and the reason he is out here. It would appear that she is addicted to the TV programme Location, location, location because although they have six houses purchased by smuggling Ivory and Mahogany, she wants another, in fact she has her eyes set on a seventh in glamorous St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.
Into this world of relaxed cruelty and debauchery steps our puritan officer and just by being who he is, slowly upsets the applecart.

http://parrishlantern.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/seven-houses-in-france-bernardo-atx... ( )