***REGION 3: Middle Africa

If you have not read the information on the master thread regarding the intent of these regional threads, please do this first.

***3. Middle Africa: Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe

I am currently reading My Father's Wives by the Angolan writer José Eduardo Agualusa, whose The Book Of Chameleons was one of my top books of 2009.

The Book Of Chameleons is narrated by a gecko who remembers his previous, human, life, and plays with ideas of memory, identity, truth and history.

My Father's Wives is narrated by several characters, including someone who is writing the story My Father's Wives. It, too, is about ideas of story and history, told through two main narratives - a woman who is trying to trace the father she never met, and another woman who is trying to make a film of this (fictional) story. I haven't finished it yet, and although it's also an interesting read, it feels more fragmentary than The Book Of Chameleons.

My Father's Wives also takes place all over Southern African, including Mozambique, South Africa and Namibia, but I thought I would post it here since the author is from Angola.

I was not as big a fan of The Book of Chameleons as you were, so maybe I will stay away from My Father's Wives.

I read My Father's Wives earlier this year but it didn't leave a big impression as I cannot remember it very well now, unlike some other books I've read this year. But it seems from my notes I rather liked it at the time.

Heart of Darkness, Conrad's classic, provides a strong presentation of the folly and horrors of Europe's colonial plundering of Africa.

I just finished Heart of Darkness. Joseph Conrad's storytelling is so compelling - a perfect balance of adventure, wonder and casual observation. No remarkable events happen during the retelling of the narrator's, Marlow, journey down a river in the Congo in a steamboat to retrieve the ivory trader Kurtz. However the entire novel is remarkable in its tone, its exploration of the human spirit, Conrad's treatment of native Africans, and commentary on English colonialism. A classic.

I also just finished Heart of Darkness. Should we start a separate thread to discuss it?

35. Life and a Half/La vie et demie by Sony Labou Tansi Congo, originally published in French in 1979, translation 2011

This remarkable book is unlike anything I have ever read and I really don't know what to make of it or what to say about it. Sony Labou Tansi (I don't even know which is his first and which his last name) was a Congolese author who, in the 70s wrote what he calls a fable "about" a murderous dictatorship in Congo. As far as I can tell, "life and a half" refers both to people who die but still live on in some way as well as people who are both alive and dead. People come and go and get all mixed up with each other in this satiric novel, which is both totally fantastical in terms of actual events and people, but realistic in terms of the horror of brutal, corrupt dictatorships: time periods stretch out and are contracted, lots of impossible things (mostly bad) happen, the human body carries out largely unimaginable functions. Sony Labou Tansi's language is dense and confusing, vivid and shocking all at the same time. The translator (from the French) notes in her introduction that "language itself becomes a field of battle . . . this presents a challenge to the translator." I can't say I enjoyed this book, but I'm glad I read it, especially since it is "regarded as one of the 100 best books on Africa" (at least according to the blurb on the back of my edition).

Congo: De gifhouten bijbel (The Poisonwood Bible) by Barbara Kingsolver


In 1960, a radical American baptist minister, taking his wife and four daughters with him, goes to spread the word of God in a small village in the wilderness of Congo, a country in the middle of the turmoil of independance, and finds that his ways are totally inadequate.

I really liked this book. IMO the strongest point is the perfect mix between personal, national and international events. The author cleverly uses the 5 different point-of-view of the five women accompanying the minister to point out issues like religious fanatism, poverty, racism, discrimination, feminism (or the lack of it), inter-racial relations, health, personal loss, etc. A country that became independant overnight after having been abused for decades makes the perfect background.
The second part of the book more or less reads like a sequel, but I thought it was interesting to see how the women, deeply affected by their stay in Africa , each developed differently. It touches on the fact that no matter the circumstances, people all react differently to the same circumstances.
There's a lot more to be told about this book, but it would take too long to elaborate. I liked the structure and the fact that the mother's point-of-view was presented as flash-backs which gave it a poignant extra dimension. I would have liked to have seen more depth in some other characters, especially the father, but I understand the premise of the very personal points-of-view diminish the ways in which an author can elaborate on the characters and personalities of other people. You can't have it all.
The book is very well-written. It's a "comfortable" read despite the very serious issues. Maybe the way in which Very Serious Issues are handled, with a touch of humour and light-heartedness, is what makes a good book special. Because after all, in real life, humour is often a way to survive the hardships and struggles of life and to be able to weave that into a book is a very delicate operation because before you know it, it becomes either ridiculous or merely comical.

Cameroon Originally published 1960; translation 1966.

Houseboy by Ferdinand Oyono

This short but powerful novel explores the evils of colonialism through the story of a young Cameroonian man, Toundi, who becomes the "houseboy" first for a priest and then for the French "commandant" in the area. He is initially both attracted and repelled by the Europeans he works for, even as we know, because the novel begins with his death by violence, that things will get bad quickly. Oyono depicts the interactions among the Africans in the story, as well as their perceptive observations of life within white households, including all their bad behavior; of course, the whites don't really think the Africans notice what they do, because they don't notice the Africans except when they displease them. And then, the violence, cruelty, and randomness of the colonial power comes into play. Oyono is a terrific writer (parts of this book are quite funny), with a great sense of pacing, and has a keen eye for hypocrisy and racism. I got this book because of an enthusiastic review here on LT, and I'm glad I finally read it.

Congo-Brazzaville



Memoirs of a Porcupine by Alain Mabanckou (T 2012, Congo-Brazzaville)

In an African legend told originally to the author by his mother, human beings all have an animal double. Most are peaceful doubles, but some are not. This is the story of one animal double of the latter kind.

The porcupine of the book's title, has strangely outlived his human master (for legend has it that the double dies when the human does) and is retelling his story to an extraordinarily passive baobab tree. He rambles a bit, but recounts how his master, Kibandi, then a young boy of 11, is brought out into the night by his father and forced to drink mayamvumbi in an initiation that would unite him with himself, his harmful double. Porcupine (whose name is not revealed until the end) continues the story, describing how the boy grows up and how the man morally deteriorates and begins to have his porcupine double kill for him (his quills are deadly). Murder is referred to in the book as "eating" another. Eventually, his master is essentially 'eaten,' consumed by his own depravity and dies.

It took me a bit to get into this story, which made me think of those early exercises in writing from the perspective of something other than human (a chair, a turtle...whatever). But once settled in, I found the porcupine a well-rounded little character: smart, articulate, and perceptive, and this rather elaborate fable engaging.

I read this author's book, African Psycho late last year.

11> Is this legend also set in Congo-Brazzaville? Or is it a more 'general' African legend?

CAMEROON

The Old Man and the Medal by Ferdinand Oyono Originally published 1956; translation 1967.
Cross-posted from my Club Read and 75 Books threads.



I bought this book because I thought Oyono's Houseboy was a powerful depiction of the evils of colonialism and I was eager to read more by him. Although I enjoyed this brief intensely satirical novel, I didn't feel it had the force of the later work. Meka, the old man of the title is, for no apparent reason except that he "gave" his ancestral land to the local church and had two of his sons killed in the French army during World War II, told that he is to receive a medal from the chief white man in Cameroon. At first he is quite proud of this, and his fellow villagers and relatives from nearby villages converge on his home for the expected celebration. Although he does receive the medal, and hears a lot of hypocritical talk from the French colonialists, subsequent events change his mind about "the whites." Oyono paints a vivid picture of village community life and customs, perhaps poking fun at them a little, of various characters including Meka's wife and her brother and sister-in-law, and of the completely separate world of the whites. One of my favorite scenes was when an interpreter, who is translating an interchange between Meka and the French police chief, tells Meka, while the police chief thinks he is translating, "don't annoy the white man. You can think what you like about him when you are out of here . . .Don't do anything stupid! Your case has been all fixed up."

CONGO

The Seven Solitudes of Lorsa Lopez by Sony Lab'ou Tansi
Originally published 1985; English translation 1995.
Cross-posted from my Club Read and 75 Books threads.



As in the other book I've read by this Congolese author, Life and a Half, time shifts, impossible things happen, and people are pulled by the needs of their bodies. I found this one almost as confusing, just as satiric, and not quite as powerful.

The story begins in Valancia, the former capital (of the country, region?) when the murder of a woman is predicted and then happens. The police, who have to come from the inland capital town, Nsanga-Norda, never arrive -- for 47 years. After the woman, Estina Benta, is killed by her husband, the Lorsa Lopez of the title, lots of other bizarre things happen, including other murders and deaths, but the reader also sees the life of the community and how it struggles for its identity and power. There is a hint of global politics, because the economic life of the nation has been affected by an affront to the US, which has resulted in there being no market for its pineapple crop, and because various European scientists are examining fossils (?) in various rocks and cliffs to try to identify the ancestors of humans. To complicate matters Sony Lab'ou Tansi (a pen name) writes in a dense allusive prose, although he can often be funny.

If I step back and try to look at the themes the author is exploring, I would have to say the big ones are identity, pride, and power, or the lack of it (the coast versus inland, Valencia versus Nsanga-Norda, "Christians" versus Muslims, the responsibilities of members the Founding Line), women versus men (very strong female characters for a male writer -- the women are the heart of the book), and, love, humanity, and respect for our fellow humans. Nonetheless, I was mystified for most of the book.

CAMEROON

Dark Heart of the Night by Léonora Miano, translated from the French by Tamsin Black



From her point of view, the Africans' whole life was spent escaping death. They did not even seem aware that it surrounded them. It ran in rivers seething with worms that covered the children's skin in ulcers. It was in the water they drank, in the pools stagnating outside their huts, sending clouds of mosquitoes to cover the world at nightfall. Death was everywhere in the filthy poverty of Africa. Death was everywhere in the ignorance of peoples, and death was in the traditions; it was in these necrophiliac customs that often involved keeping dead people's skulls; in the witchcraft they practiced when potions would be concocted from crushed human bones or innards; in certain rituals that were liable to end in bloodbaths, and no one was unduly bothered when a woman died because she was not tough enough to restrain the flow of blood she lost at her excision. Death had made Africa its dominion.

This harrowing novel is set in an isolated Central African village, whose people have steadfastly maintained traditional roles and values that are not shared by the residents of neighboring towns and cities. Although Ayané was born there, after her father married a woman from another town and brought her to live with him there, she and her mother are viewed as troublesome outsiders, particularly after her father's death. Instead of staying in the village, Ayané left as a young girl to attend university, then moved to France to pursue a career and a better life. After several years abroad she has returned to the village, as her mother is in poor health, but she immediately antagonizes and angers the village elders due to her thoughtlessness and refusal to accept their mores.

The unnamed country is in a state of crisis, as militants roam the countryside and terrorize soldiers, government officials and ordinary citizens. While Ayané cares for her dying mother the villagers sense a malignant presence in the surrounding jungle, just out of eyesight. Within days they are set upon by a small band of armed men, who are fueled by drugs and their leaders' desire to unite their countrymen in their nationalist fervor. The militants propose a horrific ritual to ensure their solidarity, and after several villagers are openly murdered the remaining villagers, including the elders, passively accept and actively participate in the ceremony, in order to save their own lives. Ayané observes these events hidden from everyone, and after the militants take their leave she openly challenges the village elders for allowing such a thing to happen without protesting or fighting back, and she questions her own responsibility in silently accepting these monstrous acts without trying to save any of its victims.

Dark Heart of the Night, a grievous translation of the book's original title L'intérieur de la nuit, is a disturbing look into the roles and responsibilities Africans have and must face when evil befalls them, their towns and their countries. She powerfully demonstrates the tragic effects that result when individuals act on their instinct to survive, instead of standing in opposition to those who torment their friends and neighbors. This was a difficult book to read, as Miano does not shy away from any of the gruesome details of the militants' and villagers' actions, but it is an unforgettable and necessary contribution to African literature, which applies beyond that continent as well.

CONGO
Memoirs of a Porcupine by Alain Mabanckou
Originally published 2012.



I loved the voice of the porcupine: sly, perceptive, funny, even wise at times. The porcupine who relates his memoirs is the harmful double of a man named Kibandi. He tells the reader about his life with his band of porcupines (led by "the governor"), how he became a harmful double (most doubles are helpful) when Kibandi's father initiated him at age 11, and what he had to do as Kibandi's harmful double, namely killing people with his quills ("eating" them in porcupine lingo). Ultimately, and strangely, the porcupine survives after Kibandi dies in a way caused his own murderous life (said to be the result of the needs of his "other self"); usually doubles don't survive their human, and so the porcupine thinks about what this means and what he should do in the future.

While this novella is essentially a fable, based on an African legend, I found it difficult not to also read it as an allegory, with the porcupines and other animals, all of whom have their own communities, standing in for Africans and the "monkey cousins," or people, standing in for the European colonizers. It isn't a perfect analogy, but I did find this provocative. I enjoyed this book a lot, and will look for more of Mabanckou's work.

CONGO
Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou
Originally published 2010; English translation ?



novelist Alain Mabanckou is a wonderful writer who captures the voice of his narrator, Broken Glass, and the people whose stories he tells, and whose language flows, and this is true even though he has an unusual way of writing, using only commas as punctuation, so there are in effect no sentences, just paragraphs, and even those "sentences" as paragraphs have no capital letter at the beginning and no period at the end, yet there is never any trouble following along with what Mabanckou is saying, although it may take a little getting used to, and it surely must have been difficult to write that way, as I am finding as I write this paragraph, and equally if not more difficult for the translator to convey the feeling of this writing style in English, so now, because this is not an easy way for me to write, even though I often write long run-on sentences myself, I'm going to stop and write the rest of this review in a more comfortable, for me, style

This is the second book by Mabanckou that I've read, although he wrote it first, and I didn't warm to it quite as much as I did to Memoirs of a Porcupine, although it did grow on me as I was reading it. It is narrated by Broken Glass, a 60-something alcoholic former teacher who now spends nights and days at Credit Gone West, a bar run by his friend, the Stubborn Snail, who has visions of fame and grandeur for what is in essence a dive. Stubborn Snail, because he worries about Broken Glass and because he is seeking publicity, gives Broken Glass a notebook to record the story of the bar. At first, Broken Glass tells the stories that some of the habitués of Credit Gone West feel compelled to tell him, and these stories are generally crude, and often scatological, but nevertheless humorous and understanding of the frailties of humanity and the harshness of life. In the second part, Broken Glass moves into his own story, writing more or less backwards in time, and the reader learns how he wound up losing his job and his wife and ending up more or less broken down hanging out in a seedy bar, despite his love of language and his familiarity with the great works of literature of the world.

For one of the fascinating things about this novel is the way Broken Glass weaves the titles of novels into his narration, as well as references to what happened in some of those novels. To give a feel for this, here is an example:

"they swore he'd be eating boiled potatoes, become a beggar, one of God's bits of wood, sleeping in a barrel, like a certain ancient philosopher, and still the Stubborn Snail stood firm, determined as a chess player, and the years went by in dubious battle, till his envious components got bored of nitpicking, he resisted the confederacy of dunces, and the other barkeepers all called him names . . ." p.19

One of the things I liked about this novel is that it seems that Broken Glass himself got more insight into his life as he wrote about his history -- the same experience the reader is having -- and begins to see that some people, such as the woman who sells him his bicycle chicken, actually care about him (not that this changes the decision he makes towards the end of the book). This is a much more clever and complicated book that it seems at the beginning.

CONGO
Blue White Red by Alain Mabanckou
Originally published 1998; English translation 2013
Cross-posted from my Club Read and 75 Books threads



This is the third book by Mabanckou I've read, but the first he wrote. (It was only translated into English this year.) In it, he takes a look at the lives of Africans who go to live in Paris and the varieties of experiences they have there. It is both a satire of the "Parisians," as they are called, and the prestige which they and their families acquire when they return for visits to their home county (in this case, Congo), and a look at the harsh reality that most undocumented immigrants find when they arrive in the capital of their former colonizer.

The tale starts out with the narrator declaring "I'll manage to get myself out of this" on finding himself imprisoned in a dark cell outside Paris. The scene then shifts back to his village in Congo, where the villagers are all entranced by Moki, a local young man who has done very well for himself in Paris, showering his parents and extended family with expensive gifts including a newly built house complete with water and electricity and two cars that they can use for a taxi service. On his yearly visits home, Moki stresses that speaking French is different from speaking "in French," and he is quite the local dandy, wearing expensive designer clothes and stressing how stylish he is. The narrator, Massala-Massala, is eager to try his luck in Paris too, and Moki arranges for him to get a passport and a tourist visa. This section of the book is quite satirical and very funny in places.

In the second part of the book, Massala-Massala is in Paris, but it is nothing like what he has imagined. He is living with a dozen or more other immigrants in what is apparently a single room on the top floor (no elevator) of an eight-story building (which may have been condemned), lit only by a skylight. Gradually, he meets some of the movers and shakers of the immigrant community, who clearly are making their living illegally and, once he has been provided with new false documentation (since tourist visas expire), Moki introduces him to one of the most important movers and shakers who will in turn introduce Massala-Massala, now known as Marcel Bonaventure because that's the name on his papers, into the world of the black market. In this section, Mabanckou paints a picture of African immigrant life in Paris, and Massala-Massala meditates on how he has not lived up to his father's guidance.

I enjoyed this book, and I felt it presented a damning look at postcolonial attraction to the culture and life of the former colonizer but, having read later works by Mabanckou, I think he's become an even more interesting writer as he's written more.

As a side note, I was interested that Mabanckou's epigraph for one of the sections was a quote from a poem by Abdellatif Laâbi, some of whose work I've also recently read.

REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Blue White Red by Alain Mabanckou



Alain Mabanckou's debut novel is narrated by Massala-Massala, a young Congolese man who is a neighbor of Moki, a slightly older man who is revered by the villagers where his parents and brothers live in luxury. Moki is a Parisian, one of the few Congolese who has emigrated to Paris and found success there. He is welcomed like royalty when he makes his annual return to his home during the dry season, as he represents the hopes and dreams of his people. He dresses in the latest Parisian fashions, hands out gifts to extended family members and friends, speaks proper French French instead of speaking in French, quotes de Maupassant, Saint-Exupéry and Baudelaire freely, causes local girls to swoon openly in his presence, and holds court at his father's home and in local bars, as he talks about the French capital, his opulent life, and what it takes to succeed there: "Paris is a big boy. Not for little kids." In the Congo, Parisians like Moki are revered, whereas Peasants, those emigrants who live in towns outside of Paris as they pursue higher education, don't dress like dandies, and associate with Congolese villagers as equals instead of as lesser beings, are viewed with disdain.

Massala-Massala decides to emigrate to Paris, and with the help of his father, his uncle and Moki, he manages to get a visa and passport, and travels by air to Paris with his idol. However, instead of the wealth and easy living that Moki has promised, he quickly discovers the truth about the sordid lives of African immigrants in France, most of whom live there illegally and in poverty, as they face the constant threat of police harassment and deportation back to their homelands. His legal visa soon expires, and he is forced to participate in the underground economy that provides him with enough money for food and lodging, but little else.

Blue White Red, named after the tricolored French flag and the winner of the 1999 Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire for the best novel published in France and written by a sub-Saharan Francophone author, is an apt and biting commentary about the sordid lives of African immigrants in France and their countrymen who are caught up in the hype about the greener grass that they believe awaits them in Europe. Although it isn't as well developed as his later novels it is still a very good effort, and a valuable addition to Francophone literature.

ANGOLA

The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa



The Book of Chameleons is a difficult book to describe, as it touches on many different elements. On the one hand, it’s a book set in present-day Angola – or present-day when the book was published, which is now almost a decade ago. So it gives a very good, realistic image of what the country is like. On the other hand, it’s a satire that enlarges the issues Angola struggles with to bring attention to it. Add in the fact that the book tells the story in a magical realism way and you’ve got a very unique piece of literature.

I do not want to spoil the story of this book by saying too much about it. It’s not a very long book, but it has quite an impact. The story flows very well and despite the sometimes abrupt shifts from chapter to chapter in events there was never a moment I felt lost as to what was happening. But what I love most of all is the main storyteller in this book. Absolutely brilliant choice. The only reason I did not give this book five stars is because of the ending. I was left with a few questions and I personally don’t like that. I understand this is how the author meant to end it, but I’m not convinced it was the best place to stop. If he’d stopped just one chapter before it would have been a better ending for me. But that’s a personal opinion and others may disagree. Either way, I highly recommend this book.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

I finished White by Deni Ellis Béchard. In this extremely readable and thought-provoking novel, an American journalist and veteran traveler and war reporter, travels to the Congo in hopes of searching out and writing about a corrupt and ruthless European "fixer," Richmond Hew, who helps environmental agencies trying to set up preservation parkland in the African jungle. The goal seems noble but the agencies' presumptive ways and Hew's methodology are not. Plus there are well documented complaints of Hew's sexual abuse of young girls. But the main issues at hand are those of white privilege and white foreigners' paternalistic presumptions of supremacy over the Congolese in their own country, in terms of expertise and motivation and wisdom, to offer a short list. White is, for me, a novel about humanity and quicksand.

For anyone interested, my more in-depth comments are on my 2019 50-Book Challenge thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/301698#6947769

>13 rebeccanyc:: So well said. I too read Houseboy and greatly impressed and then read The Old Man and the Medal, based upon my reaction. Like you, I thought the latter had its strengths, but think Houseboy a far superior work.

I can't believe nobody has posted about this classic novel yet so....

I read Mission to Kala, by Mongo Beti, which is a 1957 Cameroonian comic novel about a young failed college student sent on a mission from his home village to find someone else's runaway wife. Our educated westernised city-dwelling protagonist quickly finds himself out of his depth when faced with the wiles of his country village cousins and their traditional ways of getting things done. As you can probably imagine from that description the primary form of humour is satire and no character is spared. The author side-eyes tradition and those who cling to the worst of it, he mocks colonialism and those who co-operate with it, he is quizzical about his contemporaries and their impotent hopes for the future, he even manages to tease his (presumed) French/westernised readers with subtle digs such as the implication that postcolonial Africa will turn to the USSR because the peasant farmers have more empathy with their Russian counterparts and their drive for modernisation than cities paved with illusory capitalist gold in the Western alliance. The protagonist claims this is a sentimental novel rather than picaresque one but the author does tend to want it both ways which results in twice as much fun for the reader. The story is well written and smoothly translated into English by Peter Green but, as in most bildungsroman novels revolving around a young male protagonist and his inner journey, characterisation is mostly through interaction with the (anti-)hero protagonist and the road trip plot is merely a vehicle, albeit in this case a satisfyingly structured vehicle. The protagonist's attitudes towards women are coloured here and there with feminist ideas about fairer division of labour, but the sexual attitudes might upset some 21st century readers although the protagonist's immature behaviour is self-acknowledged and doesn't go unexamined. If I had to describe this by comparison I suppose it would be Catcher in the Rye goes to Cameroon. I'm wavering on my rating but I can't recall any major flaws so let's say 5*.

Quote

I especially enjoyed the chapter headings: "Chapter Three : In the course of which the reader will become convinced that the final climax of this story is at last in sight - a conviction which is, most unfortunately, mistaken."

>23 spiralsheep: That's why I love this forum. I don't think I heard of Beti before you posted. He's on my TBR list now as soon as I can find one of his books!

>24 jveezer: My local library still had a copy hidden away on the stacks so I was lucky.

I only began posting reviews here because I'd taken so many good suggestions away and felt I should give something back. :-)

SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE

Native Dance: An African Story by Gervásio Kaiser
The Moor of Sankoré: A Short Story by Gervásio Kaiser

    

Native Dance and The Moor of Sankoré are two very brief and even more forgettable short stories by Gervásio Kaiser, one of the few authors from São Tomé and Príncipe whose work has been translated into English. In Native Dance a man is arrested and falsely charged with throwing a knife at a woman after her son beat up a smaller, when in fact he only threw keys to the ground in her direction. After the judge dismisses the case against him he sees the mother of the child he sought to protect, who had rejected his invitations to dance with him in a local club but now welcomes him. The Moor of Sankoré is a recent graduate of the University of Sankoré, an ancient center of learning in Mali, who seeks to take a flight home but encounters multiple obstacles in doing so.

Not recommended.

ANGOLA

Good Morning Comrades by Ondjaki, translated from the Portuguese by Stephen Henighan

  

My rating:

Ndalu, the narrator of this novel, is a schoolboy in Luanda, the capital of Angola, in the spring of 1991, a time in which the country was led by President José Eduardo dos Santos of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), who rode in public in a bulletproof Mercedes surrounded by heavily armed guards, as the country was in civil war against the Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), led by Jonas Savimbi. The MPLA was supported by Cuba and, to a lesser extent, the Soviet Union, and between 1975 and 1991 400,000 Cubans served as teachers, physicians and soldiers there. UNITA was mainly supported by the United States, especially during President Ronald Reagan's two terms in office, along with the apartheid South African government, as both feared the spread of Marxism to other sub-Saharan countries, including South Africa itself. The MPLA held control of Luanda and the urbanized coastal areas of Angola and were supported by the Mbundu people, whereas UNITA's power was in the north and less populated interior of the country and were favored by the Ovimbundu, Angola's largest ethnic group. Due to the strength of MPLA and the large presence of disciplined Cuban soldiers Luanda at that time was relatively safe especially after 1988, when the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale repelled a South African/UNITA armed invasion, cemented Cuban/MPLA control of the country, and led to the downfall of South African President P.W. Botha. Guerrilla attacks on schools and other establishments was a constant fear, although a questionable reality.

The title of this novel refers to the use of the word comrade to formally address nearly everyone in the MPLA controlled territory; Ndalu's favorite visitor at home is Comrade António, and his primary teachers are Comrade Teacher Maria, the wife of Comrade Teacher Ángel, both from Cuba. Ndalu and his schoolmates are in the last few days of their classes, and are good kids although somewhat rebellious and apt to get into mild trouble, even though they love the school and their teachers, although they find them and other Cubans to be somewhat inscrutable and overly idealistic. Through Ndalu's eyes the reader views the everyday life in Angola in the early 1990s, which is marked with frequent mass rallies, socialist holidays, and speeches at school in opposition to imperialism, Ronald Reagan and apartheid, along with the use of ration cards to purchase goods. Most of Ndalu's classmates and their families are relatively well off in comparison to their Cuban teachers, and they sit alongside each other in an ethnic melting pot of Blacks, mixed race mestiços, and white Cubans and Portuguese.

At the end of the school year the children are saddened to learn that their teachers would soon return to Cuba, leaving their future education in charge of native Angolans. Soon they would learn that a peace agreement between MPLA and UNITA had been reached, and Cuba withdrew its presence from the country. What they could not foresee is that the presidential election held the following year kept President dos Santos and MPLA in power, and led to a vicious resurgence of the Angolan Civil War after Jonas Savimbi and UNITA, who were assured that they would win the election, lost instead.

Good Morning Comrades is a valuable insight into Angola during the end of the Cold War, and what appeared to be the end of the Angolan Civil War, which is mainly drawn from the Ondjaki's own childhood in Luanda. The afterword by the book's translator, Stephen Henighan, provides valuable context to the novel, which is essential for those unfamiliar with the country's history, and his comments bumped my rating of the book from 3½ to 4 stars.

Cameroon: How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue - 4,5 stars


A book that captivated me from the first page and never bored me. It is the story of an African village and its inhabitants that are destroyed by the toxic presence of the American multinational Pexton. When the children get sick one by one and die all too often, the village decides to revolt and take matters into their own hands. I don't want to spoil the reading pleasure of future readers by telling too much of the story, but it is absolutely beautiful. The story is delicately told, with varying points of view, each from a different perspective but all from the side of the underdogs, which gives the whole story much more depth than if the author had opted for the clash between the good and the bad. Added to this is a very beautiful use of language, a very empathetic style, a lot of nuance and a surprising introduction of "the children" as a separate narrator, making the story even more unique and layered. The other characters are also well developed. In combination with the captivating story, all this made it a pleasure to read this book.