Book picks similar to
Legba's Crossing: Narratology in the African Atlantic by Heather Russell
writers-bloc
africa
africana
ashé-orişa-odú-ifá-vodou
In the Heart of the Country
J.M. Coetzee - 1977
But when his embittered spinster daughter Magda feels shamed, this lurch across the racial divide marks the end of a tenuous feudal peace. As she dreams madly of bloody revenge, Magda's consciousness starts to drift and the line between fact and the workings of her excited imagination becomes blurred. What follows is the fable of a woman's passionate, obsessed and violent response to an Africa that will not heed her.
How Can Man Die Better: The Life of Robert Sobukwe
Benjamin Pogrund - 1990
His long imprisonment, restriction and early death were a major tragedy for our land and for the world.’ – Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Sobukwe On 21 March 1960, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe led a mass defiance of South Africa’s pass laws. He urged blacks to go to the nearest police station and demand arrest. Police opened fire on a peaceful crowd in the township of Sharpeville and killed 69 people. The protest changed the course of South Africa’s history. Afrikaner rule stiffened and black resistance went underground. International opinion hardened against apartheid. Sobukwe, leader of the Pan-Africanist Congress, was jailed for three years for incitement. At the end of his sentence the government, fearful of his power, rushed the so-called ‘Sobukwe Clause’ through Parliament, to keep him in prison without a trial. For the next six years, Sobukwe was kept in solitary confinement on Robben Island, the infamous apartheid prison near Cape Town. On his release, Sobukwe was banished to the town of Kimberley with very severe restrictions on his freedom. He died there nine years later in February 1978. This book is the story of this South African hero – the lonely prisoner on Robben Island. It is also the story of the friendship between Robert Sobukwe and Benjamin Pogrund whose joint experiences and debates chart the course of a tyrannous regime and the growth of black resistance.
Beasts of No Nation
Uzodinma Iweala - 2005
. . . Iweala never wavers from a gripping, pulsing narrative voice. . . . He captures the horror of ethnic violence in all its brutality and the vulnerability of youth in all its innocence.”
—Entertainment Weekly
(A)The harrowing, utterly original debut novel by Uzodinma Iweala about the life of a child soldier in a war-torn African countryAs civil war rages in an unnamed West-African nation, Agu, the school-aged protagonist of this stunning novel, is recruited into a unit of guerilla fighters. Haunted by his father’s own death at the hands of militants, which he fled just before witnessing, Agu is vulnerable to the dangerous yet paternal nature of his new commander.While the war rages on, Agu becomes increasingly divorced from the life he had known before the conflict started—a life of school friends, church services, and time with his family, still intact. As he vividly recalls these sunnier times, his daily reality continues to spin further downward into inexplicable brutality, primal fear, and loss of selfhood. In a powerful, strikingly original voice, Uzodinma Iweala leads the reader through the random travels, betrayals, and violence that mark Agu’s new community. Electrifying and engrossing, Beasts of No Nation announces the arrival of an extraordinary writer.
Rumors of Savages
Carrie Regan - 2007
When a famed anthropologist disappears in the middle of a formidable African jungle while searching for a legendary--and reportedly bloodthirsty--"lost tribe," fading star Max Carrington and his bumbling television crew swiftly set off to find him. Their goal: bring him back, alive or dead, documenting every moment along the way for a blockbuster television event. Back home, their dramatic live video dispatches from the middle of the jungle swiftly become the media sensation of the moment. But when members of the crew start disappearing as well, they realize too late that much more than the network's fortunes are at risk...
All Our Names
Dinaw Mengestu - 2014
But as the line between idealism and violence becomes increasingly blurred, the friends are driven apart—one into the deepest peril, as the movement gathers inexorable force, and the other into the safety of exile in the American Midwest. There, pretending to be an exchange student, he falls in love with a social worker and settles into small-town life. Yet this idyll is inescapably darkened by the secrets of his past: the acts he committed and the work he left unfinished. Most of all, he is haunted by the beloved friend he left behind, the charismatic leader who first guided him to revolution and then sacrificed everything to ensure his freedom.
Bookclub-in-a-Box Discusses Cutting For Stone, the novel by Abraham Verghese
Marilyn Herbert - 2010
The narrative begins in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, when twin boys, Shiva and Marion, are born to a nun (who dies) and a surgeon (who runs away). The babies, conjoined at the head, are successfully separated immediately after birth. The original conjoinment and separation of the boys becomes the operating theme of the novel and we are given situation after situation in which to consider the concepts of fusion and partition. Bookclub-in-a-Box looks at all that Verghese provides: history (Ethiopia and Eritrea), medicine (blood and liver disease), psychology (the search for identity), sociology (human relationships) and philosophy (of both science and religion). The narrative's real facts and descriptions are especially interesting for their thematic implications. Every Bookclub-in-a-Box printed discussion guide includes complete coverage of the themes and symbols, writing style, and interesting background information on the novel and the author.
The Kebra Nagast: The Lost Bible of Rastafarian Wisdom and Faith from Ethiopia and Jamaica
Gerald Hausman - 1997
In this edition, selections have been taken from The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek and supplemented with tales of Gerald Hausman's experiences with Rastas in Jamaica. It closes with an appendix showing the links between the words of the Rasta prophet Bob Marley and the Bible.
Anatomy of a Disappearance
Hisham Matar - 2011
It seems that nothing will fill the emptiness that her strange death leaves behind in the Cairo apartment he shares with his father. Until they meet Mona, sitting in her yellow swimsuit by the pool of the Magda Marina hotel. As soon as Nuri sees her, the rest of the world vanishes. But it is Nuri’s father with whom Mona falls in love and whom she eventually marries. And their happiness consumes Nuri to the point where he wishes his father would disappear.Nuri will, however, soon regret what he wished for. His father, long a dissident in exile from his homeland, is taken under mysterious circumstances. And, as the world that Nuri and his stepmother share is shattered by events beyond their control, they begin to realize how little they knew about the man they both loved.Anatomy of a Disappearance is written with all the emotional precision and intimacy that have won Hisham Matar tremendous international recognition. In a voice that is delicately wrought and beautifully tender, he asks: When a loved one disappears, how does their absence shape the lives of those who are left?
Eloge de la Créolité / In Praise of Creoleness
Jean Bernabé - 1993
Cela sera pour nous une attitude intérieure, mieux : une vigilance, ou mieux encore, une sorte d'enveloppe mentale au mitan de laquelle se bâtira notre monde en pleine conscience du monde.» Publié en 1989, cet éloge de l'identité créole, cette quête lyrique «d'une pensée plus fertile, d'une expression plus juste, d'une esthétique plus vraie», fonde un art poétique qui devait très vite, dans une illustration magnifique, donner des œuvres importantes : Raphaël Confiant a reçu le prix Novembre pour Eau de Café (1991), Patrick Chamoiseau le prix Goncourt pour Texaco (1992). "Neither Europeans, nor Africans, nor Asians, we proclaim ourselves to be Creoles. For us this will be a state of mind, or, rather, a state of vigilance, or, better still, a sort of mental envelope within which we will build our world, in full awareness of the world." Published in 1989, this hymn to the Creole identity, this lyrical quest "for a more fertile way of thinking, for a more accurate means of expression, and for a more genuine aesthetics", laid the foundations of a poetic art that was very quickly, and brilliantly, to produce major works : Raphaël Confiant was awarded the prix Novembre for Eau de Café (1991), and Patrick Chamoiseau received the prix Goncourt for Tewaco (1992).
Santeria: African Spirits in America
Joseph M. Murphy - 1988
A professional academic and himself a participant in the Santería community of the Bronx for several years, Joseph Murphy offers a powerful description and insightful analysis of this African/Cuban religion. He traces the survival of an ancient spiritual path from its West African Yoruba origins, through nearly two centuries of slavery in the New World, to its presence in the urban centers of the United States, where it continues to inspire seekers with its compelling vision.
Jungle Lovers
Paul Theroux - 1971
Unable to sell a policy to Marais, Calvin joins Marais' merry band of mercenaries--until a fictious diary is stolen, and he is drawn into an explosion of violence. An audacious novel from the author of Riding the Iron Rooster.
Jock of the Bushveld
J. Percy FitzPatrick - 1907
It remains as fresh and exciting as it was when it was first written and is dedicated by Fitzpatrick to '...those keenest and kindest of critics, best of friends and most delightful of comrades the likkle people!'Jock's owner was a young transport rider in the rugged and colourful days of the Transvaal gold rush. Those were the days when big game roamed the land and each sunrise brought a new adventure.The story of the bull terrier who shared his master's life on the veld has been illustrated with lively sketches by Edmund Caldwell.
Facing the Son
M.L. Rudolph - 2011
His only guide is a three-year old postal address. Fighting cultural vertigo and disorientation at his arrival at the Abidjan airport, he relies on a glib and persistent limo driver who speaks just enough English to gain Matt's trust. The next morning, Matt wakes up drugged, robbed, and dropped into a grim city slum. Without ID, without money, and with no idea where to turn, Matt forges unlikely alliances which take him on a perilous journey out of the city and through the backcountry as he strives to continue his search for his son.Along the way, Matt reconsiders the life choices he made that launched him on this search. When he finds his son in an isolated desert village, he must face the consequences of those choices.
Sudan
Ninie Hammon - 2009
The largest nation in Africa has become a killing field. Two million tribal people are dead, victims of a brutal civil war or massacred by their own government in systematic, cold-blooded genocide. But that’s not why human rights photojournalist Ron Wolfson is risking his life there. He’s chasing action and danger on a different adventure—investigating reports of human trafficking, rumors of women and children who are auctioned off to the highest bidder and then vanish into the brutal shadow world of modern-day slavery. When Arab Murahaleen guerrillas attack a small Dinka village and kidnap a little girl named Akin to sell on the slave market in the North, her father, Idris, goes after her—looking for one child among the hundreds of thousands who’ve already disappeared—and Ron joins the simple villager in his desperate mission. Ron's brother, a U.S. congressman, wages a battle just as desperate against apathy and indifference to force international political pressure on the government of Sudan, while Ron tracks the phantom story he knows is out there somewhere. Determined to capture on film the horror of human beings in chains, sold like cattle, Ron incurs the wrath of a ruthless slave trader. Now, he and Idris face savage retaliation and a heart-breaking end to their quest. Awaiting dawn and an unthinkable execution broadcast live around the world, the American journalist and the Dinka villager are forced to place their lives and the fate of their mission into the hands of a bloodthirsty mercenary and an orphan boy. Together they forge a reckless plan, their only hope of escape. But it may already be too late. And it may be too late to save the little girl before her innocence is stolen and she vanishes forever into the belly of the beast. READERS' PRAISE (Goodreads and Amazon.com) I encourage you to read this life-changing book. Get angry! Get upset! Be grossed out! Somewhere a Sudanese mother is waiting for someone to reach out a helping hand, for her children's sake. Mel “@MamaBuzz” The worst thing about this book is that it isn't completely fiction. It grabs you by the throat and won't let you put it down until you've read the last page. You will hug your children closer after reading. K-Mor This book is not for the faint of heart - it deals with the atrocities committed in Sudan. Ninie weaves a spell-binding tale. One of the things I love about Ninie's books is that she does not feel the need to spruce everything up and make it pretty. E.L. Jenkins “Love to Read” "Sudan" captured my attention from the first page, and I read through the entire story in two days. This is gripping, emotional storytelling. Bestselling author Eric Wilson, Top 100 Amazon Reviewer Sudan is a must read but be prepared for an unexpected depth of emotion. I couldn't put it down until the building tension required me to take a break. This book is worth your time! tj You thought human trafficking on the African continent was long gone. And you were WRONG! Sudan is an action and adventure novel centered on an age-old evil. But the book isn’t classic HISTORICAL fiction—about slavery in America 200 years ago; rather it’s a suspense filled ride through the bustling slave trade in the African country of Sudan …TODAY! Even though the facts are historical, fic