Blurb from goodreads.com, please scroll down for my review.
Paradise is at once the story of an African boy’s coming of age, a tragic love story, and a tale of the corruption of traditional African patterns by European colonialism. It presents a major African voice to American readers — a voice that prompted Peter Tinniswood to write in the London Times, reviewing Gurnah’s previous novel, “Mr. Gurnah is a very fine writer. I am certain he will become a great one.” Paradise is Abdulrazak Gurnah’s great novel. At twelve, Yusuf, the protagonist of this twentieth-century odyssey, is sold by his father in repayment of a debt. From the simple life of rural Africa, Yusuf is thrown into the complexities of precolonial urban East Africa — a fascinating world in which Muslim black Africans, Christian missionaries, and Indians from the subcontinent coexist in a fragile, subtle social hierarchy. Through the eyes of Yusuf, Gurnah depicts communities at war, trading safaris gone awry, and the universal trials of adolescence. Then, just as Yusuf begins to comprehend the choices required of him, he and everyone around him must adjust to the new reality of European colonialism. The result is a page-turning saga that covers the same territory as the novels of Isak Dinesen and William Boyd, but does so from a perspective never before available on that seldom-chronicled part of the world.
My Review
Quote ‘Savages,’ he said. ‘Worth ten of any of you.’
‘Imagine that God should create creatures like that! They look like something made out of sin,’ one of the porters said, a young man who was always first to speak. ‘Don’t they look vicious?’
Let me introduce you to Yusuf, a 12 year old who was sent away to pay his fathers debt. He is now working in a shop, a merchant’s shop owned by “Uncle Aziz’s”, along with another young person, who is in the same position. Yusuf is our main protagonist, the novel is set around WW1 in Tanzania, in various locations, from the coast to the rural interior, Yusuf and the trader are muslims, others are indians and there are other languages from the interior of the country, not all speak each others languages or understand each others traditions, which sometimes creates uncomfortable moments.
You might think that the title evokes something special, wonderful, paradise, but there is nothing paradisiacal about this novel, it is about the tough life of a young boy, but does it refer to the walled garden of the home where he now lives???
I read this after the book hangover of the Tobacconist and it took me a while to get into.
I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would, but the part where Yusuf accompanies his “uncle” on a safari into the interior for a trading expedition is fascinating. Here we read about lots of other characters, traditions, villages, savages, beliefs and rituals. The adventures had on this journey are wonderful and often scary.
The downside to this whole novel is that it doesn’t go anywhere, it is often the day-to-day life in the shop with other characters popping in and out. Nothing actually connects properly.
You might think that the title evokes something special, wonderful, paradise, but there is nothing paradisiacal about this novel, it is about the tough life of a young boy. This book taught me a little about the life of a merchant in Tanzania at the beginning of the XX century.
I am giving this book 3 stars due to the section in the book which I did enjoy, the safari into the interior of the country and all the adventures the merchants had. Maybe I missed something while reading this novel and if I had read it at a different time, not straight after a book which I awarded 5 stars, then I might have appreciated it more.
The next book / country is The Orphan Sky by Ella Leya (Azerbaijan)
Originally published at http://readinginecuador.wordpress.com on October 11, 2021.
