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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A psychological war novel that packs quite a punch in a small amount of pages. Diop gets the most out of every word, unfolding his narrative as we begin to realize the struggles of war, masculinity and colonialism. This is one I will certainly revisit down the line, but still trying to wrap my head around it. It seemed familiar in some sense and yet so original in another.
challenging
dark
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Very repetitive. I got tried of seeing the words "God's truth" which showed up at least several dozen times.
I can't say that I enjoyed this book, but I can say that it was freaky and spooky as fuck. While toeing the speculative line, and dancing around the delineation between Horror and other genres, it was clear but not quite fully surreal (at least until the end).
Winner of the International Booker 2021
Welcome to the mind of a man deranged by the violence of war! At Night All Blood is Black is one of the most shocking books I've read. It's visceral, raw, harrowing and utterly amazing.
This novella can be divided into two sections. At first, we meet Alfa Ndiaye, a young Senegalese man, in the trenches of WWI. He just lost his closest friend, Mademba Diop, to a gruesome death and failed to spare him the agony even though he begged for it. The guilt of letting his friend suffer till the end pushes him over the edge. He goes on a spree of macabre enemy killing ritual to avenge his friend. Later on, the story moves to a calmer setting where we see Alfa's life in Senegal and how his friendship with Mademba developed. The ending is strange and ambiguous, but did nothing to let the book down. It might also make more sense if the original French title is kept in mind whose literal translation is 'Soul-brother'.
This book must come with a trigger warning for graphic violence. Some scenes in the first parts made me shut the book and wonder exactly what I just read and I have a rather high tolerance for book violence. And not once is it meant to be gratuitous. The violence shows the shattering effect war can have on the human mind.
The first person POV of Alfa, gives a matter-of-fact view on all of his actions. The storytelling is repetitive, with some phrases being used over and over again. The overall effect is oddly unsettling. The parts set in Senegal are peaceful and vibrant in comparison, albeit not perfectly happy. It puts the war in contrast to their village life perfectly.
This book deals with so much more than war. There's racism, interpretation of masculinity, survivor's guilt, interpretation in general. Before this book, I did not know that African soldiers fought in WWI, but about two million of them did. Diop shows how these 'Chocolat' soldiers were used as 'savages' or 'cannibals' with machetes to scare the German soldiers by France. So much of history has been lost or been hidden from popular knowledge!
This book is disturbing, gut-wrenching and scary. Everything being in the trenches of WWI must have been.
Welcome to the mind of a man deranged by the violence of war! At Night All Blood is Black is one of the most shocking books I've read. It's visceral, raw, harrowing and utterly amazing.
This novella can be divided into two sections. At first, we meet Alfa Ndiaye, a young Senegalese man, in the trenches of WWI. He just lost his closest friend, Mademba Diop, to a gruesome death and failed to spare him the agony even though he begged for it. The guilt of letting his friend suffer till the end pushes him over the edge. He goes on a spree of macabre enemy killing ritual to avenge his friend. Later on, the story moves to a calmer setting where we see Alfa's life in Senegal and how his friendship with Mademba developed. The ending is strange and ambiguous, but did nothing to let the book down. It might also make more sense if the original French title is kept in mind whose literal translation is 'Soul-brother'.
This book must come with a trigger warning for graphic violence. Some scenes in the first parts made me shut the book and wonder exactly what I just read and I have a rather high tolerance for book violence. And not once is it meant to be gratuitous. The violence shows the shattering effect war can have on the human mind.
The first person POV of Alfa, gives a matter-of-fact view on all of his actions. The storytelling is repetitive, with some phrases being used over and over again. The overall effect is oddly unsettling. The parts set in Senegal are peaceful and vibrant in comparison, albeit not perfectly happy. It puts the war in contrast to their village life perfectly.
This book deals with so much more than war. There's racism, interpretation of masculinity, survivor's guilt, interpretation in general. Before this book, I did not know that African soldiers fought in WWI, but about two million of them did. Diop shows how these 'Chocolat' soldiers were used as 'savages' or 'cannibals' with machetes to scare the German soldiers by France. So much of history has been lost or been hidden from popular knowledge!
This book is disturbing, gut-wrenching and scary. Everything being in the trenches of WWI must have been.
dark
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
No
….i miss the person I was before I read this book…
I think that the synopsis was compelling enough to me to pick up & read (I wanted to read this to go towards my reading around the world challenge); however, I got increasingly more disturbed at the unnecessary inclusions made by the author. Random things, like trenches, were metaphorically related to female body parts, etc. in a very vulgar & derogatory way. Some examples of passages are below.
I think that the synopsis was compelling enough to me to pick up & read (I wanted to read this to go towards my reading around the world challenge); however, I got increasingly more disturbed at the unnecessary inclusions made by the author. Random things, like trenches, were metaphorically related to female body parts, etc. in a very vulgar & derogatory way. Some examples of passages are below.
“Seen from a distance, our trench looked to me like the slightly parted lips of an immense woman’s sex. A woman, open, offering herself to war, to the bombshells, and to us, the soldiers.”
“[…] the brazen rumor ended up with her legs spread, her ass in the air.”
“[…] for opening your little notch, so close to your guts. […] I plunge into her the way one plunges into the powerful current of a river […]. I thrust into her womb as if to disembowel her.”
….like excuse me? *barf
To me, that was some of the most disturbing parts of this - not the actual gruesomeness of war & the madness the main character experiences. I also had no idea going into this about the climax of the story being a rape scene. I don’t know, I just feel like this writing felt a little bit rape fetish-like to me, and I would NOT recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail