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A review by rykel_r
Rain: And Other Stories by Mia Couto
October 4, 1992 saw the conclusion of a fifteen year long civil war in Mozambique. It was a conflict that claimed the lives of one million of its citizens and displaced millions more. This was the start of peacetime. But what is peace in the wake of more than a decade of devastation and atrocities? What could be salvaged when civilization seemed so unrecognizable?
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Author Mia Couto found himself echoing these and similar sentiments shared by his countrymen, who were coming to terms with the aftermath of the war. And in 1994, Rain and Other Stories was published. In his introduction, he describes the collective experience of his compatriots as "pretending he's here, dreaming of going away, imagining his return".
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Couto's writing is bare but gleams with peculiar turns of phrase and even odder neologisms. Set against the backdrop of the war, the stories draw upon folk lore and the oral tradition; each an iteration of three main themes: departure and loss, civilization and, time. His stories are elegaic but contain an undercurrent of hope.
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Nature acts as an important symbol of optimism. For instance, flowers shuttle people away to safety, a palm tree strikes down oppressors and rain portends the end of war.
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This collection is Couto's open letter to Mozambique. He acknowledges the suffering and despair, but sees past the immediacy of the trauma. Couto has tapped into an inexhaustible reserve of human resilience. This is a moving work with moments of biting socio-political commentary. It needs to be read!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Author Mia Couto found himself echoing these and similar sentiments shared by his countrymen, who were coming to terms with the aftermath of the war. And in 1994, Rain and Other Stories was published. In his introduction, he describes the collective experience of his compatriots as "pretending he's here, dreaming of going away, imagining his return".
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Couto's writing is bare but gleams with peculiar turns of phrase and even odder neologisms. Set against the backdrop of the war, the stories draw upon folk lore and the oral tradition; each an iteration of three main themes: departure and loss, civilization and, time. His stories are elegaic but contain an undercurrent of hope.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Nature acts as an important symbol of optimism. For instance, flowers shuttle people away to safety, a palm tree strikes down oppressors and rain portends the end of war.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This collection is Couto's open letter to Mozambique. He acknowledges the suffering and despair, but sees past the immediacy of the trauma. Couto has tapped into an inexhaustible reserve of human resilience. This is a moving work with moments of biting socio-political commentary. It needs to be read!