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A review by booklane
Waiting for the Waters to Rise by Maryse Condé
adventurous
funny
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Displacement, rootlessness and the quest for roots are the main themes in Maryse Conde’s Waiting for the Waters to Rise. It is the story of Babakar, a gynaecologist of Mali origins in Guadeloupe who fulfils the desire of a dying mother to take her child Anais back to Haiti where roots are, despite the country being ravaged by endless violence. This simple storyline expands to incorporate the life stories of Babakar, his family, and other characters from Africa and the Caribbean.
One of the author’s aims is to expose the devastation of postcolonial states, now struggling with democracy and self-determination and governed by puppets instated by foreign states. We observe the way power corrupts, the extent to which man would go, men’s inability to fight for ideals or think for themselves, self-serving dictators’ utter disregard for their own people, pointless fratricide wars and other niceties. Conde’s political satire is effective and biting, as she attempts to highlight the similarities between dilapidated paradises and generally what is at stake with human nature, feral and corruptible. While the ties and the common legacy of Africa and the Caribbean are definitely worth exploring, this approach tends to erase more local features under the unifying effect of satire.
Conde’s writing is vivid, mesmerising and worth your while. Babakar’s story of displacement is compelling, as he negotiates his identity among rootlessness as someone who “felt no sense of belonging” and national myths and his quest for Anais’s roots. Equally interesting are the stories of his companions. Their insertion makes the novel episodic and picaresque, which as a form befits the theme of rootlessness but makes the plot feel a bit loose. Still an important achievement.
I am grateful to World Editions for an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
One of the author’s aims is to expose the devastation of postcolonial states, now struggling with democracy and self-determination and governed by puppets instated by foreign states. We observe the way power corrupts, the extent to which man would go, men’s inability to fight for ideals or think for themselves, self-serving dictators’ utter disregard for their own people, pointless fratricide wars and other niceties. Conde’s political satire is effective and biting, as she attempts to highlight the similarities between dilapidated paradises and generally what is at stake with human nature, feral and corruptible. While the ties and the common legacy of Africa and the Caribbean are definitely worth exploring, this approach tends to erase more local features under the unifying effect of satire.
Conde’s writing is vivid, mesmerising and worth your while. Babakar’s story of displacement is compelling, as he negotiates his identity among rootlessness as someone who “felt no sense of belonging” and national myths and his quest for Anais’s roots. Equally interesting are the stories of his companions. Their insertion makes the novel episodic and picaresque, which as a form befits the theme of rootlessness but makes the plot feel a bit loose. Still an important achievement.
I am grateful to World Editions for an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.