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A review by naimfrewat
Verre cassé by Alain Mabanckou
5.0
This book must be read in French. I read a couple of excerpts translated into English, and I honestly felt the rhythm, the flow of the words, the repetition of expressions, and most certainly the humor of the book lacked their charm.
Yes, it feels like the book of an erudite, but that's precisely what the author is; one would not deride Eco for writing the way he does.
At the same time, I was intrigued with this blurring of the truth; can we trust the narrator? Are the "heroes" of his stories victims or villains? This questioning extends to Mabanckou himself, and I ask myself how much of those stories are the work of fiction and how much of them are, at least, inspired by true events?
I highly recommend it; the humor is my style, precisely because of the narrative style, of the choice of words, and of this morphing of verbs and adjectives and phrases to portray such a powerful image of a micro-world; that of a poor, neglected African "quartier".
Yes, it feels like the book of an erudite, but that's precisely what the author is; one would not deride Eco for writing the way he does.
At the same time, I was intrigued with this blurring of the truth; can we trust the narrator? Are the "heroes" of his stories victims or villains? This questioning extends to Mabanckou himself, and I ask myself how much of those stories are the work of fiction and how much of them are, at least, inspired by true events?
I highly recommend it; the humor is my style, precisely because of the narrative style, of the choice of words, and of this morphing of verbs and adjectives and phrases to portray such a powerful image of a micro-world; that of a poor, neglected African "quartier".