Scan barcode
A review by anetq
Transparent City by Ondjaki
1.0
What a mess of a book! With Aristotle's words there is only middle, no beginning, no ending. Just a ton of middles of stories of men talking bullshit mostly. Women crop up occasionally as obedient wifes, cooks or sexual objects and sexism is everywhere (but not just in the society described - also in the description and depiction, and the total lack of acting women).
My biggest problem with this book is a do not care about any of the men and their antics.
I know this tries to be a fable about the state of Angola, the hard living conditions, the corruption, the unnecessary deaths, but it leaves me cold. I also suspect it tries to be funny: Being shot in the ass is obviously 'a thing', the guy who should get fame out of his grotesquely swollen ball, the bullshit the seashell seller spouts to sell his found goods - but I don't find any of it funny. Infantile but not funny.
And when I thought this mess couldn't get worse Ondjaki decided to try his skills at sex scenes. Which he shouldn't have.
The only reason I struggled through this (skipping bits of the bullshit in parts), was that it was the last book in my 2019 African Bingo Challenge AND our Regional read for nov/dec.
My biggest problem with this book is a do not care about any of the men and their antics.
I know this tries to be a fable about the state of Angola, the hard living conditions, the corruption, the unnecessary deaths, but it leaves me cold. I also suspect it tries to be funny: Being shot in the ass is obviously 'a thing', the guy who should get fame out of his grotesquely swollen ball, the bullshit the seashell seller spouts to sell his found goods - but I don't find any of it funny. Infantile but not funny.
And when I thought this mess couldn't get worse Ondjaki decided to try his skills at sex scenes. Which he shouldn't have.
The only reason I struggled through this (skipping bits of the bullshit in parts), was that it was the last book in my 2019 African Bingo Challenge AND our Regional read for nov/dec.