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A review by jenrinaldi
Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah
adventurous
informative
3.5
"We'll lose everything, including the way we live. And these young people will lose even more. One day they'll make them spit on all that we know, and will make them recite their laws and their story of the world as if it were the holy word. When they come to write about us, what will they say? That we made slaves."
Gurnah depicts the Zanzibar slave trade in the lead-up to the First World War, from the perspective of a young boy sold into servitude. Achebe's influences from Things Fall Apart seem stitched into the narrative structure, with German colonization living at the fringes of the story as a foreboding threat, coming into focus at the close.
I was less invested in the journey inland, the Odyssey-like voyage punctuated with prophetic dreams and violences along the way, led by a figure of legend. Most interesting to me was the final act:Yusuf's dangerous interactions with his Mistress, the indignities of being forced into his role, the tragedy of Khalil and Amina choosing to stay .
Gurnah depicts the Zanzibar slave trade in the lead-up to the First World War, from the perspective of a young boy sold into servitude. Achebe's influences from Things Fall Apart seem stitched into the narrative structure, with German colonization living at the fringes of the story as a foreboding threat, coming into focus at the close.
I was less invested in the journey inland, the Odyssey-like voyage punctuated with prophetic dreams and violences along the way, led by a figure of legend. Most interesting to me was the final act: