Book 16 - Abdulrazak Gurnah "Paradise"

Abdulrazak Gurnah "Paradise" (Bloomsbury)




Yusuf is only 7 years old when he is given to a wealthy merchant to repay his family's debts. He is never beaten, overworked or even treated unkindly but the fact remains that he is a slave -- even though he (and we) will not understand this until much later in the novel.

This book is exactly what I hope for when I read international literature. It contains everything I look for in a book: lush, descriptive prose, realistic characterization and a story line that addresses ideas significant to humanity but leaves you with plenty of room to analyze and interpret on your own. At the same time, it offers me an opportunity to deepen my knowledge about another corner of the globe. Abdulrazak Gurnah's East Africa is a vibrant confluence of multiple religions and cultures. What emerges is a portrait of a society that can be both beautiful and inhumane, one where colonialism is just one more facet of already-ingrained local prejudice and cruelty. Reading this book was hard at times, but the beautiful language always saved the occasional rawness of the subject matter. I felt absorbed through the whole novel and I really admired the way the author let the story speak for itself rather than moralizing at the end.