Read Lion Mountain to See Worlds Collide (Tunisia)

       Lion Mountain is a                                                                                                                novel of collisions  

                                     physical and spiritual,                                      

emotional and political 

urban and rural

French and Tunisian

dictators and villagers

mother and son

Ancient dirt and modernity

Religion and government

Bullets and flesh

Land and soul.

In the story, famed Tunisian author Mustapha Tlili paints a secluded village modeled on Feriana, the home of his youth. It’s an ancient place lost amidst the desert steppes but which has persisted through the centuries--sheltered always under the shoulder of Lion Mountain. He describes “a geography more than physical or human: sacred...In this mystical topography, landmarks determining the rights of each and every individual were perfectly clear.” The diviner of this sacred geography is the equally ancient Horia, a widow, a mother of two sons, a fierce defender who bears all of life’s adversity with a stoicism that is seemingly unbreakable. A woman who daily sees “the horizon of Lion Mountain...and what she admires is undoubtedly pride itself, eternity, even though in Horia’s heart and mind, there is but one name for eternity: God.”


Practically, the story takes the reader from the battlefields of World War II, to continued French rule, to Tunisia’s eventual freedom. It’s noteworthy, though, that for the villagers, freedom means little. If anything, the arrival of political freedom comes as an invasion of their own personal freedom as the villagers are pressured to pledge allegiance to “the party.” The arrival of the outside world sets the novel on a tragic arc as the forces of modernity smother the spiritual life from Horia and her household.
In Lion Mountain, Tlili has penned a tragic requiem for a world that is outwardly modernizing but inwardly decaying, casting out its true believers. As Horia laments in a letter to her son: “You set out in search of wisdom and knowledge; out of sacred duty you have become an exile. Are we not all exiles upon this earth?” This is the question that reflects the author’s own unrooted life as a Tunisan exile of sorts, a French writer, and a career UN bureaucrat who worked in New York City. In Horia’s case, as she refuses to let her sacred geography be ripped apart, we see echoes of the defiance that will become Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution decades later.

*This is of my Reading Around the Continent books--the full list is here.
**See our 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 Reading Lists.

Key Quotes:

9 A geography more than physical or human: sacred...In this mystical topography, landmarks determining the rights of each and every individual were perfectly clear.

13 The horizon of Lion Mountain...and what she admires is undoubtedly pride itself, eternity, even though in Horia’s heart and mind, there is but one name for eternity: God.

18 “like the weight of centuries” describing both Horia but also her house. e

80 “Time passes, pain is forgotten, horror is forgotten. Only by remaining silent in the face of horror may we escape it.” This is Horia’s outlook her whole life. This is the opposite of what most society believes about confronting horrors and injustice in life.

134 “All because of that extraordinary ability with which the Lord has endowed him: the ability to forget. To forget. To forgive.” This is Horia’s logic on the only way a human being can enjoy happiness and wisdom.

140 “You set out in search of wisdom and knowledge; out of sacred duty you have become an exile. Are we not all exiles upon this earth? Is not dust our natural abode?” Horia in a letter to her oldest son.

141 “Believe me, nothing brings us distinction in this life, be it here at home or abroad, except our humanity.” Horia to her son as she explains all that matters is how one treats, particularly the weaker ones

Key Notes and Takeaways:

32 Saad’s bravery became legendary when he fought for France but it also became his greatest weakness.

75-6 The key to survival in the village by Lion Mountain has always been an ability to endure hardship, to calibrate their limits. Struggle is just a given fact that exists as central to every villager’s life...all in the shelter of Lion Mountain.

-The Twin Towers were the author’s Lion Mountain as he discusses in an essay

Key References:
https://ips-dc.org/fiction_blossoms_into_tunisias_jasmine_revolution/

https://iwp.uiowa.edu/sites/iwp/files/Tlili_Mustapha_city.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/16/books/books-of-the-times-a-time-of-the-tyrants-in-a-north-african-village.html

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254965464_Un_apres-midi_dans_le_desert_An_Afternoon_in_the_Desert_review

Kruse's Keys: Read "American Spy" to See Spycraft Collide with Africa's Che Guevera (Burkina Faso)

Before Thomas Sankara (aka Africa’s Che Guevera) was installed as president by his then friend Blaise Compaore following a coup, Burkina Faso was called the République de Haute-Volta (Upper Volta). Sankara changed the name of his nation to “Land of the Incorruptible People” and even wrote their national anthem entitled One Single Night. With communist leanings and beliefs, the United States (and specifically the CIA) viewed him as a major threat. As the 1985 Scranage scandal revealed, the CIA was active in various African nations employing spies within their own governments and political parties.

“American Spy” is both a fictionalized telling of Sankara’s downfall and a commentary on what it means to be a black woman in both an American and African society. The novel’s protagonist is a black female FBI agent Marie, haunted by her sister’s death and stifled by the lack of opportunity in her office. When she gets a chance to become a real spy she dives into it but soon realizes that many of her assumptions may have been wrong.

I hesitated to use this on my Reading the Continent List for Burkina Faso because the author is American but I finished this novel impressed by the background it gives on the formation of Burkina Faso as a modern state and its insight into the Burkinabe inner political machinations at a key point in the country’s history. The novel is further valuable for any Africanist in its examination of the effects of US and colonial foreign policy on the continent.

The novel is strongest though examining Marie struggles with Sankara’s charisma and his communist views. Here he pontificates on what the results of colonial power has wrought for Burkina Faso: “Of our seven million inhabitants, over six million are peasants. And this peasantry, our peasantry, has been subjected to the most intense exploitation at the hands of imperialism and has suffered the most from the ills we inherited from colonial society: illiteracy, obscurantism, pauperization, cruelty in many forms, endemic diseases, and famine. Imperialism tries to dominate us from both inside and outside our country. Through its multinational corporations, its big capital, its economic power, imperialism tries to control us by influencing our discussions, and influencing national life.”

Marie listens to his speeches mesmerized by the man, but not convinced ideologically, noting: “The problem with the good he was doing was that it made his Communism palatable. He was too charismatic. Although his country was one of the poorest in the world, he had still managed to galvanize support across the continent. It was worrisome when that happened in countries that had recently become independent. Because they were no longer under the control of a colonial power, there were ideological vacuums in those countries. And I understood the fear that Communism would rush in and fill those voids.”

To her credit, she realizes that “Reaganomics was an unpleasant little philosophy too, and when you added the punitive character of our country to it, we emerged as a breeding ground for a really virulent strain of cruelty. But the alternative was worse.” This struggle gave the novel great appeal to me as it wasn’t a typical white-washing of history and indictment of a leader for his communist ideology--there was self-reflection and growth in the character as she becomes aware that there are no “good” answers--and in her case, the only remotely palatable answers left are messy and sometimes violent.

*One of my Reading Around the Continent books--the full list is here.
See our 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 Reading Lists.
Key Tidbit

• Little known fact that Sankara went to the Malagasy ACMIL (Military Academy) in Antsirabe

Key References:
National Anthem Chorus (One Single Night)
And one single night has drawn together
The history of an entire people,
And one single night has launched its triumphal march.
Towards the horizon of good fortune.
One single night has brought together our people
With all the peoples of the World,
In the acquisition of liberty and progress.
Motherland or death, we shall conquer.

NPR Book Review
NYT Review Gutsy Debut Thriller
Johannesburg Review of Books Review
OFFICIALS THINK SPYING LED TO DEATH OF C.I.A. INFORMANT IN GHANA
The Nation Book Review: Undercover

Key Quotes:

It made me think of how much like your father you are. You believe you can correct me, my feelings, purely through the force of your will. That impulse at its most essential is what your father understood love to be. Location 301

followed the Sharon Scranage case particularly closely because she was the only black woman among the eight, and it was the first time an American had been caught spying for an African intelligence outlet. Location 377

But recruiting and running informants was about cultivating their trust. To do that I found it worked best to lie frequently to them. Location 696

I still can’t help but wonder at her. Where had she picked up the idea that she could do anything? Be anything? That the world was so much bigger than Queens? Location 882

That is all a spy does—they hide in plain sight, and once they’ve exploited all they can from their relationships, they leave. Location 938

Being her sister often felt like trying to catch up to someone who was beating you so effortlessly that they weren’t even aware you were trying to compete. Location 1044 accepted that I had to be twice as upright for white folks to think I was half as virtuous. Location 1082

He was the type of guy that, had he been born white, especially if he’d grown up with a little money, would probably have wound up at an excellent business school. Location 1309

Thomas Sankara renamed the country Burkina Faso—the Land of Incorruptible People—and wrote the national anthem. Location 1412

I’d long since stopped feeling obligated to respond to every strange man who spoke to me. Location 1956

“Of our seven million inhabitants, over six million are peasants. And this peasantry, our peasantry, has been subjected to the most intense exploitation at the hands of imperialism and has suffered the most from the ills we inherited from colonial society: illiteracy, obscurantism, pauperization, cruelty in many forms, endemic diseases, and famine.” Location 1961

“Imperialism tries to dominate us from both inside and outside our country. Through its multinational corporations, its big capital, its economic power, imperialism tries to control us by influencing our discussions, and influencing national life.” Location 1977

The problem with the good he was doing was that it made his Communism palatable. He was too charismatic. Although his country was one of the poorest in the world, he had still managed to galvanize support across the continent. It was worrisome when that happened in countries that had recently become independent. Because they were no longer under the control of a colonial power, there were ideological vacuums in those countries. And I understood the fear that Communism would rush in and fill those voids. Location 1983

Reaganomics was an unpleasant little philosophy too, and when you added the punitive character of our country to it, we emerged as a breeding ground for a really virulent strain of cruelty. But the alternative was worse. Location 2097

“The PF doesn’t want to show up to the rally in a chauffeured car,” he said, using a nickname for the president of Faso. Location 2144

understand that black Americans also want their freedom. But Location 2145 don’t confuse real freedom with the freedom of the few to exploit the rest.” Location 2677

“You don’t owe them anything. You give them what you want to give them. But it’s easier if they think you’re one of them. It’s easier to work from the inside. That’s what I try to do. I’ve been a spy in this country for as long as I can remember.” Location 2859

It is humbling to have your social fluency, your sense of yourself as a competent, independent person, upended by a foreign city. Location 2886

would later hear the word disquette used to describe a particular type of Burkinabè girl—one who was as thin as a floppy disk, because that was what appealed to the French men they hoped to marry. One who wore chic, Western clothes, spoke fluent French and maybe even a little English. She could easily have been dismissed as a disquette. But it was a lazy characterization of any woman, and I would come to realize that was especially so in the case of Nicole Ouédraogo. Location 3855

“Slater,” I said, and then I kicked him awake. Although he was still drowsy, his eyes were open when I shot him. Location 4035

The only anger I ever expose to the world is through implication, by suggesting that I’m on the brink of no longer being able to contain my fury. That is what a woman’s strength looks like when it’s palatable: like she is containing herself. Location 4211

just wanted to get one thing, even if it was small, under my control. It was terrifying to lose command over my own body, the only thing that, through all that had happened, I’d remained convinced I could depend on. Labor made me understand that too was an illusion; it was like a trapdoor opening beneath my feet. I can laugh about it now, almost, but at the time it was terrifying. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared, and it wasn’t the kind of thing I could express to my mother just then. Location 4325

His interest in the law also reflects a belief that it isn’t equitably applied and therefore that he shouldn’t be held to its discretion. I might be cynical, but he’s even more so, because he’s willing to game the system for the right price. Location 4376

I love you. I hope you grow into men who are the best parts of your father and me. I hope that if you’re called to resist injustice you’ll have the courage to do so. I hope you’ll love fiercely and freely. In those ways I hope you’ll be good Americans.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Une_Seule_Nuit

And one single night has drawn together
The history of an entire people,
And one single night has launched its triumphal march.
Towards the horizon of good fortune.
One single night has brought together our people
With all the peoples of the World,
In the acquisition of liberty and progress.
Motherland or death, we shall conquer.

Kruse's Keys: Read "By Night the Mountains Burn" to Experience Survival on the Margins (Equatorial Guinea)

Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa (following 200 years of Spanish rule)--it's also the richest African country you've never heard of per capita (due to the discovery of oil there in the 90's).  The level of wealth, however, has been rather opaque due to the brutal dictatorship of "President" Obiang who took power by staging a bloody coup against his own Uncle in the late 70's.  Exxon has run most of the country's oil production so despite flagrant human right's abuses, the country has had an on-again-off-again relationship with the U.S..

"By Night the Mountain Burns", however, takes place back during the colonial era on one of the country's neglected islands--the country itself is run from its capital city Malabo on its largest island called Bioko.

It's important to consider the subject matter and themes authors like Laurel choose to address.  A frequent critic of Obiango, the self-exiled author tells a tale in this novel of a marginalized community that survives (sometimes) on the narrowest of margins depending on passing European ships and a strange periodic washing ashore of squids. Life on the island revolves around the ocean and the canoes which the entire community bands together to create and which men are buried in when they dide.  Superstition also plays a central role as the villagers brutally murder one woman for her suspected role in a fire, and later cholera decimates the population.

To my knowledge this is still the only work of fiction available in English from Equatorial Guinea.  The author has since then written about migration in northern Africa (The Gurugu Pledge) and I look forward to more contemporary novels in the future from this small nation.

*One of my Reading Around the Continent books--the full list is here.
See our 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 Reading Lists.

Key Quotes:

• And besides, he wasn’t trained to believe in things that weren’t written in books.  Location: 1,107
• If witnessing the hounding of that woman was the singular thing that made the biggest impression on me, the cholera was what caused me the most tears. Because it took so many of our people … If it had taken one hundred people it would have made a huge dent in the island’s population. But it took a lot more than that. A lot more than one hundred girls and boys, men and women,  Location: 1,147
• Seeing is a form of taking part, and nobody can claim they didn’t see it.  Location: 1506
• What’s more, the child was white and I don’t think white people are born to lead such hard lives. Location: 2613
• Everybody knew deads weighed more than alives. Some people think what weighs is the sadness, the pain, the immense darkness of their closed eyes. In death, you have to cross a strange, dark wall. You stop being. You’re destined for the blackness, and you let yourself be taken there. You sleep more deeply than a normal person. And all of this weighs. Other people say no one knows what weighs or why death weighs. It just does. Any man transporting a dead should therefore be forewarned, even if, as in this case, the dead person is a small child. Such journeys are special and the canoeman should be mentally prepared, even though he won’t do anything special himself. But on this occasion, the canoeman was not informed.  Location: 2642

Key references:
New Writing from Equatorial Guinea:
- "Government Property" short story by Trifonia Obono
- "Obi's Nightmare" by Jamon Y Queso
Interview with author Juan Tomas Avila LaurelThe Filthy Rich Spanish-Speaking Country
HRW: the 40th Anniversary That Shouldn't Be: Obiang

Kruse's Keys: Read "The Insanity of God" To Change Your Perspective (Audible) (Somalia)

When many critics of Christianity think of missionaries they picture black-clad old-fashioned looking men and women proselytizing loudly in the streets--calling adamantly for repentance. If you fall into that category I challenge you to read this book--it will upend your perspective.

At one point Ripken's NGO was the ONLY ONE operating in Somalia--his team of 8 was feeding 50,000 refugees a day and running mobile health clinics around the country.  Without his efforts countless hundreds of thousands would have starved.  When no one else was there--he was--serving and loving the Somali people.    It was in his years there that he also learned the costs though of following his calling--he lost a son and hundreds of Somali friends who ended up believing in Jesus. He had this to say about religious persecution:

“I’d never met a believer in persecution that wasn’t running for their life,” said Ripken. “In those years in Somalia, we had 150 followers of Jesus in the country. When we left, only four were left alive. They hunted them down like we would hunt animals in rural Kentucky. They killed four of my best friends in one day in Somalia."

But in a lifetime spent serving in high risk, war torn, countries he shares what he learned firsthand from persecuted Somalis, Chinese, Russians, and Ukrainians: persecution isn't something to be lamented:

“The reason for persecution, then, is that people keep finding Jesus—and, then, they refuse to keep Him to themselves.”

These firsthand lessons are the result of what has turned into his life's mission--learning and sharing the stories of God at work throughout the globe--to date he and his wife have conducted more than 600 interviews in 72 countries.  

Regardless of your faith background, this book will challenge your perspective. 

*One of my Reading Around the Continent books--the full list is here.
See our 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 Reading Lists.

Key Quotes:
"Our hope is that believers around the world will get close enough to the heart of God that the first images that come to mind when we hear the word “Muslim” are not Somali pirates or suicide bombers or violent jihadists or even terrorists. When we hear the word “Muslim,” we need to see and think of each and every individual Muslim as a lost person who is loved by God. We need to see each Muslim as a person in need of God’s grace and forgiveness. We need to see each Muslim as someone for whom Christ died.”

“Don’t ever give up in freedom what we would never have given up in persecution!

“The reason for persecution, then, is that people keep finding Jesus—and, then, they refuse to keep Him to themselves.”

“one of the most accurate ways to detect and measure the activity of God is to note the amount of opposition that is present.”

“Don’t you steal my joy! I took great joy that I was suffering in my country, so that you could be free to witness in your country.”

“You can only grow in persecution what you go into persecution with.”

"Lost people have a greater right to access Jesus than I have a right to exert my religious freedom.”

“I had always assumed that persecution was abnormal, exceptional, unusual, out of the ordinary. In my mind, persecution was something to avoid. It was a problem, a setback, a barrier. I was captivated by the thought: what if persecution is the normal, expected situation for a believer? And what if the persecution is, in fact, soil in which faith can grow? What if persecution can be, in fact, good soil? I began to wonder about what that might mean for the church in America—and I began to wonder about what that might mean for the potential church in Somalia.”

Key References (For Further Study)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TAbJeFMrvM

Baptism: The Point of No Return A story from Somalia

Nik Ripken: Lessons from the persecuted world for America

https://www.nikripken.com/

Nik Ripken Suggested Book List

Kruse's Keys: Read "Shadow King" to Discover a Forgotten Part in Ethiopia's History

Following the conclusion of World War II, Mussoloni (as the Ethiopians derisively referred to him) concocted a plan to give himself a slice of the colonial pie while simultaneously avenging his country’s late 19th century embarrassment at the Battle of Adua.

Kidane, the military leader in “The Shadow King” remarks to his men that the Italians “have come to rewrite history, to alter memory, to resurrect their dead and refashion them as heroes.”

At exiled Emperor Haile Selassie’s behest, Kidane assembles a local militia to fight against the invading forces. His wife Aster leads the women who trail the fighters, supplying them with food, bullets, and equipment. As Kidane’s forces suffer battlefield losses, Aster eventually convinces him to let her women fight. A character equal parts cruel and inspirational, Aster implores her fellow women to take their place in history and fight. Her servant, and narrator, Hirut describes Aster’s fervor: “She is one woman. She is many women. She is all the sound that exists in the world.”

And so the women fight and author Mengiste brings to light a forgotten and ignored piece of Ethiopia’s famed resistance against Italy. “I see you. I will always see you” the author remarks in the novel’s acknowledgements to the women of Ethiopia who would not let themselves be forgotten. The novel does not shirk away from the violence of not only war but of the Ethiopian society for women. Early on in the story, Kidane’s father notes that “somewhere, a woman is always weeping” because no matter who the victor is in a conflict, the mothers, daughters, and sisters bear the brunt of loss, injury, and death.

As the story unfolds, the Ethiopians fighters notice that one of their own bears a striking resemblance to the Emperor and decide to dress him as a “shadow king” in order to inspire the surrounding towns to mobilize and actively fight against the invaders. With periodic chapters imagining the helpless emperor in England, it quickly becomes apparent that he is less a king than his countrywomen fighting back in Abyssinia. Later in life, having survived not only a cruel stint as a prisoner of war but the war itself, Hirut realizes that “we were the Shadow King. We were those who stepped into a country left dark by an invading plague and gave new hope to Ethiopia’s people.”  "Plague" is an apt description for the Italian invaders as Mengiste lays bears the range of horrifying atrocities committed from searing mustard gas attacks to the ritual tossing of women and children prisoners off of a cliff.  These acts are all captured and framed through the eyes of Italian photographer/reluctant solider Ettore.  While his commander Fucelli orders him to document these horrors, Ettore readily acknowledges his guilt as he recalls the words of his father: "we must all suffer our consequences."

Finally, I can’t end this review without remarking on the talent of author Maaza Mengiste. I first read her debut novel “Beneath the Lion’s Gaze” last year and was struck by her writing’s beauty. Her talent has continued to grow and it’s evident as she pens stunning lines like:

“The sun highlights the hints of henna in Aster’s braided hair. It splashes a glow across her cheeks. Her eyes are liquid in the bright light.”

“[Selassie] stands beneath a soft drizzle that feels like a weeping sky.”

“But she cannot know that grief cradles at the beast of cruelty, and it hungers for more, and she is for the taking.”

*One of my Reading Around the Continent books--the full list is here.
**See our 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 Reading Lists.

Read my review of Mengiste's other novel: "Beneath the Lion's Gaze"  
"Prevail" is a comprehensive history of Ethiopia's fight against Italy, my review of it is here.

Key Quotes:

23-4 “What’s lost is gone, my child, what is lost makes room for something else.” Berhe to Hirut as she mourns her rifle’s loss.

34 “Hirut recognizes for the first time that some memories should be barricaded by others, that those strong enough must hold the others at bay.”

89 “They have come to rewrite history, to alter memory, to resurrect their dead and  refashion them as heroes.” Kidane on Italian motives as they seek to avenge their loss at Adua in 1896.

93 “He stares as if he wants to charge, as if he understands the camera’s weakness. As if he already knows the difference between what one sees and what is true. He is the only one whose mouth turns up on one side in both a smile and in mockery.” Aklilu, lover of Hirut in one of the pictures.

101 “The sun highlights the hints of henna in Aster’s braided hair. It splashes a glow across her cheeks. Her eyes are liquid in the bright light.”

112 “She is one woman. She is many women. She is all the sound that exists in the world.” Aster as she implores the women to rally to support the their soldiers.

114 “We’re more than this...we’re more than this...we’re more than this...we’re more than this.” Aster’s words to her fellow women as she implores them to realize their destiny to rise above their station and society’s expectation to them.

116 “Who remembers what it means to be more than what this world believes of us?” Aster’s final words in speech to her fellow women.

119 “And so somewhere, a woman is always weeping.” Kidane’s father on the cost of war and death.

133 “There is nothing that can come from this but blood and more blood.” Ettore

139 “But she cannot know that grief cradles at the beast of cruelty, and it hungers for more, and she is for the taking.” Chorus as Hirut is discovered in camp with her stolen rifle.

168 “That the dead are stronger. That they know no physical boundaries. They reside in the corners of every memory and rise up, again and again, to resist all our efforts to leave them behind and let them rest.” Hirut considers death in war.

173 “Yibeqal. We’ve had enough.” Mussolini’s words that Selassie that repeats to himself as he resolves to fight.

191 “She once believed she belonged to herself.” Hirut after Kidane rapes her and Aklilu finds her unable to move.

214 “As soon as a country builds an empire, he says, it has to decide who is who.” Fucelli on Italy’s descent into nazism.

237 “All you have to do is sit on the horse, Hirut says to him. She has to stop herself from patting his arm. We will all stand in the shadow of your light, she adds, repeating what Aster told her: To be in the presence of our emperor is to stand before the sun

272 “To kill: to make dead, to extinguish life, to murder. Ghostly apparitions have been trudging past him since the night before, motioning him back to Ethiopia: Haile Selassie, Jan Hoy, Teferi, we’re waiting. Where have you gone? Teferi, Haile Selassie, come home.” Imagined thoughts of the Emperor as he sits in England and hears of the Italian atrocities against women and children.

297-98 “We must all suffer our consequences.” Ettore’s father tells his mother as a baby.

298 “It is the land the carries our suffering when we die. It is the land that remains the same, no matter what we call ourselves. And what he meant, Lev would later learn, was this: that only soil will remember who we are, nothing but earth is strong enough to withstand the burden of memory.” Ettore’s grandfather’s advice to his son as they flee Odessa for Italy.

317 “She lets herself disappear until all that remains on that bloodstained bed is a girl remolding herself out of a rage.” Aster described after her wedding night but also speaking to the role of women in the society writ large.

318 “He stands beneath a soft drizzle that feels like a weeping sky.” Selassi described in England.

351 “Knowing only he will ever see the way hatred sways so easily between shame and fear.” Ettore as he watches the eyes of Hirut as Fucelli beats her.

402 “Every sun creates a shadow and not all are blest to stand in the light.” Minim, the shadow king as he returns to normal life following his service in the war.

423 “We were the Shadow King. We were those who stepped into a country left dark by an invading plague and gave new hope to Ethiopia’s people.” Hirut thinks as she hands Ettore the letter from his father.

428 “I see you. I will always see you.” the author in her acknowledgements to the women of Ethiopia who would not let themselves be erased.

Key Takeaways

6 Dead must be heard and known--that is the primordial call that Mengiste answers in this novel.

28 The memory of war and taking lives irrevocably changes one.

99 Aster mimics courage in order to foster it in her self.

119 The true cost of war is always born by women--no matter the victor--mothers, wives, sisters, lovers.

132 Ethiopians would purposely mispronounce Mussolini’s last name as: Mussoloni

180 Emperor’s command from abroad to Kidane to risk everything

190/226 In an awful rape scene (Kidane raping Hirut) shows further demarcation of class, power, worth, male dominance. His intrusion--his rape of her--forces her to vacate her own body. We later see her victory through indifference--through her detachment from the brutal act he tries to perpetrate upon her.

191 Aklilu’s love after the rape helps to restore her dignity as he feeds her.

219 More an observation: the sharp intake of air when Ethiopians speak

232 The notion of a shadow kings and shadow queens is rooted in Ethiopian and broader mythology and provides an arc of hope in the novel

241 Names of the emperor: Jan Hoy, Negus Nagast, Abbatachin, Haile Selassie, Ras Teferi Mekkonen, King of Kings--these names flow through the head of Hirut as she emerges of the bodygrad of the Shadow King

272 Italian horrors against women and children reach Emperor in England, where he is surviving in the shadows. In this case, the actual Emperor is perhaps the actual shadow king referred to in the book’s title for he is only the shadow of a ruler, impotent and powerless.

292 Jewish racism just provokes further descent into depravity as Ettore is left with what he deems to be little choice. This also shows that the evils are racism are a spectrum that eventually consumes everyone.

293 Even as the Italians toss Ethiopian children off the cliff to their death, they maintain their honor in the pronouncement of their names. They have a name!.

315 Wow, balance of societal order is ingrained in Hirut’s understanding of the world as she is appalled that brutality can reach the body of Aster (reminiscent of Coates’ notion of “the body” in “Between the world and me.”

410 The costs of war--Ettore’s life is eternally and irrevocably damaged and ruined.

Key References for Further Study

104 Astenagir--touted as better than khat for strength: https://botanicaethiopia.com/herbs/
Datura stramonium
https://www.ethiomedia.com/1000parts/7403.html


313 Fucelli, the Butcher of Benghazi

Rape of Hirut parallel to Italy’s incursion into Ethiopia

Notion of memory

http://www.project3541.com/
https://bookpage.com/interviews/24444-maaza-mengiste-fiction#.XfXixagvPnE
https://bookpage.com/reviews/24403-maaza-mengiste-shadow-king-fiction#.XfXjiqgvPnE

Kruse's Keys: Read "What the Day Owes the Night" to Learn About the Algerian Revolution, Love and Why Fiction Matters (Algeria)

*One of my Reading Around the Continent books--the full list is here.
See our 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 Reading Lists.

This book is a perfect example of why reading fiction is important. Reading fiction like this forces the reader to internalize and grapple with historical events in a way that a straightforward history never could. In this case, by personalizing something like the Algerian independence struggle, the reader must reevaluate the dry numbers, facts and statistics littering the historical record and connect them to the actual people and struggles behind them.


"Horseshoes and Hand Grenades" History:
This review might not make a lot of sense if you don’t know some basics of Algerian history so here some “accurate enough” background: over the years, waves of settlers from Europe (Spain, France, Italy, etc.) came to Algeria and stole wide swaths of land from the Arabs and Berbers that lived there. For the purposes of this story (which takes place from 1900 to present day), many of these settlers came in the early 19th century and never returned to Europe. That meant successive generations settled and lived in Algeria and knew nothing else. They built farms, vineyards, lives, and communities as the minority ruling class. These people came to be referred to as pieds-noirs (i.e., black feet). There is some controversy as to the etymological background of the term and you can click the hyperlink in the previous sentence if you want to go down that rabbit-hole.

Eventually, the rising discontent of the Arab and Berber populace (you can read more about the Berber role in all this in my graduate school thesis) at the economic/social/political disparity grew to the point where a War for Independence erupted. There were lots of factors to this tipping point: the end of WWII in which many Algerian Arabs fought, bled and died for France and returned to their lives as third-class citizens; the French loss at Dien Bien Phu, the rising tide of independence spreading across the globe post-WWII, etc. In the end, the FLN (National Liberation Front) waged an 8-year guerilla war for independence that was notable for atrocities on both sides (but with some very brutal tactics by the French overlords--particularly when compared with the France’s far less vehement response to Morocco’s independence ‘struggle’) and which resulted in a free Algeria in 1962. This freedom led to the wholesale de facto expulsion of some 800,000 pieds-noirs to an unprepared France. Most of the 100,000 or so who would remain left in the ensuing decades. There you have it--down and dirty history lesson.

Have you ever dared?

What the Day Owes the Night is one of the saddest love stories you will ever read--in it you’ll witness the stillbirth of a romantic love and the lasting depth of a filial one. Khadra’s novel brings to mind the beautiful writing of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the melancholy sorrow of Neruda’s “Poem 20”, and the powerful narrative arc of Mahfouz’ The Cairo Trilogy. The height of the story’s narrative comes as the woman who should be the love of Younes’ life indicts him with the damning charge: Have you ever dared? And indeed, Younes’ sorry story is one of impotence as he never has dared and we bear witness to the slow disintegration of his life. In contrast, after centuries of subjugation, Algeria the country awakens and dares wildly, breaking its colonial chains, bloody link by bloody link. It’s in his ability to craft a story through these simultaneously ascending/descending narratives that Khadra displays true literary mastery.

Before going on, the author/pen name “issue” must addressed. Yasmina Khadra is the name you will find on the book cover but the author’s actual name is Mohammed Moulessehoul and he’s a former Algerian army officer. In an effort to circumvent scrutiny and censorship by the Army, he used his wife’s first two names beginning in 1997 (4 years later, he went public with his true identity after resigning from the Algerian military). In interviews he’s noted that he used his wife’s names with her permission and as a way to honor her. The crux of why this is an “issue” is because some in the public can’t imagine that someone who served in the Algerian military could not have helped but to partake in civilian massacres. Or at a minimum, many French critics just can’t accept any literary or cultural contributions from someone who participated in violence--even against terrorist groups. The author is fairly open about the horror and violence he has witnessed in his life and denies any wrongdoing and I haven’t found any credible evidence to support the allegations so for me there is no “issue.” Writing this as an American, I’d say “this is a free country, let people use whatever name they want” but we are talking about an Algerian quasi-exile living in France. You can scroll down to my “Key References” section and find several articles/interviews to learn more about this “controversy.” Now back to the actual book.

There’s a plaintive song that an old destitute barber sings early on in the novel while the young child Younes is still living in the slum of Jeane Jato:

I miss your eyes

And I go blind

Every time you look away

I die a little every day

Searching for you

In vain among the living

What does it mean to live this love

When all the world proclaims

That you are gone?

What will I do now with my hands

Now your body is not here… (53)

These lyrics serve in many ways as a soundtrack for this story. One its face, the lyrics describe Emilie and Younes at different points during their relationship. Emilie consistently searches for Younes “among the living”--searches for his love--to no avail throughout her time in Rio Salado. And in the end it is Younes who is tortured with a life of “dying every day” as the world proclaims that she is indeed gone--vanished, expelled with the pieds-noirs exodus from Algeria.

But on a deeper level the lyrics speak to the larger plight of the pieds-noirs community who find themselves living in a foreign country (i.e., France) following Algerian independence. This is the conundrum Younes’ lifelong pieds-noirs amis wrestle with in the novel’s closing pages: what do they do now with their hands, with their lives, now that her “body”--that is, the Algeria of their youth, is not there. The author’s treatment of the pieds-noirs in addressing these questions is surprisingly empathetic (particularly for an Algerian Arab) and even-handed as he creates complex characters who display a deep primordial love for the birthplace of their great-grandfathers--the land of Algeria. But it’s this very love that blinds them to “how” of the manner by which the countryside of Algeria became the land of their grandfathers. There’s a telling exchange (pgs. 284-7) between Younes and the overbearing quasi-feudal lord cum pieds-noir Jaime Sosa that begins with Sosa lecturing on the mission civilisatrice of his ancestors, “men who came here to a dead place and breathed life into it.” Sosa’s blindness to the blood and tears of the Arabs who did the bulk of the actual work as quasi serfs/slaves (and whose land was stolen) in “breathing life” into the land provokes Younes to perhaps his one act of courage as he responds with a poetic soliloquy that charges “this land does not belong to you. It belongs to that ancient shepherd whose ghost is standing next to you, though you refuse to see it.” It notable that Jaime is wholly unmoved by this and doesn’t bother to even respond to Younes.

Following this conversation we see the acceleration of the Algerian fight for independence, as the Front Liberation Nationale (FLN) steps up its violent campaign against pieds-noirs and equivocating muslims alike--notably Younes tries to straddle the line and finds himself saved from summary execution only by his one-time act of kindness to an arab servant turned rebel. As the FLN victory becomes assured we witness the implementation of le saison de la valise ou le cercueil (i.e., the suitcase or the coffin) with the wholesale exodus of pieds-noirs from Younes’ hometown of Rio Salado--to include Emilie.

Following Algerian independence, the narrative skips forward some thirty years to “present day” as Younes travels to Aix-en-Provence to visit Michel (Emilie’s son) and his old pieds-noirs friends. That the author gaps these thirty years is a profound statement on Younes’ life. This time period, in which Younes marries, has children, and grandchildren is covered in a few throwaway sentences, almost as an afterthought. Because of his inability to act, Younes’ entire outlook has become focused on his mispent past. Younes’ sentimental longing for his los is contrasted with the wider pieds-noirs communities’ own nostalgia--during their reunion his childhood friend Andre points out that “round here we don’t talk about nostalgia, we say nost-Algeria...Algeria still clings to me.” This leads to a discussion on the heavy toll of losing one’s country versus losing one’s friends, and love.

While the author Moulessehoul makes it clear that that there’s no easy answer to this, he does end the novel with a stark statement on the power of filial love, leaving the reader with Younes’ final farewell to his childhood friend Jean-Christophe: “We hug each other hard as once we used to hug our dreams to us, convinced that if we were to relax our grip, even a fraction, they would slip away.”

While this is a powerful sentiment, it stands as a distant second to what Younes gave up in committing the grave offense of not pursuing Emilie when he had the chance(s). In her own final attempt to coax him into action, Emilie implored him that “there is no crime, or shame, in love, except to sacrifice it, even for the best of reasons.” In this statement, the author offers the reader a call to action to pursue love at any cost. Indeed as the story comes to close, we are left to ponder what could have been had Younes followed his Uncle’s admonition: “Only love can make good the misfortunes and evils of the world. And remember this: if a woman loves you, no star is beyond your grasp, no god can touch you. Some of the last words from Younes’ uncle to him before dying...If you want your life to be a small part of eternity...love with all your strength, love as though it is all you know how to do, love enough to make the gods themselves jealous...for it is in love that all ugliness reveals its beauty.”

Key Quotes:

• Every day these women would gather around the well and spend most of their time turning over the past as you might turn a knife in an old wound. (28) 
• In describing a reknowned musician named Slimane, Younes admires his embodiment of “the greatest of virtues: discernment, a quality that is all but lost today.” (45) 
• I miss your eyes /And I go blind/ Every time you look away/I die a little every day/Searching for you/ In vain among the living/ What does it mean to live this love/ When all the world proclaims/ That you are gone?/ What will I do now with my hands/ Now your body is not here… (53) 
• Her smile was like a benediction, Younes visits his mother after his uncle adopts him. (80) 
• Younes, seeing his failed, stumbling drunk father one last time: A look of such despair that it choked the life out of a noble father’s promises to his son. It was a look such as a man can give only once in his lifetime, since after it there is nothing. (88) 
• For one searing instant, I mistook her for my destiny, Younes’ keen observation as he is seduced by Madame Cazenave--perhaps the great mistake of his life. (163) 
• Younes observing the reaction to the FLN mobilization within the country: We knew Algeria was at war, that a seething anger festered among the people, but the villagers in Rio Salado seemed to care little about this. They built high walls around their happiness; walls with no windows to the outside world. (206) 
• There is no crime, or shame, in love, except to sacrifice it, even for the best of reasons, Emilie to Younes as she makes a final fruitless effort to explain her love to him after Jean-Christophe’s disappearance (242) 
• For a man to think he can fulfill his destiny without a woman is a misunderstanding, a miscalculation; it is recklessness and folly. Certainly a woman is not everything, but everything depends on her. Look around you, look at history, think about the whole world and tell me what man is without woman; what are his promises, his prayers when it is not her praise he sings? A man may be as rich as Croesus, as poor as Job, he may be a slave or a tyrant, but there is no horizon wide enough is woman turns her back...sunset, springtime, the blue of the sea, the stars in the sky...the rest, all the rest, exists simply to adorn her. Younes uncle counsels him to no avail. (249) 
• Only love can make good the misfortunes and evils of the world. And remember this: if a woman loves you, no star is beyond your grasp, no god can touch you. Some of the last words from Younes’ uncle to him before dying. (273) If you want your life to be a small part of eternity...love with all your strength, love as though it is all you know how to do, love enough to make the gods themselves jealous...for it is in love that all ugliness reveals its beauty. The last words of Younes’ uncle. (355) 
• The love of Younes’ life, Emilie, sentences him: Have you ever dared Younes, even once in your life? (308) 
• You took my love for you and strangled it before it could take flight. Just like that...my love for you was dead before it even hit the ground. Emilie after an impotent, much too late attempt by Younes to profess his love. Also hearkens back to his days as a boy catching and selling finches. (309) 
• Pieds-noirs--as though we’ve spent our whole lives trudging through mud, Dede in a letter to Younes from France as he comes to grip with his new reality. (357) 
• The pieds-noirs in France were easily recognized as they “rolled their Rs with relish like stirring couscous.” (358) 
• Pieds-noir Emilie utlimately ends up embracing a fatalistic view on her life as she says in her final words to Younes: Nobody is to blame, Younes, you don’t owe me anything. It’s just the way the world is, and I don’t want that anymore.” And with those last words, my heart broke for these characters, these people who were at once imagined and at the same time echoes of real lives captures by the author in this book. (362) 
• Every generations has its own drugs, Younes comments to Emilie’s son Michel who has just lamented the booming consumerism prevalent in France. (366) 
• Round here we don’t talk about nostalgia, we say nost-Algeria...Algeria still clings to me, childhood pieds-noir friend Andre shares with Younes as they discuss (as old men) the heavy toll of losing one’s country vs. losing one’s friends. (377-8) 
• We hug each other hard as once we used to hug our dreams to us, convinced that if we were to relax our grip, even a fraction, they would slip away. Younes bidding a final farewell to his childhood friend Jean-Christophe. (389) 

Key Takeaways

• Importance of land to farmers: Younes’ father had eyes “only for his land” (4) 
• The pride of Younes’ father (his inability to accept Younes’ money) warps his own conception of everything: “I no longer understood anything. I was no longer certain of anything.” (49) 
• The idea that poverty is noted fated but a state of mind. The poverty of Jenane Jato is that they did not dream. What then is the idea of a people who’s ability to dream has been crushed or stolen? (81) 
• To the Europeans, time is money but to the Arab time has no price. This is similar to the adage about the US having all the watches but the Taliban having all the time. In the story’s case, Arabs find happiness apart from money--from simple shared experiences (85) 
• 4th generation greeks in Oran (107) 
• Oran referred to the “la ville americaine” because of its sophistication and grace and the idea of possibility that existed there. (141)
• With the end of WWII, independence movements mobilized but were brutally suppressed. Younes’ uncle observes that the children of these movement died fighting for France in world war II only to have their family killed protesting back in Algeria (172) 
• Poetry has always been the soul of Algeria (180). Here’s a link to the Algerian national anthem, We Pledge,: http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/07/poet-of-week-from-algeria-moufdi-zakaria.html
• Again and again, Younes decides to do nothing in the face of a decision or conflict. He refuses to be the master of his own destiny. In this novel he represents a distinct part of colonial Algeria (280) 
• There’s a great exchange that brings to live the terrible tension between the colonizers who viewed themselves as great men in the mission civilisatrice, men who “came here to a dead place and breathed life into it.” It’s telling that Younes’ one moment of bravery or courage comes in a poetic response to the Jaime Sosa’s solilquoy in which Younes charges that “this land does not belong to you. It belongs to that that ancient shepherd who ghost is standing next to you, though you refuse to see it. Jaime is unmoved. (284-287) 
• Younes eventually loses his own sense of self to the point when he turns his own mother into a stranger as he questions her following his release from prison due to Isabelle’s intervention. (332) 
• Younes’ uncle still dreams of an enlightened nation for Algeria (335) 
• French talk of ‘self-determination’--De Gaulle June 1958 speech: I have understood you. En francais: je vous ai compris. But the pied-noirs likely don’t believe him and consider it an empty speech (337) 
• December 1960, the non-Algerian villagers of Rio Salado come to the realization that Algeria will be Algerian. (338) 
• Warfare between the OAS and FLN. The OAS was a secret paramilitary group formed by recalcitrant pied-noirs and the french military that ended up killing both muslims and French in terrorist attacks. The Front Liberation Nationale was the military arm of the Algeria’s independence fight and is estimated to have killed far more Algerians (i.e., muslim arabs) than French/pied-noirs. The FLN made this season of killing one of “the suitcase or the coffin” ("La valise ou le cercueil") as they strove to drive out remaining pied-noirs. (342) 
• The book is also an examination of what is home? What is a nation? The pied-noirs settlers may have been there for generations and not know any home other than the countryside of Algeria but there were also only there for generations because there ancestors had stolen or appropriated the lands in the 19th century. (344) 
• When the mass exodus of pied-noirs began, it brought with it a startling realization that is really was all over for them--but this gets to the idea that it never really began because it began in thievery, brutality and illegality (350). 
• Pieds-noir Emilie utlimately ends up embracing a fatalistic view on her life as she says in her final words to Younes: Nobody is to blame, Younes, you don’t owe me anything. It’s just the way the world is, and I don’t want that anymore.” And with those last words, my heart broke for these characters, these people who were at once imagined and at the same time echoes of real lives captures by the author in this book. (362) 
• Pieds-noire Gustave wonders during the discussion of the old men why they were all treated as one mass? He hits on one of the great political questions of the ages, the human tendency and political necessity to lump groups of people together. In this case, Gustave can’t come to grips to how he lost the country where his great-grandfather was born, that his family built with their own sweat and blood. Of course in these comments he displays his blindness to the sweat and blood of all the arabs who did most of the actual sweating and bleeding. (379) 

Key References (for further study):

Cities: Rio Salado (current day El Malah), Oran

Messali Hadj , who meets with Younes’ Uncle early on in the story(98)

Operation Catapult (122)

Max-Pol Fouchet presents Younes’ friend Fabrice with national poetry prize (179)

2013 CRS Report "Algeria: Current Issues"

North Africa Berber Language Map

My Grad School Thesis: Amazigh-State Relations in Morocco and Algeria

(78 and 79 footnote from thesis)

2005 Guardian arrticle on Khadra

2002 Guardian article on Khadra coming out as Moulessehoul

Article of Moulessehoul bid for Algerian Presidency

2006 New York review of "The Attack"

The Atlantic Chronology on Algerian War of Independence

Article on Jean-Senac: Poet of Algerian Revolution

Weekly Reading: African Fiction and Non-Fiction Reading Lists Galore

I came across the links going down a rabbit hole after reading the first from 2016--which contains a treasure trove of book suggestions by a post-doctoral fellow named Aaron Brady.


25 New Books by African Authors You Should Read Now
Essay on the Novelty of "African Poetry"
IS THE CAINE PRIZE FOR EMERGENT AFRICAN WRITING, OR THE BEST AFRICAN WRITING?
Dr. Aaron Brady blog
2017 Shaik Zayed Book Award Longlist
University of Texas Intro to Modern Africa Syllabus
Macalester College South African Literature Syllabus

Reading the Continent--A Work of Fiction from Every Country in Africa

THIS POST IS OUTDATED!  I keep the master list here now: http://fuuo.blogspot.com/p/after-looking-at-my-reading-lists-from.html

After looking at my reading lists from the last several years (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015) during this past Christmas, I was embarrassed to note the dearth of African fiction on my list.  So beginning in 2016, I've decided to make an effort to read a work of fiction by an African author from every country on the continent.  A parallel effort will include reading and writing about a poem from every country.  

So below I've started my list.  I will update it as I progress--if you have any suggestions please let me know. If a novel is listed, then I've read it.  I know there is plenty of great non-fiction (much of it listed on my comprehensive Africa reading list) too but for now I will stick with the good stuff. 

I've also started including a link to my prior "Poet of the Week" selections for various African countries--something to keep you occupied until I read a book from that country.
  

Coincidentally, in searching for novels I came across an amazing effort by writer Ann Morgan who read a novel from EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!  Her complete list is here.  It's invaluable in countries like Comoros and Madagascar where there is no published English fiction.

COUNTRY COUNTER (23/54)

General (Multiple Countries):
West with the Night by Beryl Markham : My review is here and more information about the incomparable writer is here.
The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski.  This book is on my GOFO Africa Reading List.  I put a couple of choice quotes from the book's foreword here.

*Add section on influence of India in African literature as well

MAGHREB

Algeria
What the Day Owes the Night by Yasmina Khadra.  FUTURE READ.
Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade by Assia Djebar.  FUTURE READ.
Poet of the Week from Algeria: Moufdi Zakaria: Kassaman (We Pledge)

Libya
Confines of the Shadow: My review is here.
Poet of the Week from Libya: Fatima Mahmoud: What Was Not Conceivable
Poet of the Week from Libya: Ashur Etwebi: Politics and Writing a Poem

Poet of the Week from Libya: Khaled Mattawa: East of Carthage: An Idyll

Mauritania

Morocco
Leaving Tangier: My review is here.
Poet of the Week from Morocco: Muhammed Bennis: Love is Eternity's River
Poet of the Week from Morocco: Ali Squali Houssaini: Moroccan National Anthem

Poet of the Week from Morocco: Hassan El Ouazzani: Elegy for Love

Tunisia

Talismano by Dr. Abdelwahab Meddeb. FUTURE READ.


LUSOPHONE

Angola
Luuanda by Tania Macedo.  FUTURE READ.
Poet of the Week from Zaire (DRC)/Angola: Makuzayi Massaki: Regressado, Yes I Am

Cabo Verde

The Last Will and Testament of da Silva.  My review is here.

Equatorial Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Mozambique
Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto.  My review is here.
Poet of the Week from Mozambique: Noémia de Sousa: If You Want to Know Me


Sao Tome and Principe

FRANCOPHONE

Benin

Burkina Faso

Cameroon (British too, German too)
Houseboy.  My review is here.
Poet of the week from Cameroon: Mbella Sonne Dipoko: A Poem of Villeneuve St. Georges

Central African Republic

Chad

Comoros
The Kafir of Khartala: My review is here.

Congo, Republic of the
Tomorrow I'll Be Twenty by Alain Mabanckou.  FUTURE READ.

Cote d'Ivoire
Allah is Not Obliged by Ahmadou Kourouma.  This novel could just as easily have been filed under Sierra Leone or Liberia but I stuck it here since the author is Ivorian.  And if we want to get all philosophical about things, most of these books could be filed under multiple countries since the borders are really an artificial colonial construct.  My review is here.

Djibouti
Transit by Abdourahman Waberi.  Recently finished--my review will be here.
The Land Without Shadows by Abdourahman Waberi.  FUTURE READ.

Gabon

Guinea

Madagascar
Vakio Milamina: My review is here.
Beyond the Ricefields:  the first ever novel translated into English.  My review is here.
Poet of the Week from Madagascar: Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo: 9

Mali


Niger

Senegal
So Long a Letter: My full review is here.
Poet of the Week from Senegal: Senghor: Black Woman
Poet of the Week from Senegal: Leopold Senghor: Et nous baignerons mon amie

Seychelles (British too)

Togo (British and Germany too)
An African in Greenland by Kpomassie.  My review is here.

BRITISH

Botswana
Poet of the Week from Botswana: Baralong Seboni: Love That

Egypt
The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz.  Magnificent story about colonial Egypt and family.
Poet of the Week from Syria/Egypt: Khalil Mutran: Boycott

Gambia

Ghana
Ghana Must Go: My review is here.
Poet of the Week from Ghana: Atukwei Okai: III (Everyone Dreams of Kissing You)

Kenya
The Zanzibar Chest by Aiden Hartley.  One of my favorite books ever.  Not technically fiction but it sure reads like it. My review is here.
One Day I Will Write About This Place: My review is here.
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alex Fuller.  I never wrote a review on this one.  

Lesotho (and Dutch)

Malawi
The Jive Talker or How to Get a British Passport: My review is here.

Poet of the Week from Malawi: Frank Chipasula: A Love Poem for my Country

Mauritius (also french and dutch)

Nigeria
Arrow of God by Achebe (I've read all of his novels but this one was my favorite) : My review is here.
I Do Not Come to You By Chance: My review is here.
The Fishermen: My review is here.
Americanah: My review is here.
Every Day is For the Thief: My short review is here.  My kindle highlights are here. 
Poet of the Week from Nigeria: Wole Soyinka: In the Small Hours

Sierra Leone (Compare with Liberia)
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna.  My review is here.

South Sudan

There is a Country: New Fiction from the New Nation of South Sudan  FUTURE READ.

Sudan

What is the What?  I never wrote a review for this one.

Poet of the Week Muhammed Al-Faituri from Sudan: A Scream

Swaziland

Tanzania
The Gunny Sack by M.J. Vassanji.  My review is here.

Uganda
All our Names: My review is here.  THIS IS THE GREAT AFRICAN NOVEL.  One of the best books I've ever read.


South Africa (Dutch too)
My Traitor's Heart: Read this but never wrote a review.
Bring Me My Machine Gun: Read this but never wrote a review.

Zambia
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller.
Poet of the Week from Zambia: Gwendoline Konie: In the Fist of Your Hand

Zimbabwe
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness: 
We Need New Names: My review is here.
They Are Coming: My review is here.


BELGIAN
Burundi (German too)


Congo, Democratic Republic of the
A Bend in the River (1979) by V.S. Naipaul.  My review is here.
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters by Jason Stearns.  Not fiction but it reads like--my review is here.

Poet of the Week from the Congo: Jean-Baptiste Tati Loutard: Impuissance

Rwanda (German too)
Everything is Yours, Everything is Not Yours: My review is here.

ITALIAN
Eritrea (British too)

Ethiopia (Italy tried but failed)
In Praise of Savagery: My review is here.

Somalia (British too)
Warrior: Life and Death Among Somalis. My review is here.
Poet of the Week from Somalia: Abdirashid Omar: The Decree
Poet of the Week from Somalia: K'Naan: Somalia.
AMERICAN

Liberia

GERMAN
Namibia (but also South African)

AFRICA READING LISTS:
Heinemann African Writers Series Wiki Entry
Where to find Heinemann African Writers Series for a Price

Africa is a Country reading lists:
http://africasacountry.com/2011/12/what-you-should-be-reading/
http://africasacountry.com/2013/07/winter-reading-list/
http://africasacountry.com/2013/07/summer-reading-list/
http://bookslive.co.za/blog/2015/05/16/the-2015-sunday-times-alan-paton-award-shortlist/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Ronge_Fiction_Prize
http://www.caineprize.com/
http://prize.etisalat.com.ng/about-the-prize/