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stacialithub's review against another edition
5.0
This novel is like shrapnel -- sharp & damaging in many directions. It has a stream-of-consciousness feel along with unreliable narrators, who pull you headfirst into a rushing, & at times unforgiving, current. Originally written over 15 years ago, it's still shockingly relevant, while the barbs & descriptions of evils are spot on. The ending really is just right. Not one for the faint of heart, but strongly recommended.
Edited to add: This is an excellent review: https://developmentbookreview.com/2017/03/17/boubacar-boris-diop-kaveena/
Edited to add: This is an excellent review: https://developmentbookreview.com/2017/03/17/boubacar-boris-diop-kaveena/
kjcharles's review against another edition
A dark and disturbing account by a Senegalese author of a fictitious African country moving from French colonial rule to a strongman dictator who is then overthrown in favour of another puppet. A white French businessman is the power behind the throne. It's a pretty brutal story--well, it starts with the ex head of the secret police in hiding with the dictator's putrefying corpse--and especially with the little girl of the title, raped and murdered by the men in power as part of a magic ceremony.
It's all about corruption and the vile things people learn to do, habituating themselves to evil. We see how the dictator invites the Frenchman in to his country--giving the coloniser power as long as it floats his own boat, and damn the rest of the nation--and the appalling development of the secret police, and the toll it takes on everyone by fear and corrupt compromise that encourages greed over everything because anything else is dangerous. There's not a lot of hope here, though there is what you might call a good ending, if you squint, but only in terms of this book.
It's more discursive than plot-driven, told in letters and flashbacks, and the translation isn't the smoothest, but nevertheless a powerful, disturbing read about the damage colonialism wreaks from many angles.
It's all about corruption and the vile things people learn to do, habituating themselves to evil. We see how the dictator invites the Frenchman in to his country--giving the coloniser power as long as it floats his own boat, and damn the rest of the nation--and the appalling development of the secret police, and the toll it takes on everyone by fear and corrupt compromise that encourages greed over everything because anything else is dangerous. There's not a lot of hope here, though there is what you might call a good ending, if you squint, but only in terms of this book.
It's more discursive than plot-driven, told in letters and flashbacks, and the translation isn't the smoothest, but nevertheless a powerful, disturbing read about the damage colonialism wreaks from many angles.
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