Reviews

Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila

tobia's review

1.0

This book didn’t do anything for me.
I like stepping out of my comfort zone, challenging myself but this was really boring.

I can see no poetry here. The words don’t flow, there is no melody and there is no story…

Maybe parts was lost in translation.

Still this is utterly uncomfortable to read…
I wished I’d pick another book for Congo for my “Read around the world” project.

The hype for this book doesn’t make sense to me.

nedhayes's review against another edition

4.0

Powerful contemporary story of an unnamed African country.

pearloz's review against another edition

4.0

The writing was pretty extraordinary for a book about such a savage, almost inhuman place. Tram 83 is a place of chaos and greed and lust forced and fulfilled, and feels like it's located at the end of the world. Characters blow in and out in a whirlwind of booze and trash and music, and our main character is carried along for the ride like a kid lost at a carnival.

elleneam's review against another edition

4.0

At first, I found this book disorientating, confusing, struggling to understand the whirlwind of characters and settings, histories all while trying to grab for some kind of plot. But once I'd gotten used to the strange rhythm of the book I began to see how it captures the desperate energy of lives denied so much and confined to so little, of the oppression of work, colonialism, imperialism and greed which forces us to work and fight each other and try to eke out some kind of meaning in our lives in the slither of free time we have left. It captures the contradictions and vying factions post-colonial states living in the wreckage of failed revolutions with vultures swooping in from abroad and picking at the carcass of what is left. A fantastic read.

irishavincentwaterson's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.25

mitcheljhunter's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

niharm_1368's review against another edition

4.0

A really unique novel, somehow making me care about the flawed side characters of Tram 83 despite their limited but repeated appearances. My only issue was how unlikable both the main characters are, but that is perhaps the point, making the issue more of a personal taste.

gabbolovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

mkesten's review against another edition

3.0

Mwanza Mujila’s Tram 83 is a very raw portrait of a post-Colonial state tucked into south central Africa. Tram 83 itself seems to be a bar or whorehouse near a railway station anchoring the urban wasteland between miners and soldiers and tourists, although not the class of tourist one would expect in Miami Beach or Disneyworld,

The dialogue between Lucien, a writer, and Requiem, his pal/agent, is flinty.

Jazz blasts from the stage. Scantily-clad waitresses deliver cold beer and liquor to the tables. Prostitutes and their clientele rotate endlessly in the washrooms.

I am reminded of the super-realism of Bulgakov, or Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, or Daniel Dafoe’s London. A funny but nightmarish landscape of broken down institutions, violence, and crooked cops.

It seems only to come alive at night.

I almost expect Anthony Bourdain to pop up with a voice-over “I just happened to meet an old friend along the way to the charming neighbourhood bordellos...”

jlyons's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious fast-paced

4.25