A review by loxonstag
God's Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembène
dark
funny
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"Happy is the man who does battle without hatred."
I'm mainly familiar with Sembène's work as a filmmaker, so it was cool to discover he was an accomplished novelist before ever picking up the camera. This felt kind of like reading one of his movies: darkly funny, stridently anticolonialist, a story about collective action that's populated with vividly defined characters who have their own individual circumstances and struggles to overcome, yet come together in the spirit of solidarity.
In the hands of a lesser writer the huge cast and sweeping story of a strike spanning several cities might become muddled, but Sembène once again proves he's a superior writer who can handle this stuff with a good deal of finesse.
I'm mainly familiar with Sembène's work as a filmmaker, so it was cool to discover he was an accomplished novelist before ever picking up the camera. This felt kind of like reading one of his movies: darkly funny, stridently anticolonialist, a story about collective action that's populated with vividly defined characters who have their own individual circumstances and struggles to overcome, yet come together in the spirit of solidarity.
In the hands of a lesser writer the huge cast and sweeping story of a strike spanning several cities might become muddled, but Sembène once again proves he's a superior writer who can handle this stuff with a good deal of finesse.