Black Moses: A Novel - Hardcover

Mabanckou, Alain

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 162097293X ISBN 13: 9781620972939

Publisher: The New Press, 2017

Synopsis

The "heart-breaking" (New York Times Book Review), rollicking, award-winning novel that has been described as "Oliver Twist in 1970s Africa" (Les Inrockuptibles)

"One of the most compelling books you'll read in any language this year." ―Rolling Stone

Winner of the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award

Longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize

Shortlisted for the Albertine Prize

Shortlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize

Longlisted for the PEN Translation Prize

Greeted with wildly enthusiastic reviews on publication, Alain Mabanckou's riotous novel begins in an orphanage in 1970s Congo-Brazzaville run by a malicious political stooge who makes the life of our hero, Tokumisa Nzambe po Mose yamoyindo abotami namboka ya Bakoko―his name means "Let us thank God, the black Moses is born on the lands of the ancestors," but most people just call him Moses―very difficult.

Moses is also terrorized by his two fellow orphans―the twins Songi-Songi and Tala-Tala―but after Moses exacts revenge on them by lacing their food with hot pepper, the twins take Moses under their wing, escape the orphanage, and move to the bustling port town of Pointe-Noire, where they form a gang that survives on petty theft.

What follows is a "pointed" (Los Angeles Times), "vivid and funny" (New York Times), larger-than-life tale that chronicles Moses's ultimately tragic journey through the Pointe-Noire underworld and the politically repressive reality of Congo-Brazzaville in the 1970s and '80s.

"Ringing with beautiful poetry," (Wall Street Journal) Black Moses is a vital new extension of Mabanckou's cycle of Pointe-Noire novels that stand out as one of the grandest and funniest fictional projects of our time.

About this title

About the Author

Alain Mabanckou was born in Congo in 1966. An award-winning novelist, poet, and essayist, Mabanckou currently lives in Los Angeles, where he teaches literature at UCLA. He is the author of African Psycho, Broken Glass, Black Bazaar, and Tomorrow I'll Be Twenty, as well as The Lights of Pointe-Noire and Black Moses (both published by The New Press). In 2015, Mabanckou was a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize.

Reviews

Black Moses, the protagonist of this novel set in the 1970s and 1980s, was raised in an orphanage in Congo-Brazzaville, during a time of political upheaval. He and his best friend, Bonaventure, weather the changes the orphanage goes through as the director tries to align himself with the current political regime. Black Moses eventually runs away from the orphanage with twins Songi-Songi and Tala-Tala to Pointe-Noire, where he becomes part of their gang. Later he takes refuge with Madame Fiat 500, the madame of a brothel, who helps him secure a house and job. However, mental illness takes its toll, and eventually, Black Moses finds himself in an institute built on the site of the old orphanage, and in the company of Bonaventure again. Slowly, his world becomes a jumble of past and present as he attempts to define his future. With well-crafted characters, this beautifully written, stark depiction of marginalized youth also highlights the stigma that people with mental ill face. VERDICT For sophisticated readers, especially fans of Natalie C. Anderson's City of Saints & Thieves.—Tamara Saarinen, Pierce County Library System, WA

Edition details

• Publisher: The New Press
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 162097293X
• ISBN 13: 9781620972939
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208