African Psycho - Softcover

Alain Mabanckou

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1781257876 ISBN 13: 9781781257876

Publisher: SERPENT S TAIL, 2017

Synopsis

African Psycho

About this title

About the Author:

Alain Mabanckou was born in 1966 in the Congo. He currently lives in California, where he teaches French literature at UCLA. One of Africa's major writers, he is the author of six volumes of poetry and six novels. He received the prestigious Prix Renaudot for Memoirs of a Porcupine. He was selected by the French journal Lire as one of the fifty writers to watch out for this century. He was awarded the Grand Prix de la Litterature in 2012 and in 2015 was listed as a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize.

From Publishers Weekly:

A Congolese writer in his early 40s, Mabanckou teaches at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and has won numerous French prizes for previous novels; he makes his U.S. debut with this slim, witty monologue of a would-be serial killer. Whereas Bret Easton Ellis's Patrick Bateman (from American Psycho) was a Wall Street golden boy notoriously matter-of-fact in relating his shocking crimes, Mabanckou's Gregoire Nakobomayo is an insecure, unattractive metal worker in Africa, a long-winded neurotic trying to talk himself into murdering his prostitute girlfriend, Germaine. For Gergoire, the act would finally make him a worthy successor to his idol, legendary serial killer Angoualima, whose grave he periodically visits, seeking inspiration. Emerging over the course of Gregoire's ramblings is a general hatred of society, a Travis Bickle-esque duty to clean the scum off the streets, and a more personal, plaintive desire: "to exist... to be somebody." For all his cruel intentions and narcissism, Gregoire, ala Humbert Humbert, is an amusing, sympathetic character; readers may find themselves, if not exactly rooting for him, at least anxious to see if he can follow through with his grisly task. The all-important conclusion, however, is an abrupt and disappointing fizzler. The result is a very compelling (and very well-translated) exercise in literary voice.
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About this edition

• Publisher: SERPENT S TAIL
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1781257876
• ISBN 13: 9781781257876
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160