Afterlives by  Abdulrazak Gurnah

Afterlives

Abdulrazak Gurnah

In a largely forgotten theatre of war, this powerful and epic account of brutal oppression during the German Colonial campaigns in East Africa weaves history and fictional characters in an intricate tapestry. The deeply personal stories of the resilience of the uprooted and exploited African people balance the more journalistic style used to describe the disturbing scenes of atrocities and reprisals. Beautiful, sad and unforgettable.

Extract

Later these events would be turned into stories of absurd and nonchalant heroics, a side-show to the great tragedies in Europe, but for those who lived through it, this was a time when their land was soaked in blood and littered with corpses.

Parallels
  • Mama Namibia by Mari Serebrov
  • Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna
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Violence