The Dark Child

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The Dark Child is a distinct and graceful memoir of Camara Laye s youth in the village of Koroussa, French Guinea Long regarded Africa s preeminent Francophone novelist, Laye 1928 80 herein marvels over his mother s supernatural powers, his father s distinction as the village goldsmith, and his own passage into manhood, which is marked by animistic beliefs and bloody ri Free Read [ The Dark Child ] author [ Camara Laye ] – kino-fada.fr Recently I ve found myself reading a number of memoirs by authors who grew up in various parts of Africa This one stands out as unique, mostly because it is so unremarkable There s no civil war, no violence, no rape The only bloody scenes are those describing ritual circumcision, and even these showed a communal event of initiation and coming of age rather than an act of brutality as in other books that address the subject Injustice in society never came forward as a theme To be honest, i Recently I ve found myself reading a number of memoirs by authors who grew up in various parts of Africa This one stands out as unique, mostly because it is so unremarkable There s no civil war, no violence, no rape The only bloody scenes are those describing ritual circumcision, and even these showed a communal event of initiation and coming of age rather than an act of brutality as in other books that address the subject Injustice in society never came forward as a theme To be honest, it reminded me muchof gentle French childhood memoirs such as La gloire de mon p re than what I have come to expect from African memoirs.The narrative winds along peacefully, describing Laye s childhood in Guinea during the early part of the 20...This is a fairly short and simple autobiographical account of a boy growing up in Guinea in the 1930s and 40s Camara Laye wrote it in 1954 while studying in France, and you can feel the nostalgia for his homeland Although the writing style is quite understated, the emotion is communicated quite effectively, and it s very moving in places.As the title suggests, the book only deals with his childhood, and it is faithful to a child s outlook on the world At the start, his entire world is the ver This is a fairly short and simple autobiographical acc...Not much happens in this gentle, sentimental little book, but it s a pleasant read all the same There seems to be some disagreement about whether The Dark Child is a memoir or an autobiographical novel my library shelves it as nonfiction, though given the abundant dialogue, the author clearly took some creative license.Either way, it s a nicely written coming of age story of a boy from in a traditional village in Guinea in the 1930s and 40s There are no atrocities, no violence except from bu Not much happens in this gentle, sentimental little book, but it s a pleasant read all the same There seems to be some disagreement about whether The Dark Child is a memoir or an autobiographical novel my library shelves it as nonfiction, though given the abundant dialogue, the author clearly took some creative license.Either way, it s a nicely written coming of age story of a boy from in a traditional village in Guinea in the 1930s and 40s There are no atrocities, no violence except from bullies at school , no political themes you would not know from Laye s writing that Guinea was under French rule...The Dark Child Camara Laye This is the autobiographical account of the authors experience growing up in a village in French Guinea Laye shares his childhood with the reader in an open and frank way, he lets us into his family, into his village and into his way of life Layes childhood is an interesting mix of spiritual traditions and formal religion mixed together in a way that works and that doesn t appear disjointed.An almost poetical story of one boy s childhood this is a read that would The Dark Child Camara Laye This is the autobiographical account of the authors experience growing up in a village in French Guinea Laye shares his childhood with the reader in an open and frank way, he lets us into his family, into his village and into his way of life Layes childhood is an interesting mix of spiritual traditions and formal religion mixed together in a way ...This memoir is an enjoyable read that is a picturesque coming of age story set in Africa It s simply told without artifice or tremendous elaboration We follow Laye s story as he is raised by his loving parents, attends primary school, falls for his ...Fuck this fucking shit bruhFirst book I ve read entirely in French, which I m pretty proud of It was an easy enough read for someone with 3 4 years of language experience.the best 3I used several chapters of this book in my 4AP French classes I have read the book many times The book has an outlook which is unique Camara Laye has a foot in two worlds We see him as a boy in the villages of his father and grandmother He opens a window for us into a world where spirits reside in every living thing and where a snake can speak and share knowledge with the leader of a clan.He also shows us his introduction to European science based culture And even though the two worlds see I used several chapters of this book in my 4AP French classes I have read the book many times The book has an outlook which is unique Camara Laye has a foot in two worlds We see him as a boy in the villages of his father and grandmother He opens a window for us into a world where spirits reside in every living thing and where a snake can speak and share knowledge with the leader of a clan.He also shows us his introduction to European science based culture And even though the two worlds seem to be mutually exclusive, he does not invalidate one at the expense of the other I found it to be thought provoking The book allows the reader to question almost all of the givens in the knowledge bank he or she has acquired from Western civilization Th...I have always heard of Camara Laye, but never really got to read any of his writing till now I m glad I did This book, detailing the earlier part of his life in the French Gambia is simply amazing Its writing is brilliant, and there is no doubt it is a book to last So sad that I still don t know much about what happened from the time he went to France for further education, but Im going to find out Its similarity to Ngugi s book is that education is given a focal point in his dreams and des I have always heard of Camara Laye, but never really got to read any of his writing till now ...

The Dark Child
  • English
  • 22 September 2017
  • Paperback
  • 192 pages
  • 080901548X
  • Camara Laye
  • The Dark Child