Desertion

Posted on by

In 1899, an Englishman named Martin Pearce stumbles out of the desert into an East African coastal town and is rescued by Hassanali, a shopkeeper whose beautiful sister Rehana nurses Pearce back to health Pearce and Rehana begin a passionate illicit love affair, which resonates fifty years later when the narrator s brother falls madly in love with Rehana s granddaughter In the story of two forbidden love affairs and their effects on the lovers families, Abdulrazak Gurnah brilliantly dramatizes the personal and political consequences of colonialism, the vicissitudes of love, and the power of fiction. New Read [ Desertion ] by [ Abdulrazak Gurnah ] – kino-fada.fr I m very glad to have been introduced to this author s work Will definitely be reading .I m not a fan Not sure if it is the authors own story, if so it makes a littlesense, kind ofI found it deliberately not helping the reader Locations are not divulged until long into the stories, neither is the time period The narrator shows up at the end of part one, but is suddenly no longer all knowing, but a narrator full of maybes and unclear suggestions of how things might have happened, possibly He turns out to be the narrator of most of the rest of the book.But my biggest pro I m not a fan Not sure if it is the authors own story, if so it makes a littlesense, kind of...Still not sure if I like it or not it took me half the book to get into the story and the second part was muchinteresting and moving I thought The issues raised reminded me of themes found in Leila Abulela s booksAn illuminating insight into forbidden love.This was not an easy read There was something about the style in which it was written, almost poetic in places, that made to mere 260 pages feel like a tome.I chose to read the book because it is written by a Zanzibari author and I was visiting Zanzibar at the time From this perspective I found I could relateto the second half of the book, set in the 50 s in the capital, Stone Town Many of the buildings mentioned I had walked past or visited a An illuminating insight into forbidden love.This was not an easy read There was something about the style in which it was written, almost poetic in places, that made to mere 260 pages feel like a tome.I chose to read the book because it is written by a Zanzibari author and I was visiting Zanzibar at the time From this perspective I found I could relateto the second half of the book, set in the 50 s in the capital, Stone Town Many of th...There is, as you can see, an I in this story, but it is not a story about me It is one about all of us, about Farida and Amin and our parents, and about Jamila It is about how one story contains many and how they belong not to us but are part of the random currents of our time, and about how stories capture us and entangle us for all time, Gurnah, page 120 This book is so wonderful It is like Milan Kundera, except set in Zanzibar I couldn t put it down I cried and cried And also, afte There is, as you can see, an I in this story, but it is not a story about me It is one about all of us, about Farida and Amin and our parents, and about Jamila It is about how one story contains many and how they belong not to us but are part of the random currents of our time, and about how stories capture us and entangle us for all time, Gurnah, page 120 This book is so wonderful It is like Milan K...The title can indicate the end of East African colonialism and the vicissitudes of love Both euphoric experiences dissipate with the coming of political and social realities The brief happiness of independence and romance sustain them across bland, desperate times The saga covers three generations of Zanzibaris, English, and Mombasans The author unravels the surprising relations at the end Curiosity prompted my inquiry into the geography, clothing, and h...Having read a fair amount of Indian fiction, and a little bit of Japanese fiction, I have turned to my first African fiction since Cry the Beloved Country in high school It felt very autobographical at least themodern pa...If you like plot driven books, you should definitely not read this one Gurnah relies on apparently mundane conversations and incidences to weave together an intriguing tapestry that doesn t come together fully until the end, if then I was only able to read this book in chunks of about 20 pages at a ...This book is divided in 3 parts in which the author write detailed portraits of people, places, and life in Zanzibar in the end of the 19th century for the first part, in the 1950 s for the second part and second half of 20th century in the last part The author did a great job giving a full picture of various people living in Zanzibar in the end of 19th century Hassanali the average local trader with mixed race, Rehana the local woman, Frederick the British colonial administrator and Pearce th This book is divided in 3 parts in which the author write detailed portraits of people, places, and life in Zanzibar in the end of the 19th century for the first part, in the 1950 s for the second part and second half of 20th century in the last part The author did a great job giving a full picture of various people living in Zanzibar in the end of 19th century Hassan...A tale of longing and despair, that spans across three generations The book is divided into three parts and spans across continents from Mombasa to hallowed institutions of England.It begins by chronicling the lives of Hassanali, Mallika his wife and Rehana his sister Rehana has faced a number of failed marriages and through the times spent in desolation and despair, she has learnt to return a stare with an even harder and scornful one So it comes to no surprise when she pursues her affai A tale of longing and despair, that spans across three generations The book is divided into three parts and spans across continents from Mombasa to hallowed institutions of England.It begins by chronicling the lives of Hassanali, Mallika hi...

Desertion
  • English
  • 22 March 2018
  • Paperback
  • 272 pages
  • 1400095409
  • Abdulrazak Gurnah
  • Desertion