Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote

by Ahmadou Kourouma

Ahmadou Kourouma's remarkable novel is narrated by Bingo, a West African sora - storyteller and king's fool. Over the course of five nights he tells the life story of Koyaga, President and Dictator of the Gulf Coast. Orphaned at the age of seven, Koyaga grows up to be a terrible hunter; he fights mythical beasts, and is a shape-shifter, capable of changing himself into beasts and birds. He fights in the French colonial armies, in Vietnam and Algeria, but on his return he mounts a coup and becomes ruler and dictator of the Gulf Coast. For thirty years he runs a corrupt but 'clean' state, surviving repeated assassination attempts and gaining support and investment from abroad. But when the 'First World' decides it no longer want to support dictatorships and call for democracy, he needs another ruse to maintain himself in power...

Part magic, part history, part savage satire, Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote is nothing less than a history of post-colonial Africa itself.

Genres: Africa, Fiction, Ivory Coast, African Literature, Western Africa, France, Historical Fiction

445 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 1998

About the author

Ahmadou Kourouma, (November 24, 1927 – December 11, 2003) was an Ivorian novelist.
The eldest son of a distinguished Malinké family, Ahmadou Kourouma was born in 1927 in Côte d'Ivoire. Raised by his uncle, he initially pursued studies in Bamako, Mali. From 1950 to 1954, when his country was still under French colonial control, he participated in French military campaigns in Indochina, after which he journeyed to France to study mathematics in Lyon.
Kourouma returned to his native Côte d'Ivoire after it won its independence in 1960, yet he quickly found himself questioning the government of Félix Houphouët-Boigny. After brief imprisonment, Kourouma spent several years in exile, first in Algeria (1964-1969), then in Cameroon (1974-1984) and Togo (1984-1994), before finally returning to live in Côte d'Ivoire.
Determined to speak out against the betrayal of legitimate African aspirations at the dawn of independence, Kourouma was drawn into an experiment in fiction, his first novel, Les soleils des indépendances (The Suns of Independence, 1970). Les soleils des indépendances contains a critical treatment of post-colonial governments in Africa. Twenty years later, his second book Monnè, outrages et défis, a history of a century of colonialism, was published. In 1998, he published En attendant le vote des bêtes sauvages, (translated as Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote), a satire of post colonial Africa in the style of Voltaire in which a griot recounts the story of a tribal hunter's transformation into a dictator, inspired by president Gnassingbé Eyadéma of Togo. In 2000, he published Allah n'est pas obligé (translated as Allah is Not Obliged), a tale of an orphan who becomes a child soldier when traveling to visit his aunt in Liberia.
At the outbreak of civil war in Côte d'Ivoire in 2002, Kourouma stood against the war as well as against the concept of Ivorian nationalism, calling it "an absurdity which has led us to chaos." President Laurent Gbagbo accused him of supporting rebel groups from the north of the country.
In France, each of Ahmadou Kourouma's novels has been greeted with great acclaim, sold exceptionally well, and been showered with prizes including Prix Renaudot in year 2000 and The Prix Goncourt des Lycéens for Allah n'est pas obligé . In the English-speaking world, Kourouma has yet to make much of an impression: despite some positive reviews, his work remains largely unknown outside college classes in African fiction.
At the time of his death, he was working on a sequel to Allah n'est pas obligé, entitled Quand on refuse on dit non (translated roughly as When One Disagrees, One Says No), in which the protagonist of the first novel, a child soldier, is demobilized and returns to his home in Côte d'Ivoire, in which a new regional conflict has arisen.

Reviews

[Orsodimondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

ALLAH NON È MICA OBBLIGATO



Lo si potrebbe ribattezzare: Tutto quello che avreste sempre voluto sapere su colpi di stato e dittatura, ma non avete mai osato chiedere.
Kourouma ci racconta la storia del Novecento africano, colonialismo e post, alla sua maniera: tagliente, sarcastica, cattiva. Inanella una serie di ritratti di dittatori africani da far rimpiangere i bianchi europei, genocidari o meno. I suoi dittatori mettono i brividi. Tanto più a chi ama l’Africa, la vorrebbe vedere avviata a una condizione sanitaria e di benessere per ora lontana, imputa ai bianchi europei, genocidari o meno, buona parte degli attuali problemi del continente nero.



Un cantastorie è incaricato di favoleggiare le gesta di Koyaga, il suo dittatore, (che ovviamente non si ritiene tale, ma buono umanitario e per il popolo, oltre che investito da dio, ma anche un po’ dallo stregone e dalla magia): è questa voce che racconta, e che risale indietro nel tempo, dall’attuale despota al di lui padre, e poi il di lui nonno, tutti gli avi. Tutti tiranni e dittatori. Tutti crudeli e dispotici. Ma il griot non trascura nessuno: bianchi e neri, missionari e stregoni, militari diplomatici e contadini, tutti partecipano allo sfacelo, al saccheggio.



I futuri dittatori imparano dai colonialisti, dai francesi in testa, visto che siamo molto probabilmente nella stessa Costa d’Avorio da cui proviene Kourouma, anche se nel romanzo si tratta della fittizia Repubblica del Golfo: imparano le moderne tecniche militari, in particolare quelle per reprimere e annientare le rivolte popolari. Nozioni utili per chi progetta colpo di stato.
La stravaganza regna sovrana fianco a fianco ai vari despoti: le prigioni più atroci, le feste più sfrenate, gli eccessi erotici, aberrazioni di vario tipo, incluso quello alimentare, magia, cinismo, corruzione, nepotismo, sospetto, e saggezza (o almeno ritenuta tale) ancestrale.



Kourouma ha inventato una sua lingua trasformando il francese impostogli dal colonizzatore in una lingua meticcia incrociata col mandingo:
La verità è che non avevo scelta. Non potrei esprimermi in nessun’altra lingua. L’inglese lo conosco molto poco. L’arabo non l’ho mai imparato. A scuola mi hanno insegnato solo il francese e mi era vietato parlare la mia lingua madre, il mandingo, come a tutti quelli che andavano a scuola prima della decolonizzazione. Quindi ho dovuto utilizzare il francese per descrivere personaggi e storie dell’universo e della realtà malinke.



I bianchi europei, genocidari o meno, hanno voluto trasformare il “negro selvaggio” in “uomo civilizzato”: solo che hanno usato come modello educativo la loro stessa civiltà, quella che ha generato il colonialismo. Hanno prodotto una specie umana sanguinaria crudele delirante che mira solo al potere e ai vantaggi che comporta, senza nessun impegno obbligo rispetto.
Kourouma inventa, e lo fa con fervida fantasia che sembra più vera della realtà.


Forest Whitaker è “The Last King Of Scotland” nel bel film diretto da Kevin Macdonald nel 2006.

[Mark Staniforth · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is widely acknowledged that, through the likes of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa, Latin America has pretty much cornered the market in political mysticism.
So it is tempting, when reviewing the late Ahmadou Kourouma's epic 'Waiting For The Wild Beasts To Vote' to seek to draw some kind of parallel: re-imagine a blend of Vargas Llosa's twin totems, 'Feast Of The Goat' and 'War Of The End Of The World' in post-colonial Africa, and you get part of the picture.
In reality, though, if Kourouma's story of the merciless reign of Koyaga, dictator of the fictional Republic du Golf, deserves lifting to such illustrious company for its sheer scope and complexity, it is also undeniably unique.
Kourouma tells the story of a child orphaned by his father's brutal murder by colonial forces, who grows up to seize power and reign for three decades, surviving dozens of attempts on his life, each of which enhance his mythical status in a land steeped in the supernatural and voodoo lore. The book was first published in English in 2003, two years after the author's death.
It has been described as a savage satire on the corrupting influence of absolute power, yet the most chilling aspect of this extraordinary novel is that it is all too real: after all, we live in a world whose variously oppressed people are forced to believe that their dear leaders shot multiple holes in one in their first ever rounds of golf; who exist in countries whose days of the week have been renamed after their Father's relatives.
Upon gaining power, Koyaga is courted by other dictators from the continent who are thinly disguised versions of true-life despotic leaders: Kourouma said he was particularly influenced by the reign of Togo's Etienne Eyadema, who, like Koyaga, emerged as the only survivor of a plane crash which further served to mythologize his rule.
Koyaga is told that 'the most dangerous beast that attacks the Head of State, the leader of the one party, is the insidious tendency at the outset of one's career to separate state coffers from one's own.' Furthermore:

'In Africa today, everyone knows [about the appropriation of funds for personal use], and everyone accepts it. And no African would be so petty-minded as to try to find out what is written in the accounts of a leader elected by universal suffrage. In Africa, we do not inspect the mouth of he who is entrusted with shelling peanuts for the village, nor the mouth of he who manages the smokehouse where the agoutis which the whole village has hunted are cured. In Africa, we trust our leaders.'

If it is a tale of ruthless exploitation it is also a savage indictment of the abuse of both colonial and neo-colonial power: Kourouma chronicles the cynical retreat of the French armies, but not their influence; and how the emerging dictators ruthlessly exploited Cold War tensions to achieve validation for their reigns from western powers terrified by the spread of communism - the one-time puppet-masters turned to puppets.
Inevitably, as with almost all dictatorships, Koyaga's brutal, lavish rule is finally threatened. With civil war about to erupt, he must conjure ever more deft political manoeuvrings to maintain order. In doing so, he reveals the sharp mind that lies at the heart of all long-term dictators, challenging the commonly held western assumption that these men are simply sociopathic buffoons whose habits are ripe for mocking.
'Waiting For The Wild Beasts To Vote' is a stunning, unforgettable book. Not only does it lift Kourouma among the superstars of what is broadly known as magical realism, but it surely also secures his place among the truly great African novelists of the 20th century. No especially exhaustive knowledge of the continent's fiction is required to make such a statement: it is as unfathomable as the boasts of the greatest dictators themselves that more than a handful of others could possibly have written a book this good.

[Miglė · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do you call a book that is sort of tedious, but in a good way? Big Literature?
It took me a long time to finish Ahmadou Kourouma’s “Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote”, but I really enjoyed it: slow, folk-tale-like narrative, not pandering to reader’s wish to be engrossed or to experience a culmination. The story is often humorous, critical of both colonialism and post-colonial states, and often – of human nature in general. It is very brutal and sometimes gore-y, but also dream-like and epic, such as ancient narratives celebrating great leaders of the time.

The book tells a story of an African dictator who is fictional, but the different peoples mentioned are very much real. However, the customs of different peoples, their ideologies and an array of religions come to mean next to nothing when they’re being subjected to the power of brutal dictators.

For example, one of the dictators, an adept of socialism, is fighting another one, a capitalist. The capitalist dictator secured his power by sacrificing all the species of animal his marabouts told him to, so the socialist one, in attempt to upstage him, and make the “scientific socialism” win, makes a human sacrifice.

Another example, ringing uncomfortably close after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – A Muslim king marches with his people to an neighboring state (also Muslim) in Sahara and announces:

’I have come to your gates with all of my people. <...> We are a peaceful people who despise war. Let us cross the threshold into your deserts, let us occupy your lands. Join with us. Agree to be our subjects. We will treat you as Muslims, as the faithful, as we would our own children.’

The people of the Sahara, despite such entreaties, refused to open their borders, refused to become one with His Majesty’s subjects. Disappointed, the King began to curse them:

‘People of the Sahara, you have rejected our prayers, our fraternity, our peaceful approach, although you are our compatriots, our fellow believers. We will wring from you your repentance, your contrition, your remorse by force of arms, by war. We will slaughter you as we slaughter the infidel.’

Another piece of dark satire:

Not content simply to kill those who conspired against him, the Man in White would sleep with the widows of the condemned men on the very night their husbands were to be executed or hanged. <...> This sacred ritual (to be in bed with a woman at the moment when her husband was shot) allowed the Man in White, his totem the hare, to appropriate the vital energy of his victims completely. Consequently it is untrue that he dreamed up conspiracies in order to murder the husbands of women with whom he wished to sleep. No! The truth is that, for magical reasons, he craved these women on the night their scheming husbands were executed so that he might profit fully from their deaths. So explains Tiécoura.

The book doesn’t offer a way out, doesn’t resolve everything nicely, and in this way is quite bleak, but the backdrop is beautiful, diverse, engaging. I would highly recommend this sort of challenging read.

[Garry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of Koyaga, fictional African dictator. It's a larger-than-life biography, told in the form of an oral history by his minstrels. Their tale panders to him - he is elevated beyond humanity, and is celebrated as a god. His powers, we are told, are mystical.

Never mind that he was a murdering tyrant.

I was totally enamored with the voice of Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote for the first couple of hundred pages. It was incredibly lyrical and expressive. I loved the author's commitment to this book's unique style....

...but I slowly started to lose interest with it...

...and by the end, this book became a slog that I struggled to finish.

This novel had a tinge of 'Emperor's New Clothes' to it: the style was impeccable, but there wasn't enough underneath to sustain the look, and by the end I was wondering why it had enchanted me for so long. The plot seemed incredibly uneven, and I felt that the author did himself a disservice by stretching the novel beyond its natural length.

This is the kind of book that is incredibly difficult to rate - it's brilliant and boring in equal measure.

I will remember Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote for the proverbs that are sprinkled liberally throughout the text:

Proverbs are the thoroughbreds of language; it is when words fail, it is through proverbs that we find them again.

It is with the end of the old rope that we begin to weave the new.

Charity comes from the heart, but giving is simply a duty in order to rid oneself of a persistent beggar.

Adding too many spices often spoils the finest sauce.

If someone has bitten you, he has reminded you that you have teeth.

You will never be acclaimed a great healer of lepers if your mother is covered with pustules.

One should never pour the juices of the meat into the mouth of the hyena and ask the beast to spit it out.

Even on a hyena's anus there are clean patches.

This novel is not a hyena's anus, and there are definitely a few clean patches. For this reason I give it 3 stars.

[Czarny Pies · Rating 4 out of 5]

"En attendant le vote des bêtes sauvages" est un très grand roman au sujet du postcolonialsime d'un auteur qui connaissait vraiment bien le sujet. Né en Côte d'Ivoire, Kourama a vécu à différents moments au Togo, au Cameroun, et en Algérie. Pendant la guerre d'Indochine il a servi dans l'armée française. La grande qualité du roman ne vient pas du fait qu'il critique le colonialisme francais et les régimes qui l'ont suivi; le point fort est plutôt la richesse des détails avec lesquels Kourama explique les dérapages.
En plus, "En attendant le vote des bêtes sauvages" est très bien écrit et richement comique. Tantôt avec son protagoniste-dictateur il fait penser à "l'Automne de patriarche" de Gabriel Marquez; tantôt avec son périple fou à travers l'histoire de l'Afrique française, il fait penser à "Candide" de Voltaire. Cependant, même dans les passages les comiques et les plus fantaisistes le narrative est toujours bien ancré dans la réalité.
L'argument est très simple. Le régime colonial a fait énormément du mal parce qu'il exploitait les africaines économiquement et parce qu'il recourait à des expédients au lieu de créer des institutions solide. Finalement les francais ont très mal choisi les chefs qu'ils ont installé quand ils sont partis pendant les années 1950. La première génération des dictateurs avaient fait des études en France mais ils n'avaient pas d'expérience dans la gestion d'état et en plus ils n'avaient pas d'alliés chez les chefs traditionnels de tribus traditionnels.
La deuxième génération de dictateurs qui renversait les premiers dictateurs venaient des couches les plus primitives de la société africaine. Koyaga le protagoniste du roman est issue d'un tribut que l'auteur qualifie d "paléonigritiques" et emploie les mêmes méthodes d'un chef fétichiste. Pourtant, à sa manière Koyaga est très compétent. Doué d'un grand charisme il réussit à recruter des acolytes, sycophantes et idéologues en plus de forger des alliances avec les chefs traditionnelles. Malheureusement, Koyaga n'a pas les aptitudes qui lui permettrait de survivre à ce qui va arriver à la fin du vingtième siècle. L'économie du son pays qui est basé sur l'exportation des produits agricoles tombe en ruines quand les prix agricoles. Parce que la Guerre froide s'est terminé Koyaga ne peut plus obtenir de l'aide financier en jouant les Américains contre les Russes. Son régime tombe.
De nos jours on enseigne "En attendant le vote des bêtes sauvages" aux universités et on a besoin d'une édition étudiante avec des dossiers qui expliquent l'histoire et la décrivent les ethnies de la région. L'édition que j'ai lue n'avait rien pour aider le lecteur nord-américain avec un texte qui décrivent une société qui lui est profondément étranger.

[Darryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a satirical novel about a fictitious African dictator, which interweaves myth with colonial and postcolonial history and a brutal sense of humor. I thought it was about 200 pages too long and overly repetitive, particularly in its weaker second half. A much better satirical novel about dictatorship in Africa is "Wizard of the Crow" by Ngugi wa Thiong'o.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cette geste d’un tyran africain menacé par la folie qu’il a contribué à implanter dans la terre de son pays (si peu cependant, ceci est un livre de destin... passons) est un livre impressionnant, d'autant que j'ai eu la chance quasi-miraculeuse de le lire en parallèle avec La Morte d'Arthur de Malory, ce qui m'a permis de me rendre compte de l'incroyable travail d'adaptation de la chanson de geste dans un contexte moderne non-occidental. À ce titre le livre est monumental, et le travail d'écriture réellement frappant. La lecture est facile et plaisante, mais l’on s’aperçoit en refermant le livre qu’on a manqué la moitié des symboles, les trois quarts du message et la quasi-totalité des références. En soi ce n’est pas une faiblesse, au contraire, car cela encourage l’exploration, la continuation de l’acte de lecture par un acte de recherche, mais ce n’est pas du divertissement ! Et ce d’autant moins que la fameuse langue malinké de Kourouma continue de m’échapper (dans Allah n’est pas obligé, la langue de Brahima semble plus fonction de son âge et de son alphabétisation autodidacte que de ses origines), notamment en comparaison avec d’autres auteurs francophones plus « dépaysants » (oui, je me rends parfaitement compte de la tonalité post-colonialiste de ce commentaire… encore une fois, passons, de toute façon je suis sur Goodreads, pas chez Bernard Pivot, personne ne lira ce commentaire. Dommage, j'aurais été curieuse de parler de tout ça.)
Une seule conclusion possible : il est temps de lire Le Soleil des indépendances, LE Kourouma réputé pour son audace linguistique...

[Corvinus Maximilus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant read. A book infused with so much African spirit I am steeped in it. The sayings, the flow of the story. The narrator is an African storyteller, I felt like I was sitting by the fire listening to this man weave this beautiful story.

He speaks the truth, he understands the dictators of Africa. Brilliant political satire.

[Stefano · Rating 2 out of 5]

Il romanzo si concentra sulla narrazione in chiave ironica dell'ascesa di un dittatore "tipo" dell'Africa della decolonizzazione.
Di per sè la lettura è piacevole, a tratti anche divertente. Devo però dire che in definitiva mi ha lasciato veramente poco. Sarà colpa mia che avrò qualche difficoltà ad approcciare lo stile un pò sognante della letteratura africana ma, sebbene ripeta che non ho trovato sgradevole la lettura, mi ritrovo a libro chiuso con la sensazione di non aver letto nulla.

[Deepak · Rating 5 out of 5]

i was impressed by how the author has chronicled the life cycle of a typical dictator in Africa, the western hypocrisy in all respects and how the common person is a totally forgotten aspect for all the powers that be.

the book is a delight to read.

[Gautam Bhatia · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a point in Ahmadou Kourouma’s Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote when the first elected President of the newly-independent Republique du Golfe is attempting to resist the coup that will soon cost him his position and his life. If he is killed, he says to his advisers, “it would mean that everything I have learned is sham, lies, that all my spiritual leaders have lied to me. It would mean that Africa is a sham, a lie; that talismans and sacrifices are worthless. It is unthinkable, impossible. It cannot be true.” There is something particularly poignant about “it would mean that Africa is a sham” at the moment of the strangulation of a fledgeling African democracy, a collateral casualty in Cold War politics, and a moment that occurs and recurs in the actual late-20th century history of the continent. If Africa, at that point, symbolises a long history of colonialism, resistance, and (ultimately) liberation, then the guns and soldiers that surround the Presidential Palace represent the “sham” that liberation ultimately turns out to be.

Waiting for the Wild Beasts is a story of that sham. It is narrated over six nights – “six vigils” – by Bingo, a griot and his “responder”, Tiecoura, in the presence of Koyaga, ‘President-Dictator’ of the Republique du Golfe, his ‘Minister of Orientation’, and seven most celebrated hunters of the Republic. Tiecoura, like the court jesters of the medieval European kings, “can do as he wishes, everything is permitted him, and nothing that he does goes unpardoned.” Through the course of the six vigils, then, the griot and his responder (with various interjections by the Minister) recount the personal history of Koyaga in the form of a donsomana (a performed epic) which, inevitably, becomes the history of the Republique du Golfe, and a searing indictment both of colonialism and of the betrayal of the post-colonial promise.

In his essay on Virgil’s Aeneid, Adam Parry highlights the “two voices” of the Roman epic: the dominant register, which celebrates conquest and imperium, linking Aeneas to Augustus, but also a counterpoint, a submerged register that questions and undermines that narrative. In Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote, there are not two, but three voices that complicate the narrative.

Full review here: https://anenduringromantic.wordpress....

[Gabriela · Rating 3 out of 5]

In stand by... it didn't conquer my heart :( -------- a couple of months later ------ Gave up!

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favourite books. Brilliant political satire.

[Rodney Likaku · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ahmadou Kourouma’s Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote brings a new take to the African dictator, and post-colonial political satire in ways that evoke the writing of Chinua Achebe, Nuruddin Farah, Basma Abdel Aziz, Salman Rushdie, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and Ousmane Sembène in incorporating myth, mythology, folklore and the making of an African war identity that is at once real and imagined. However, although the story idea is great, the writing is jarring. Kourouma fails to move his narrative along in ways that neatly weave proverbs from his African residence and background into a cohesive story; he brings all the problems of creative writing to the table, thesis statements, “there are two forms of destiny in this world. There are those who clear a path through the dense undergrowth of life and those who follow paths already laid” (64), or, “the lone elephant in the little forest of the land of the Paleos succeeded in creating the same ebb and flood of beasts and birds that a herd of elephants would stir up in the deep tropical forests” (75), or, “death devours the man but it does not devour his name or reputation” (93).
Coupled with the absurd change in narrative voice, “when the officers of the Ministry of the Interior arrived at the prison where Koyaga was being held, they found his cell empty. Koyaga had already left” (no saying that is what empty means!!!). Then it is the stylistic inconsistencies—"doggedly, he continues to love Nkoutigui. Nkoutigui is the man of his destiny” (191); versus, “the triumphal march permits you to visit only a handful of privileged villages, those situated on the central axis of the republic” (327). And although the theme is great and the writing passable as a novel it crumbles. It is difficult to read, all 445 pages could have been 150 pages of pure political wisdom in the same vein as Chi Chaizzo’s Makinga or Richard Bach’s Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, which do infinitely better that which was attempted herein.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The African dictator looms large over African literature. From Wizard of the Crow to The Shadow King, there are numerous attempts to capture the megalomania of the continents most powerful figures. Like the Wizard of the Crow, Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote does so through allegory and dark humour to create an alternative history that frighteningly echoes reality. Sometimes it's a little too allegorical. Plot and character gets lost in the telling. Kogaya, the fictional dictator, is the main character but he is more a mythical figure, something untrue and exaggerated from a storybook that gives kids nightmares. The novel is, in fact, structured as an oral storytelling session. We frequently return to the storytelling scene in interludes dotted with sayings and morals. We learn of Kogaya's youth and his cultural background, we accompany him to war for the French and then hear about the engineering of a coup and the subsequent betrayals that place him on the dictatorial pedestal. Once he has come to power, we journey with Kogaya to various other African dictatorships and Kourouma, with biting cynicism, paints pictures of the different power hungry characters draining life and resources from their embattled post-colonial nations. The book attempts to explain the mechanisms in places, historical, economic, geographical, that have allowed such a state of affairs. Finally, we find out the consequences, the rebellions, the violence and the repressions that drag Kogaya to meet his fate after years of escaping almost certain death and elevating himself to immortal status.

While very effective at mocking and deconstructing the post-colonial woes that beset many African countries, Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote is not a novel you can sit down and enjoy for the story. It's hard going and frustrating at times. There are moments when the narrative takes hold - the coup for example - but I found the second half dragged on somewhat and repeatedly hammered down on themes that had already been explored. The bizarre odyssey of one of Kogaya's top politicians takes us all over the continent and to Europe in a long tangent but said character then slips into the background and the backstory seems irrelevant. I enjoyed the first half of the book more - Kogaya's mother, for example, was a very interesting character who's role quickly faded as well. Basically, as he did to his country, Kogaya takes control. He is the only relevant character by the end of the book. As a tool for understanding the phycology of the dictator, I think Kourouma's book is more in depth than The Wizard of the Crow, but is certainly second places when it comes to imagination and entertainment.

[Chris]

This book is like nothing I’ve ever read. Satirical, brutal in parts, it captures the relentless Will To Power.
Written using the techniques and modes of traditional African storytelling, the tale uses repetition, recounts rituals, ceremonies, magic, talismans, Voodoo, and Western religions. The trauma of Colonialism is never distant. The storytelling often moves from third person, to first person , to second person. It is never confusing, but constantly engaging.
The translation is good, with a glossary in the back of culturally untranslatable words and references. Carrol F. Coates writes an informative Afterword about the author, Kourouma, and the times and specifics to which he was writing.
The title, Waiting For The Vote Of The Wild Animals, refers to a comment made by a supporter of the dictator, forced after 30 years’ reign, to an election. The supporter avers that if the people don’t support the dictator, the wild animals will come out of the forest to vote.
It captures the beliefs of populists and their supporters, though In our tech age, the Wild Animals may be digital or binary code.

[Benoît · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of all African dictatorships, from the cradle of hunter societies to the military parade, explained in good parts by African witchcraft and told with a lot of humor and irony. Several of them were still in power when Kourouma named them: the charismatic Gnassingbé Eyadema is the one whose epic is told. We also meet the extravagant Houphouet Boigny and his basilica, Sékou Touré, Bokassa the Napoleon of Africa, Mobutu, Hassan II, as well as the French, the Americans and Leopold II of course.

All fathers of their country’s independence, gravediggers of their people, liars, rent-seekers, builders of prisons, fierce predators, conjurers and idiots. The novel reads variously like a manual, an epic, an eulogy, and a farce. Their terrible leadership and antics only makes the book funnier, and yet its light tone does not make the book less acidic. The book is told in thematic cycles which all carry a sense of repetition and inevitability, a sense of magic and destiny that make you wonder if there was any alternative.

[Matthijs · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote, Ahmadou Kourouma presents an attempt at catharsis by a fictional African dictator of the République du Golfe, who after decades of dictatorial rule in a one-party state has to reinvent himself and his sources of power in order to hold on to his power. He requests the services of a sora (a griot) who to that end orates wild tales of colonialism, post-colonialism, and mythology, deftly woven together by Kourouma as an exposé on 'Africa's' 20th century.

Having previously read Kourouma's Allah Is Not Obliged, I admire the way he is able to set up a story and guide the reader into a different world. Yet, like his most famous work, Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote also suffers from repetitiveness and a certain lack of subtleness. There are plenty of other satirical works on 'African' politics out there. Kourouma's lengthy book manages to entertain but ultimately disappoints.

[Constance Fastré · Rating 5 out of 5]

Durant cette très longue veillée traditionnelle est racontée l'histoire du grand chasseur et le meilleur des dictateurs, Koyaga. Rien n'est oublié, de son passé de tirailleur pour l'armée française, sa prise de pouvoir sanglante, les multiples attentats à sa vie auxquels il échappe sans une égratignure, son voyage initiatique aux plus grands dictateurs africains, le parcours de son âme damnée Maclédio et même la relation un peu spéciale avec sa maman.
L'histoire de l'Afrique contée avec ironie, avec en prime une tonne de proverbes africains (bon nombres d'entre eux référant aux anus des hyènes), ce roman était amusant, passionnant, instructif et, malheureusement, terrifiant. J'ai voyagé en Afrique, dans sa culture et son histoire. Une perspective intéressante et un roman à lire absolument.

[Chema Caballero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta relectura se me ha hecho un poco pesada. Quizás sea el libro de Kourouma que menos me gusta. Una crítica a cómo fueron gestionadas las independencias africanas, plagadas de golpes de Estado y dictadores megalómanos que dilapidaron las riquezas de sus países. Los planes de ajuste del FMI, las crisis económicas que siguieron. La dependencia de Occidente… Hasta llegar al famoso discurso de Mitterrand en La Baule pidiendo elecciones democráticas en África después de décadas poniendo y quitando presidentes. Las nuevas manipulaciones de los déspotas africanos para seguir en el poder… Un retrato del África del siglo XX en forma de relato épico de un maestro cazador contada por el sora (griot) Bingo y su acompañante (respondón), Tiecura. Si no se ha leído, hay que hacerlo.

[Guillaume Frasca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un magnifique conte politique qui retrace la destinée de Koyaga, dictateur d’un état fictif d’Afrique, de son enfance à son passage dans l’armée française, de son coup d’Etat à sa rencontre avec ses homologues dictateurs, le tout bercé de la magie et des rites ancestraux. Passionnant, souvent drôle, plein d’enseignements.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un conte africain qui relate la donsomana, le récit purificatoire, la geste du dictateur du pays du Golfe. Ce texte met en avant toutes les particularités de la culture africaine et les obstacles qui s’opposent à la démocratie dans ces pays.
On est totalement sous l’emprise de ces veillées où tout est dit.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je n'ai pas été "plongée" dedans mais bouquin intéressant. Quelle part inventée et quelle part vraie ? Je n'ai pas les références pour juger, et c'est difficile de lire une satyre sans avoir une référence pour comparer. Mais informatif quand même.

[Hernán M. Sanabria]

"Africa is by far the continent richest in poverty and in dictators".

The excess of power is a universal language

[Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

作者用詼諧幽默的方式虛構出一個獨裁者的故事。第一次有機會拜讀這種風格的小說，真的可以理解權力令人腐敗。

另外也提到西方跟共產陣營在非洲角力的情形，所謂的XX代理人也不過是另一種爭權奪利的工具而已，其他政營也是睜一隻眼閉一隻眼，唯有國民自下而上的擁有權力才能和當政者制衡。成熟的民主絕對需要很多條件以及血汗的努力。

[Yedit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Narrated as a traditional West African oral tale. An interesting and honest perspective of post-independence Africa, power, religions and beliefs. Funny, cynical, hard.

[Matsiko Godwin]

If you are African, this is a must read

[Sadia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Si bien écrit ! Une critique de la corruption étatique à peine dissimulée derrière un masque d’ironie.

[Harry Rutherford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote is the life story of President Koyaga, the dictator of the (fictional) République du Golfe, as told to him by his court storyteller Bingo.

Bingo is in some ways the ultimate unreliable narrator, portraying Koyaga as a heroic, semi-mythical figure protected by powerful magic, but he is accompanied by an apprentice whose role is to speak truth to power. The result is a portrayal of post-colonial African politics which is brutal, and darkly comic.

It has the sprawling rhythms of oral storytelling, with its repetitions and parallelism, which makes it difficult to pick an excerpt which does it justice and is short enough for me to type out. But this will do: it’s a part of an account of Koyaga’s triumphal march across the country after surviving a coup.

At the entrance to a far-off village, the hunters take the initiative of offering you — since you are a sinbo, a donsoba (a master hunter) — the shoulder of a slaughtered bubale. At the next village there are shoulders, haunches, heads. At the village after that, there is a stinking mound of animal carcasses of every species: deer, monkeys, even elephants. Above the pile, the canopy of trees is black with vultures. In the sky, carrion birds attack each other with terrifying cries. Packs of hyenas, lycaons, lions follow and threaten.

The order is given that hunters should no longer offer you the shoulders of game killed by the hunters that week, need not gratify the master hunter who is their guest as their code of brotherhood demands.

In another village, to set itself apart, the sacrificial priest does not stop at two chickens and a goat, he offers four chickens, two goats and an ox to the manes of the ancestors. The sacrificial priests in neighbouring villages follow suit, they outdo him, they go too far. Soon there are twenty oxen and as many goats and forty chickens. The sacrifice becomes interminable, it is a veritable hecatomb. A call goes out for a limit to be set on the number of sacrificial victims.

Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote is my book from Côte d’Ivoire for the Read The World challenge.

[Demuy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je crois bien que c'est la première fois que je lisais le roman d'un Africain sur l'Afrique. Je vais avoir du mal à trouver les mots pour en parler, c'est indéfinissable, mais en gros c'est l'histoire d'un dictateur, depuis sa naissance jusqu'à son accès au pouvoir et ses difficultés à y rester. Tout est raconté comme si on assistait à une veillée et que le récit était oral, puisqu'on sait que la tradition africaine parle plutôt qu'elle n'écrit. Et du coup on a vraiment l'impression de lire un conte, ou une légende, avec des péripéties qui touchent au surnaturel, notemment quand le héros, Koyaga, organise un coup d'état contre le président en place, et utilise des sortilèges enseignés par les chamans afin de le tuer définitivement (au passage, prenez note qu'il faut emasculer sa victime si on ne veut pas que son esprit vienne le venger une fois mort). Moi c'est vraiment ça que j'ai le plus aimer, les histoires de magie, ça fait un peu penser aux Mille et une nuits, de par cet aspect-là. On ne manquera pas d'apprécier aussi le ton très satirique de l'auteur puisqu'il s'agit de dénoncer les dictatures en Afrique; il y a entre autres un épisode délicieux, quand Koyaga s'apprête à devenir président de son pays, il part visiter les plus grands dictateurs de tout le continent pour récolter de précieux conseils, on lui recommande alors d'emprisonner ses amis avant ses ennemis, parce que par définition, ceux qui nous trahissent, ce sont nos amis, et pas nos ennemis, quelques techniques aussi sur comment torturer efficacement, et toutes sortes d'autres avis complètement surréalistes mais assumés en toute bonne foi par ces dictateurs fous. Voilà, j'ai beaucoup aimé, c'était vraiment différent de ce que j'ai l'habitude de lire, ça me fait prendre conscience que je connais très mal tout ce qui n'est pas l'Europe ou le Mexique, et qu'il va me falloir beaucoup d'autres lectures (ou beaucoup de voyages) pour en découvrir une infime partie