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Salim is a young man of Indian ethnicity whose family have lived on the coast of Africa for many generations and risen under European colonial rule. Understanding that this regime is coming to an end, he leaves the coast and accepts an offer to take over an abandoned general store in a town in the interior – at a bend in the river. Neither town, river nor country are named, although it sounds like Congo. An African servant follows him from the coast, and Salim becomes a kind of surrogate uncle t
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I enjoyed this 1st-person fictional account of the experiences of a small businessman of Indian ancestry in a central African small city (in the 1960s and '70s, probably). Though the country isn't named, it seems to be the Congo, as there are references to Belgians. It would pair well with a reading of The Poisonwood Bible, which is set in a rural village in the same area and time. I listened to the audiobook "read" by Simon Vance, which I think added to the reading.
The account flows along ove ...more
The account flows along ove ...more
Read this in 2010. My first book by Naipaul. It is set in an unnamed African country. The narrator is Salim. He is an Indian Muslim, shopkeeper in the interior of post colonial Africa. As he is not fully African, he obseres events as an outsider. Naipaul did visit Zaire in 1975. This book has some controversy as being pro colonialism.
Sep 27, 2010
Kathy Jo
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Dec 30, 2011
Haaze
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Nanosynergy
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Mekki
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Jun 17, 2012
Elizabeth
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Mar 04, 2010
Sabrina
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Dec 22, 2013
Kristen
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Mar 04, 2015
Soscha
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Mar 11, 2015
Mary
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Mar 14, 2016
Charisma
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May 09, 2017
Pippin
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