Great African Reads discussion

This thread is for discussions of our Nov/Dec 2019 read of Transparent City by Ondjaki - Notice that there may be SPOILERS (Find the no-spoiler thread here) - Feel free to discuss anything you like about the book here: Here's a few questions to get you started:
How did you like the characters? The plot? The style? The portrayal of characters and their surroundings?

4.5 stars
I really enjoyed reading this poetic novel by the young Angolan writer. I read a translation into English from the original Portuguese. The style, incorporating magical realism elements, reminded me very much of my favorite Garcia Marquez novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude. The diversity of unusual characters is a strength of the novel. The building where many of the characters lived was almost a character also. It was fun that there is an American character and a couple of Swedes.
This was just published in 2012 so hopefully there will be more books of equal quality from him in the future.

Glad you liked it George - I'm struggling myself...

I can't get into the story - the fragmented style with a lot of characters and very little action is not making me want to keep reading. I like things a bit more plot-driven - this is a series of men doing boring stuff trying to hustle their way in a poor city.
Adding to my annoyance: My stupid kindle version has no page numbers or percentages, only 'locations' - so I just did some approximations: I am at location 957 out of 4617 - so around page 83 out of 400 - and this still hasn't really caught my interest?!
I find most of the characters fairly boring and unlikeable (also pretty much all active characters are male, there are women, but they are talked about or lending their phones mostly). As for the magic (which I appreciate greatly in the Portuguese and South American tradition) it is not really happening for me yet... So far I'll take Agualusa and Saramago over this any day. But I am stubborn - I may struggle on?

I'm nearly done with it, I'm not quite sure what to think of it. I seem to be enjoying it, although the casual sexism is grating. In the French translation some terms in Umbundu, Kimbundu and Portuguese have been kept (there's a glossary or footnotes for some of them) - is that the same for the English translation?

I finally finished! Being stubborn is the only reason - I didn't like much about this book!

Sorry to anyone who cares about this book, but here it is:

What a mess of a book! With Aristotle's words there are only middle, no beginning, no ending. Just a ton of middles of stories of men talking bullshit mostly. Women crop up occasionally as obedient wifes, cooks or sexual objects and sexism is everywhere (but not just in the society described - also in the description and depiction, and the total lack of acting women).
My biggest problem with this book is a do not care about any of the men and their antics.
I know this tries to be a fable about the state of Angola, the hard living conditions, the corruption, the unnecessary deaths, but it leaves me cold. I also suspect it tries to be funny: Being shot in the ass is obviously 'a thing', the guy who should get fame out of his grotesquely swollen ball, the bullshit the seashell seller spouts to sell his found goods - but I don't find any of it funny. Infantile, but not funny.
And when I thought this mess couldn't get worse Ondjaki decided to try his skills at sex scenes. Which he shouldn't have.
The only reason I struggled through this (skipping bits of the bullshit in parts), was that it was the last book in my 2019 African Bingo Challenge AND our Regional read for nov/dec.

I read the original Portuguese version and I found it wonderful: the poetic language, mixed with terms in Umbundu and Angolese slang (there is a glossary in the original version, but I only discovered it in the end of my kindly version), the surrealistic protagonists and absurd events, the slowly developing plot in which nothing really happens but the author touches upon interesting issues, ... Many scenes are hilarious and I often found myself laughing while reading.

It is true that the book is imbibed by a male perspective and rather sexist in many descriptions, but so seems to be Angolese society. More active women protagonists would have balanced this bias.

I liked it mostly because of its creative writing, the moods, and the way issues like war, corruption, etc. are depicted and treated.

Hahahah I am so glad someone else liked it!

Strange how one can sometimes profoundly dislike a book that others adore... :)