Reading the World discussion

Gaël Faye’s luminous debut novel is set in Burundi in the early 1990s, when political violence in that small country was both mirrored and overshadowed by the genocide of Tutsis in neighbouring Rwanda. Faye is a hip-hop artist and songwriter, born in Burundi to a French father and Rwandan mother. His move into fiction has been wildly successful, with Small Country winning the Goncourt youth prize in 2016 and becoming a bestseller in France.

We first meet the narrator, Gabriel, in a melancholic prologue, as a 33-year-old immigrant in contemporary France, celebrating his birthday alone in a bar and watching young refugees arriving in Europe on a large-screen television. He is simultaneously detached from and enmeshed in his past, unable to let go of memories of the place he fled as a child.

The main body of the novel centres on Gabriel’s childhood, which plays out in a cul-de-sac in a comfortable expat district of Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura. He lives with his French father, Rwandan Tutsi mother and little sister in a household staffed with local workers; it is his foreign father who explains to him the differences between Burundi’s and Rwanda’s ethnic groups – the Hutu.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

I read this book a couple of years ago and highly recommend it!
It's a very moving read.

Rosemarie wrote: "I read this book a couple of years ago and highly recommend it!
It's a very moving read."
TY Rosemarie. I will be reading it this month.

Sharing the first line of the book:

"I’ll never know the true cause of my parents’ separation. There must have been some fundamental misunderstanding from the outset—a manufacturing flaw in their encounter, an asterisk nobody saw or wanted to see."

I AM impressed. If this keeps up, I see 5 stars 😎

Oh good, I haven’t started yet

yeah it sounds promising. Sadly, probably will read down the road instead of this month because I'm having trouble accessing it right now.

Small Country This short novel starts with the line: "I really don't know how this story began" and ends with: "But I do remember how it all began" and in between is a finely told coming of age story as seen from the point of view of a young man on the cusp of adulthood right before the Rwandan genocide in the early 1990's. Carefully crafted to take the reader through the pranks and misadventures of youth to the sudden collision with civil war "over there", to the war spreading into his own country, Burundi, his own neighborhood and finally his own home.
Although a novel, the story is clearly based on some of the author, Gaël Faye's own experiences.
Gabriel, our narrator and main character, has a Rwandan refugee mother and a white French father. He grows up well to do compared to many others in his country and he defines his home as the street where he lives and the gang of boys he regularly plays with. As refugees, his mother's side of the family longs for the day they can return to Rwanda, their own land. Meanwhile, Burundi stages its first democratic election which is quickly canceled by the death of the newly elected leader, followed by a military coup. The Hutu versus Tutsi tribal conflict bursts into flames in Burundi also.
Faye's writing is straight forward and has an easy flow. I could easily imagine the scenes both of tropical gardens and graphic violence and the ultimate horror of the last chapter brought to a sharp focus how one can live on and still have lost one's place in the world.
I gave it 4.5 stars largely for impact, rather than writing style and of course, that means GR needs a 4 or a 5 rather than half way in between.
I also learned that Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world today and has a huge population for its small territory. Since the 1990's things have not improved much there.

Gail wrote: "Small Country This short novel starts with the line: "I really don't know how this story began" and ends with: "But I do remember how it all began" and in between is a finely told c..."

😘Such a beautiful review and we agree that it is worth the read.