Reading the World discussion

From supersummary.com:

Radiance of Tomorrow (2014), a novel by Ishmael Beah, describes life in the aftermath of Sierra Leone’s civil war, as villagers try to recover from trauma and rebuild their lives, even as capitalism and corruption seep in. Beah’s literary debut was the 2007 memoir, A Long Way Gone, detailing his experiences as a child soldier in Sierra Leone. Beah moved to the United States when he was eighteen, finished high school, and completed a degree in political science. He is a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Division Advisory Committee.

The prose is unusually figurative. Beah uses the poetic rhythm and imagery of his native language, Mende, in which natural phenomena are given anthropomorphic attributes. For example, the stars are described as “drowsy,” causing the sky to fall asleep in turn.

The story is set in the village of Imperi, once a peaceful, happy place. Now, in the wake of civil war, it is desolate. Seven years ago, Imperi was attacked without warning. Houses were burned to the ground and many villagers were massacred. But now, the survivors are coming back to reclaim their homes. Two village elders, Mama Kadie and Pa Moiwa, have spent those seven years in refugee camps. Now, they have returned. They are hungry, traumatized, and grieving all that they have lost. Pa Moiwa collects charred bones strewn around the remains of Imperi, and together they work to honor the dead and make the place habitable again.

I read Paradise for Sale: A Parable of Nature which is a book that Amanda nominated for August. It is a book about global climate change and how Nauru and other small Pacific Island nations illustrate for us the economic, cultural and psychological dependency we have globally on natural resources that are quickly being used up. I gave it 3.5 as it is 20 years old (published in 2020) and is depressingly still mostly true with the exception of the discussion on renewable energy sources. Just thought I would post this in case anyone needs a book regarding Nauru.
Okay, now onto Radiance of Tomorrow which, although fiction, evidently has some parallel themes.

TY Gail.

The 'Radiance' referred to in the title of this book is not the radiance of hope so much as the capacity of the human spirit to persevere even when hope is largely lost.
The Civil War in Sierra Leone is not a war that outsiders can easily understand. This country of blood diamonds was being horrifically mismanaged by a corrupt dictator but the RUF (Rebels) were supported by the dictator of Libya. The RUF recruited children into the army ranks and they routinely killed and maimed village populations in order to have the villages surrender without fighting. There was a military coup in the midst of the war and the U.N./British/Guinean forces finally came in at the end. It is not your mythical good guys versus bad guys, but a stew of political and economic disasters.
The book takes place about 7 years after the end of the 11 year long war. People are starting to have hope and they return to their homes, the homes of their forefathers, to attempt to build something of their own that will bring peace. Many are physically maimed and all are psychologically scarred.
We are introduced to a cast of characters headed up by two school teachers who become best friends and together struggle to care for their families. However, the peace is shattered by the arrival of a mining company that the government supports out of personal corruption. This is an old story.
The only hope provided is the hope of a young girl who has heard the elder's stories and retained them, and the "Colonel", a warrior and survivor of the civil war, who is able to bring some sense of effective resistance to the loss of dignity during the increasingly hopeless economic disease the white owned mining company causes.
The story is told almost as if it was a non-fiction at times and although the story goes through many changes the characters, by and large, do not change, instead their circumstances become more and more bleak. The lyrical language of the elders that is echoed in some of the descriptions is wonderful but jarring standing up against what is happening in this plot.
Ultimately, the stories may be all that is left of hope in this blighted land.
The book is a great education regarding Sierra Leone but very depressing.
Currently, Sierra Leone has been peaceful for over 20 years but still struggles with a high poverty rate, high illiteracy rate, high unemployment and high inflation.

Gail wrote: "I read Paradise for Sale: A Parable of Nature which is a book that Amanda nominated for August. It is a book about global climate change and how Nauru and other small Pacific Island n..."

I ended up reading it this month too because Embassy wife is on hold and I gave it 4 stars. I would love to see an updated version, but I was impressed with the contents of the book in being a microcosm of the whole world in terms of environmental exploitation and the 'free market' becoming the master of society rather than (allegedly) it's servant.

I also read Radiance of tomorrow to replace my old Sierra Leone book (heart of the matter by Graham Greene) with one from an actual Sierra Leonian author. Like Gail, I also gave it 4 stars and was impressed with the political and personal complexity of the book, despite how stark and almost relentlessly depressing it is. It does have a bit of a thematic overlap with Paradise for sale, as both lay out the human consequences of unbridled capitalist exploitation of natural resources (blood diamonds in Sierra Leone, and phosphorus mining in Nauru).