Paradise
by
3.53 · Rating details · 711 ratings · 83 reviews
Paradise is at once the story of an African boy's coming of age, a tragic love story, and a tale of the corruption of traditional African patterns by European colonialism. It presents a major African voice to American readers - a voice that prompted Peter Tinniswood to write in the London Times, reviewing Gurnah's previous novel, "Mr. Gurnah is a very fine writer. I am certain he will become a great one."
Paradise is Abdulrazak Gurnah's great novel.
At twelve, Yusuf, the protagonist of this twentieth-century odyssey, is sold by his father in repayment of a debt. From the simple life of rural Africa, Yusuf is thrown into the complexities of precolonial urban East Africa - a fascinating world in which Muslim black Africans, Christian missionaries, and Indians from the subcontinent coexist in a fragile, subtle social hierarchy. Through the eyes of Yusuf, Gurnah depicts communities at war, trading safaris gone awry, and the universal trials of adolescence. Then, just as Yusuf begins to comprehend the choices required of him, he and everyone around him must adjust to the new reality of European colonialism. The result is a page-turning saga that covers the same territory as the novels of Isak Dinesen and William Boyd, but does so from a perspective never before available on that seldom-chronicled part of the world. (less)
Paperback, 256 pages
Published May 1st 1995 by The New Press (first published 1994)
The fourth novel by the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize.
From the Nobel Citation
The novel was shorlisted for the Booker Prize in 1994
---------------------------------------------
From my own review from 2005
Story set in East Africa – apparently set in what becomes Tanzania just before First World War (although this was not obvious to me until I researched reviews of the book).
Story concerns Yusuf – who as a young boy is asked to go to live with his uncle – but who realises he has been in fact sold to a merchant and trader “Uncle Aziz” to pay off his father’s debts. Story starts and end with Yusuf helping another person in a similar predicament – Khalil – in the store near the home of the merchant and his mysterious wife “the mistress”.
Much of the book is taken up with the story of Yusuf’s travels with Aziz – first to stay with one of his junior partners and then to accompany Aziz and his fiery overseers on a dangerous trip inland.
End of the book is back at the shop – the mistress – who suffers from some kind of facial blemish – is convinced that Yusuf has magical powers that can save her – possibly even by sleeping with her. To Khalil’s horror Yusuf becomes more and more reckless in indulging her fantasies – principally so he can see the mistress’s maid – Khalil’s sister Amina.
Over time he learns Amina’s story – she is in fact adopted by Khalil’s father after he rescues her from slavers but only so in turn he can repay some debts by selling her as a child bride to Aziz. Khalil is in fact free but abandoned by his family keeps in servitude so as to guard his sister but also because he no longer has the courage or will to do anything else. As things get more complex Yusuf too realises his cowardice is too great for him and the book ends with him running after some German soldiers who were press ganging villagers to be their porters.
Book paints evocative picture of an Africa society on the verge of change – a mainly Muslim area ruled by superstition and mysticism and riven by strange tribes, as the Europeans gradually exert their power on the continent and the land turns increasingly violent and corrupt.
Like the previous book I read by Gurnah ("From the Sea") though I found it hard to really care for characters or to understand their society or thoughts. (less)
From the Nobel Citation
Gurnah’s fourth novel, Paradise (1994), his breakthrough as a writer, evolved from a research trip to East Africa around 1990. The novel has obvious reference to Joseph Conrad in its portrayal of the innocent young hero Yusuf’s journey to the heart of darkness. But it is also a coming of age account and a sad love story in which different worlds and belief systems collide. We are given a retelling of the Quran’s story of Joseph, against the background of a violent and detailed description of the colonisation of East Africa in the late 19th century. In a reversal of the Quran story’s optimistic ending, where Joseph is rewarded for the strength of his faith, Gurnah’s Yusuf feels forced to abandon Amina, the woman he loves, to join the German army he had previously despised. It is characteristic of Gurnah to frustrate the reader’s expectations of a happy ending, or an ending conforming to genre.
The novel was shorlisted for the Booker Prize in 1994
---------------------------------------------
From my own review from 2005
Story set in East Africa – apparently set in what becomes Tanzania just before First World War (although this was not obvious to me until I researched reviews of the book).
Story concerns Yusuf – who as a young boy is asked to go to live with his uncle – but who realises he has been in fact sold to a merchant and trader “Uncle Aziz” to pay off his father’s debts. Story starts and end with Yusuf helping another person in a similar predicament – Khalil – in the store near the home of the merchant and his mysterious wife “the mistress”.
Much of the book is taken up with the story of Yusuf’s travels with Aziz – first to stay with one of his junior partners and then to accompany Aziz and his fiery overseers on a dangerous trip inland.
End of the book is back at the shop – the mistress – who suffers from some kind of facial blemish – is convinced that Yusuf has magical powers that can save her – possibly even by sleeping with her. To Khalil’s horror Yusuf becomes more and more reckless in indulging her fantasies – principally so he can see the mistress’s maid – Khalil’s sister Amina.
Over time he learns Amina’s story – she is in fact adopted by Khalil’s father after he rescues her from slavers but only so in turn he can repay some debts by selling her as a child bride to Aziz. Khalil is in fact free but abandoned by his family keeps in servitude so as to guard his sister but also because he no longer has the courage or will to do anything else. As things get more complex Yusuf too realises his cowardice is too great for him and the book ends with him running after some German soldiers who were press ganging villagers to be their porters.
Book paints evocative picture of an Africa society on the verge of change – a mainly Muslim area ruled by superstition and mysticism and riven by strange tribes, as the Europeans gradually exert their power on the continent and the land turns increasingly violent and corrupt.
Like the previous book I read by Gurnah ("From the Sea") though I found it hard to really care for characters or to understand their society or thoughts. (less)
A curious and surprising novel, which I think can be easily misunderstood, if the reviews are anyhing to go by.
It concerns Yusef, a boy who is taken by his "uncle" from his parents to pay a debt. He works in his uncle's shop with Khalil an older boy in a similar situation. As Yusef grows it is clear that he is very attractive to women and men. Uncle Aziz takes him on one of his trading expeditions through what is now Tanzania and we encounter jungle, strange and wonderful people; Yusef stays with a trading partner of Aziz for a time, where his growing attractiveness continues to be a problem. He then goes on a journey with Aziz and his trading caravan and has further adventures. They return to the uncle's home after some time and Yusef's beauty continues to be a problem.
There is a, on the surface, puzzling end. Yusef is a narrator who is a little apart and things happen to him in an oddly detached way. The Europeans are very much a background threat until the end; an ominous absence.
There was a richness and depth to the story and there are parallels to another story. Even with my limited knowledge of the Koran, there were obvious similarities with the story of The Prophet. However this is all about corruption; the worm in the bud, the rotting fruit. Yusef seems so innocent and acted upon, but there is something at his core that he sees that no one around him does. The end is completely baffling if you do not see it.
Enjoyable read which asked more questions than I initially thought it would. (less)
It concerns Yusef, a boy who is taken by his "uncle" from his parents to pay a debt. He works in his uncle's shop with Khalil an older boy in a similar situation. As Yusef grows it is clear that he is very attractive to women and men. Uncle Aziz takes him on one of his trading expeditions through what is now Tanzania and we encounter jungle, strange and wonderful people; Yusef stays with a trading partner of Aziz for a time, where his growing attractiveness continues to be a problem. He then goes on a journey with Aziz and his trading caravan and has further adventures. They return to the uncle's home after some time and Yusef's beauty continues to be a problem.
There is a, on the surface, puzzling end. Yusef is a narrator who is a little apart and things happen to him in an oddly detached way. The Europeans are very much a background threat until the end; an ominous absence.
There was a richness and depth to the story and there are parallels to another story. Even with my limited knowledge of the Koran, there were obvious similarities with the story of The Prophet. However this is all about corruption; the worm in the bud, the rotting fruit. Yusef seems so innocent and acted upon, but there is something at his core that he sees that no one around him does. The end is completely baffling if you do not see it.
Enjoyable read which asked more questions than I initially thought it would. (less)
May 31, 2015Jim Fonseca rated it really liked it
A historical novel set around WWI in East Africa, modern-day Kenya and Tanzania, then the area around Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The Germans are moving in and building railroads. A young man from the interior is sold into bondage by his father to his uncle in payment of a debt. Poverty at home is such that the boy looks forward to a bone in his soup, so moving to the coastal city may be an improvement. The uncle owns a store in a coastal city and is a trader in the days of year-long pack-animal caravans into the heart of Africa (the lakes around where modern-day Congo and Uganda meet).
The story switches from the rural interior to the cosmopolitan urban coastal world. The boy and his uncle are Moslems; the young man who runs the store and takes charge of the boy is Indian; the interior folks have traditional African religions. There is discussion of differences among the various gods. The characters use a variety of languages including Arabic, German and English; the lingua franca is Swahili. There is much discussion of “what do the Europeans want?”
The boy’s trip into the interior is a stand-alone adventure story. In this all-male world of travelers and traders there is much homoerotic talk and some sex. Our narrator, who is a “pretty boy,” is constantly fending off advances from men. The beginning of the end starts when he begins to get involved with his master’s two wives. In the end the defining moment brings our main character back to the beginning: will he accept his serfdom for life or will he revolt? Everyone else accepts their serfdom: even if you are “freed,” where can you go? What would you do?
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The story switches from the rural interior to the cosmopolitan urban coastal world. The boy and his uncle are Moslems; the young man who runs the store and takes charge of the boy is Indian; the interior folks have traditional African religions. There is discussion of differences among the various gods. The characters use a variety of languages including Arabic, German and English; the lingua franca is Swahili. There is much discussion of “what do the Europeans want?”
The boy’s trip into the interior is a stand-alone adventure story. In this all-male world of travelers and traders there is much homoerotic talk and some sex. Our narrator, who is a “pretty boy,” is constantly fending off advances from men. The beginning of the end starts when he begins to get involved with his master’s two wives. In the end the defining moment brings our main character back to the beginning: will he accept his serfdom for life or will he revolt? Everyone else accepts their serfdom: even if you are “freed,” where can you go? What would you do?
(less)
Jun 25, 2020Kiprop Kimutai rated it really liked it
I read Abdulrazak for his language, his complex tales and how he explores the histories of the East African coast. The story is so well-paced and introduces an assortment of characters that I grew to love and care for. The dynamic between Yusuf and Khalil is most memorable and is well-resolved. And the ending is a big surprise!
Nov 02, 2012Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship rated it it was ok · review of another edition
Shelves: africa, historical-fiction, 2-stars, tanzania, world-books-challenge
The best description I can give of this book is that it reads like a translation, even though it isn’t. There’s a certain flatness and distance to the writing that I associate with poor translations, and this turned out to be a book I had to push myself through. Fortunately, it’s short.
Paradise is the story of an adolescent boy, Yusuf, in early 20th century Tanzania. Yusuf's parents sell him to a merchant to satisfy a debt, and he spends the rest of the book working in the merchant’s shop and accompanying him on a trading expedition to the interior. And that's the plot in its entirety. Apparently it’s supposed to be a parable, mirroring the story of the Prophet Yusuf (the same person as Joseph in Genesis, unless I miss my guess). Unfortunately, the book is written in a plodding style and Yusuf is a non-entity, without personality or goals to keep the reader's interest. I’ve read interpretations arguing Yusuf was written as a blank state to symbolize Tanzania, which was at a crossroads (we see the beginning of European colonization here, as well as Arab and Indian influences). I suspect that does Tanzania a disservice, however, as no country could possibly be as boring as Yusuf.
I try to give foreign literature the benefit of the doubt, as there’s always the possibility that I just lack the cultural background to understand it, and East African readers would doubtless appreciate this more than I do. There is some story here, albeit a plodding one, and there are sparks of character among the secondary cast, particularly the merchants. While there’s not an enormous amount of cultural detail, the book did put Tanzania on my mental map in a way that it wasn’t before. However, this book completely failed to entertain me, and I found little to appreciate in the writing. (My favorite line: “ ‘I don’t know,’ Uncle Aziz said, shrugging with indifference.” Yes, the shrug had already tipped me off to his indifference.)
In the end, not a book I’d recommend unless you are Tanzanian or are writing a thesis on a relevant topic. For the rest of us, not much to see here. (less)
Paradise is the story of an adolescent boy, Yusuf, in early 20th century Tanzania. Yusuf's parents sell him to a merchant to satisfy a debt, and he spends the rest of the book working in the merchant’s shop and accompanying him on a trading expedition to the interior. And that's the plot in its entirety. Apparently it’s supposed to be a parable, mirroring the story of the Prophet Yusuf (the same person as Joseph in Genesis, unless I miss my guess). Unfortunately, the book is written in a plodding style and Yusuf is a non-entity, without personality or goals to keep the reader's interest. I’ve read interpretations arguing Yusuf was written as a blank state to symbolize Tanzania, which was at a crossroads (we see the beginning of European colonization here, as well as Arab and Indian influences). I suspect that does Tanzania a disservice, however, as no country could possibly be as boring as Yusuf.
I try to give foreign literature the benefit of the doubt, as there’s always the possibility that I just lack the cultural background to understand it, and East African readers would doubtless appreciate this more than I do. There is some story here, albeit a plodding one, and there are sparks of character among the secondary cast, particularly the merchants. While there’s not an enormous amount of cultural detail, the book did put Tanzania on my mental map in a way that it wasn’t before. However, this book completely failed to entertain me, and I found little to appreciate in the writing. (My favorite line: “ ‘I don’t know,’ Uncle Aziz said, shrugging with indifference.” Yes, the shrug had already tipped me off to his indifference.)
In the end, not a book I’d recommend unless you are Tanzanian or are writing a thesis on a relevant topic. For the rest of us, not much to see here. (less)
Mar 13, 2020Carmen rated it liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: 2020-globetrotter, africa, colonialism, historical-fiction, fiction, 2020
Isn't it pleasant to think that Paradise will be like this?" Hamid asked, speaking softly into the night air which was full of the sound of water, "Waterfalls that are more beautiful than anything we can imagine. Even more beautiful than this one, if you can imagine that, Yusuf. Did you know that is where all earthly waters have their source? The four rivers of Paradise. They run in different directions, north south east west, dividing God's garden into quarters. And there is water everywhere. Under the pavilions, by the orchards, running down terraces, alongside the walks by the woods."(less)
Oct 07, 2021Kim rated it liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: fiction, read-before-goodreads, literary-fiction, nobel-prize
I read this in 2009 before I'd joined goodreads.
I gave it 3 stars. It is a bookcrossing book and I vaguely remember it.
I journaled - An interesting story about a boy growing up in slavery in an East African country.
I think this is a very good book to share and I'm interested in what others think of it.
The book was short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1994.
This book is the 50th I've registered on Bookcrossing.com.
In Jan 2010 I gave it to a dear friend to enjoy, but I can't for the life of me remember who that was, lol.
The author won the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature today.
https://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/... (less)
I gave it 3 stars. It is a bookcrossing book and I vaguely remember it.
I journaled - An interesting story about a boy growing up in slavery in an East African country.
I think this is a very good book to share and I'm interested in what others think of it.
The book was short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1994.
This book is the 50th I've registered on Bookcrossing.com.
In Jan 2010 I gave it to a dear friend to enjoy, but I can't for the life of me remember who that was, lol.
The author won the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature today.
https://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/... (less)
Oct 28, 2007Shannon marked it as unfinished · review of another edition
Shelves: 2012, historical-fiction
DNF
I rarely do this, but I have to face facts: I'm not going to finish this book. Maybe I could have another day, another time, a different place and mood, but considering I was reading this in April for the Around the World in 12 Books Challenge, I've run out of time and must admit defeat. Out of 247 pages I read to page 126.
Shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize (now the Man Booker Prize), this story about a boy called Yusuf who is sold into the service of a successful merchant to pay his father's debts when he is 12, has much to recommend it and I don't in the slightest want to put anyone else off reading it.
Set during a time of European expansion in Africa - sometime before WWII, judging by the descriptions of the German's silver cross flag (after the war, Africa was divided up more clearly by the Europeans but before it, places like Tanzania saw several different colonisers - I picture them mapping their way through the land, deciding which bits they want based on the natural resources available) - this place that wasn't quite Tanzania yet is on the cusp of losing its pre-colonial identity. Through Yusuf's innocent, uneducated eyes we get glimpses and snippets of the presence of Germans, Belgiums and Brits, though most of the time the locals don't even know - or care - what country they're from.
Interestingly enough, though, the Indians seem to have largely "joined the other side", so to speak, and are practically native, with their own insights into colonialism. The clash of cultures is delicate, subtle and quite beautifully rendered, and entirely from the perspective of the Africans (at least up to where I read) in the days before the Europeans brought their own war to African soil. Take this snippet of conversation between Kalasinga, a Shiekh Indian who lives almost like a local (and is accepted by them), and Hussein, a shop keeper who lives in a village halfway up the mountain:
But the novel itself seemed to be less about colonialism - at least directly - and more about the end of Africa's isolation from foreign interests and greed. As Yusuf journeys into the interior with the merchant, Aziz, and a large retinue of porters and guards, conversation and descriptions of landscapes become more and more about, well, paradise. Not having finished it, I don't have a complete picture of the novel and where it's going, thematically, but I wanted to at least share with you what I gleaned from the half that I did read. It's also about religion - namely Islam, seeing as the people converted to it long before the Europeans arrived - and paradise as a garden is the highest level of heaven in that religion. I can't even say if this is presented in an overly romantic or nostalgic way - it didn't seem so, but I'd need to read the whole thing.
As I said, I don't want to put anyone else off reading this. Where I struggled was with the prose. It's technically, or grammatically, an easy story to read, but my mind constantly wandered and the way the story's written, I found it very hard to visualise as I read, making it even harder for me to concentrate and focus on the story.
You know how sometimes you read a story that you loved and you say something like, it drew me in or I got lost in the story or even the more dull, I couldn't put it down. Those stories stay with us for a long time, and the magic of the prose lingers on in our heads - as do the images. This was the opposite of that, for me. I felt immensely distant from the actual story, by not the words per se but the structure of the sentences. It occurred to me at some point that this could very well be an African style of storytelling, which I struggled with because I'm so used to a European, or western style of storytelling. I'm not even sure that sharing a quote would help get this across, as there was no particular passage that alienated me and it all reads perfectly well. Maybe that's the problem: maybe it's too literal for me and so I had a hard time visualising. I'm sure a linguist would have a theory or two.
Ugh I hate not finishing books!
(less)
I rarely do this, but I have to face facts: I'm not going to finish this book. Maybe I could have another day, another time, a different place and mood, but considering I was reading this in April for the Around the World in 12 Books Challenge, I've run out of time and must admit defeat. Out of 247 pages I read to page 126.
Shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize (now the Man Booker Prize), this story about a boy called Yusuf who is sold into the service of a successful merchant to pay his father's debts when he is 12, has much to recommend it and I don't in the slightest want to put anyone else off reading it.
Set during a time of European expansion in Africa - sometime before WWII, judging by the descriptions of the German's silver cross flag (after the war, Africa was divided up more clearly by the Europeans but before it, places like Tanzania saw several different colonisers - I picture them mapping their way through the land, deciding which bits they want based on the natural resources available) - this place that wasn't quite Tanzania yet is on the cusp of losing its pre-colonial identity. Through Yusuf's innocent, uneducated eyes we get glimpses and snippets of the presence of Germans, Belgiums and Brits, though most of the time the locals don't even know - or care - what country they're from.
Interestingly enough, though, the Indians seem to have largely "joined the other side", so to speak, and are practically native, with their own insights into colonialism. The clash of cultures is delicate, subtle and quite beautifully rendered, and entirely from the perspective of the Africans (at least up to where I read) in the days before the Europeans brought their own war to African soil. Take this snippet of conversation between Kalasinga, a Shiekh Indian who lives almost like a local (and is accepted by them), and Hussein, a shop keeper who lives in a village halfway up the mountain:
'In India they have been ruling for centuries,' Kalasinga said. 'Here you are not civilized, how can they do the same? Even in South Africa, it is only the gold and the diamonds that make it worth while killing all the people there and taking the land. What is there here They'll argue and squabble, steal this and that, maybe fight one petty war after another, and when they become tired they'll go home.'
'You're dreaming, my friend,' Hussein said. 'Look how they've already divided up the best land on the mountain among themselves. In the mountain country north of here they've driven off even the fiercest peoples and taken their land. They chased them away as if they were children, without any difficulty, and buried some of their leaders alive. Don't you know that? The only ones they allowed to stay were those they made into servants. A skirmish or two with their weapons and the matter of possession is settled. Does that sound as if they've come here for a visit? I tell you they're determined. They want the whole world.' [pp86-7]
But the novel itself seemed to be less about colonialism - at least directly - and more about the end of Africa's isolation from foreign interests and greed. As Yusuf journeys into the interior with the merchant, Aziz, and a large retinue of porters and guards, conversation and descriptions of landscapes become more and more about, well, paradise. Not having finished it, I don't have a complete picture of the novel and where it's going, thematically, but I wanted to at least share with you what I gleaned from the half that I did read. It's also about religion - namely Islam, seeing as the people converted to it long before the Europeans arrived - and paradise as a garden is the highest level of heaven in that religion. I can't even say if this is presented in an overly romantic or nostalgic way - it didn't seem so, but I'd need to read the whole thing.
As I said, I don't want to put anyone else off reading this. Where I struggled was with the prose. It's technically, or grammatically, an easy story to read, but my mind constantly wandered and the way the story's written, I found it very hard to visualise as I read, making it even harder for me to concentrate and focus on the story.
You know how sometimes you read a story that you loved and you say something like, it drew me in or I got lost in the story or even the more dull, I couldn't put it down. Those stories stay with us for a long time, and the magic of the prose lingers on in our heads - as do the images. This was the opposite of that, for me. I felt immensely distant from the actual story, by not the words per se but the structure of the sentences. It occurred to me at some point that this could very well be an African style of storytelling, which I struggled with because I'm so used to a European, or western style of storytelling. I'm not even sure that sharing a quote would help get this across, as there was no particular passage that alienated me and it all reads perfectly well. Maybe that's the problem: maybe it's too literal for me and so I had a hard time visualising. I'm sure a linguist would have a theory or two.
Ugh I hate not finishing books!
(less)
Jan 18, 2021Jerry Pogan rated it really liked it
A great, somewhat adventurous, story of a young boy named Yusuf who is put into servitude to his "Uncle Aziz" by his father to pay off his debts. He is put under the care of Khalil, a young man also put into servitude to pay off a debt, to learn the business of his uncle. Once he has grown to be a young man Yusuf accompanies his uncle on a very adventurous trading mission that is filled with hardship and danger. It is a beautifully told story set in the period leading up to World War I that talks of the Muslim African culture and a little about European intrusion. (less)
Oct 11, 2021Gregory Duke marked it as did-not-finish · review of another edition
If Gurnah hadn't just won the Nobel Prize, I wouldn't have made it past fifty or so pages. I'm still intrigued by his whole body of work, but this is just so utterly bland. It has the ring of an aged myth, with extreme distance and opaque characters and all, which is just something I cannot stand. I appreciate Gurnah's evocation of the multiculturalism of pre-colonial Tanzania, and his discussion of colonialism is fascinating in how it sort of becomes a pan-European dilemma, primarily focusing on English and German colonizers. There are also just odd sequences of older women preying on Yusuf, the protagonist, and a prevalence of "sodomizers" that leave a bad taste in my mouth. I couldn't really conceive of what benefit these things add to the novel. Oh well. Hopefully, Desertion or By the Sea is better. (less)
Mar 11, 2018Lisa Faye rated it liked it
I really enjoyed listening to a story told while Tanzania was just experiencing the first bit of colonization and even better to hear it from someone from a lower caste. The plot if pretty much non-existent, but there are some interesting characters in the book that carry you along on the various stories.
May 17, 2020Colin Davison rated it really liked it · review of another edition
The setting is German East Africa on the eve of the First World War, as the boy Yusuf – taken from his parents to settle a debt – journeys into the interior with merchant ‘uncle’ Aziz.
It’s a black man’s Heart of Darkness, through tribal lands of many languages, ethnic groups and general cruelty, making Yusuf feel like ‘a soft-fleshed animal which had left its shell.’
But these rivalries are subsumed by submission and humiliation in the face of the new colonialism, and each of the native characters is defined by their attitude to the Europeans, regarded by some as super-human:
- ‘There’s nothing we can learn which will stop them .. We’ll lose everything, including the way we live’
- ‘Let’s leave it all in God’s hands’
- ‘Learn how to cope with them’
- ‘They will have fucked us up every hole in our bodies.. We’ll be worse than the shit they’ll make us eat.’
Yusuf himself concludes ‘‘They’ve raised us to be timid and obedient, to honour them even as they misuse us.’ He has in mind his own indentured situation, but he could be speaking for a continent. As for the other comments directly relating to the white newcomers, it is notable that when the first German military column departs at end of the book all they leave behind is literally shit, which hungry dogs guard jealously. And as the column disappears, Yusuf runs after it, presumably to join its ranks.
Most of the action takes place in what is today Tanzania, and in Yusuf’s expeditions through Congo and Kenya we see African on the brink of change, a strange and often frightening place defined by the local myths told at each settlement.
The book opens promisingly as the sun makes trees ‘tremble in the air and .. houses shudder and heave for breath’ but thereafter it often resembles the style of an oral story-teller, fast-forwarding over moments of action – a woman attacked by a crocodile, a raid on the camp – on which other writers might linger. And sometimes literary shorthand – ‘writhing in comic agony’, men offering themselves to a frustrated widow – can make the narrative seem more like a distant reflection than a live description.
What of Paradise? There is a legendary garden in Herat, attributed to a (fictional) poet with the same name as the author. Can paradise exist in reality, asks Yusuf, before coming across a waterfall and lake probably near Kilimanjaro. ‘If there is paradise on earth, it is here,’ says Mohammed Abdalla, the cynical and cruel expedition leader.
They cannot linger there, but there is another garden, enclosed and at first barred to him, between the shop to which Yusuf must return and the home of Aziz and his closeted wife. That too is a place of pleasure and enchantment, which I assume Yusuf finally abandons. Paradise Lost? (less)
It’s a black man’s Heart of Darkness, through tribal lands of many languages, ethnic groups and general cruelty, making Yusuf feel like ‘a soft-fleshed animal which had left its shell.’
But these rivalries are subsumed by submission and humiliation in the face of the new colonialism, and each of the native characters is defined by their attitude to the Europeans, regarded by some as super-human:
- ‘There’s nothing we can learn which will stop them .. We’ll lose everything, including the way we live’
- ‘Let’s leave it all in God’s hands’
- ‘Learn how to cope with them’
- ‘They will have fucked us up every hole in our bodies.. We’ll be worse than the shit they’ll make us eat.’
Yusuf himself concludes ‘‘They’ve raised us to be timid and obedient, to honour them even as they misuse us.’ He has in mind his own indentured situation, but he could be speaking for a continent. As for the other comments directly relating to the white newcomers, it is notable that when the first German military column departs at end of the book all they leave behind is literally shit, which hungry dogs guard jealously. And as the column disappears, Yusuf runs after it, presumably to join its ranks.
Most of the action takes place in what is today Tanzania, and in Yusuf’s expeditions through Congo and Kenya we see African on the brink of change, a strange and often frightening place defined by the local myths told at each settlement.
The book opens promisingly as the sun makes trees ‘tremble in the air and .. houses shudder and heave for breath’ but thereafter it often resembles the style of an oral story-teller, fast-forwarding over moments of action – a woman attacked by a crocodile, a raid on the camp – on which other writers might linger. And sometimes literary shorthand – ‘writhing in comic agony’, men offering themselves to a frustrated widow – can make the narrative seem more like a distant reflection than a live description.
What of Paradise? There is a legendary garden in Herat, attributed to a (fictional) poet with the same name as the author. Can paradise exist in reality, asks Yusuf, before coming across a waterfall and lake probably near Kilimanjaro. ‘If there is paradise on earth, it is here,’ says Mohammed Abdalla, the cynical and cruel expedition leader.
They cannot linger there, but there is another garden, enclosed and at first barred to him, between the shop to which Yusuf must return and the home of Aziz and his closeted wife. That too is a place of pleasure and enchantment, which I assume Yusuf finally abandons. Paradise Lost? (less)
May 09, 2011Catherine rated it really liked it
Shelves: germany, race, 2011, 50books_bipoc2011, islam, colonialism, tanzania
Centered on the life of Yusuf, taken from his home to repay a debt to a trader, Paradise sets the reader down in the region we now know as Tanzania and asks that we look at the world from that vantage point, in all its complexity. Europeans arrive on the scene as strange, ugly creatures with hair growing out their ears and a bewildering sense of authority; ethnic and racial divisions criss-cross each community and reveal the history of trade and human migration that have shaped the region for hundreds of years; resistance, adaptation, and cooperation mark varied responses to the incursion of European economic goals into older systems. There is much here about what it means to be poor - and what poor actually is - about religion as a lived experience, about slavery and freedom, and about masculine performance. All this and a completely captivating coming-of-age story too (although I wish the ending had been less abrupt). (less)
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