Song for Night by Chris Abani

Song for Night

Chris Abani

Lyrically written but brutally violent, this is the story of My Luck, a young boy trained to find mines who has had his vocal cords cut so he can't scream if he steps on a device and is maimed or killed. Although there are brief glimpses of hope in the story, what you ultimately come away with is a sense of the depraved horror of this child's life in an unrelenting war.

Extract
I remember a group I saw once. Children without arms or legs or both, men with only half a face, women with shrapnel-chewed scars for breasts - all of them holding onto life and hope with a fire that burned feverishly in their eyes. If any light comes from this war, it will come from eyes such as those.
Parallels
  • Waiting for an Angel by Helon Habila
  • A Girl Made of Dust by Nathalie Abi-ezzi
Borrow this book
Violence