Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote

Item: Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote
Author: WhichBook

Ahmadou Kourouma

This is not an easy read but I believe this is because the book captures modern Africa, and so is chockful of traditions and magic about which I knew nothing but which came alive as I read. Full too of Black history and colonialism, beauty and cruelty which made me despair. Read this book if it's the only one you read this century.

Extract

On every ballot paper, every 'no' vote had become a 'yes'. Fricassa Santos, a prodigy and a initiate, had succeeded thanks to the magic he had learned during his apprenticeship with the voodoo masters of Notse in Togo and the marabouts of Timbuktu. The Republique du Golfe was declared independent. Independence recognised de facto by the UN .... Santos had no need to make the pilgrimage to General de Gaulle.

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