Small Country

author: Gaël Faye
name: Wayne
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2018/08/09
date added: 2018/08/09
shelves:
review:
'Small Country' by Gael Faye with translation by Sarah Ardizzone is a coming of age story set against a civil war in a small African country.

The main character is Gabriel, and the book is framed as a memoir he is writing in his 30s now that he lives in France. It tells the story of his family in 1992 living in Burundi. His Rwandan mother escaped her own atrocities years earlier and Gabriel and his family seem to have a pretty good life at the beginning of the book.

The looming future hangs over the book, but it seems like it takes a while to start. When it does, Gabriel sees it affect those around them, including himself.

I felt a little detached from the main character. He was hard to feel empathy for, and I can't understand why. Is it because this is a story we are familiar with in more recent news? Maybe it's because Gabriel himself seems a bit detached about things. I liked the book, but not as much as I imagined I might.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Hogarth, Crown Publishing, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.


via Wayne's bookshelf: read https://ift.tt/2vRJhoB