Memoirs of a porcupine

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Title :

Memoirs of a porcupine / Alain Mabanckou ; translated by Helen Stevenson.

Title:

Memoirs of a porcupine

Author:

Mabanckou, Alain, 1966-

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

150 pages ; 21 cm.

ISBN:

9781593764364

Production / Publication Information:

Berkeley, CA : Soft Skull Press, 2012.

Summary:

All human beings, says an African legend, have an animal double. Some doubles are benign, others wicked. When Kibandi, a boy living in a Congolese village, reaches the age of 11, his father takes him out into the night, and forces him to drink a vile liquid from a jar which has been hidden for years in the earth. This is his initiation.

Language:

English

Subject Term:

Murder -- Africa -- Fiction.

Porcupines -- Fiction.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Chelmsford Public Library	FIC/MABANCKOU	31480010265053	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

All human beings, says an African legend, have an animal double. Some doubles are benign, others wicked. This legend comes to life in Alain Mabanckou's outlandish, surreal, and charmingly nonchalant Memoirs of a Porcupine .
When Kibandi, a boy living in a Congolese village, reaches the age of 11, his father takes him out into the night and forces him to drink a vile liquid from a jar that has been hidden for years in the earth. This is his initiation. From now on, he and his double, a porcupine, become accomplices in murder. They attack neighbors, fellow villagers, and people who simply cross their path, for reasons so slight that it is virtually impossible to establish connection between the killings. As he grows older, Kibandi relies on his double to act out his grizzly compulsions, until one day even the porcupine balks and turns instead to literary confession.
Winner of the Prix Renaudot, France's equal to the National Book Award, Alain Mabanckou is considered one of the most talented writers today. He was selected by the French journal Lire as one of fifty writers to watch this coming century. And as Peter Carey suggests, he "positions himself at the margins, tapping the tradition founded by Celine, Genet, and other subversive writers." In this superb and striking story, Mabanckou brings new power to magical realism, and is sure to excite American audiences nationwide.

Reviews (2)

Booklist Review

He comes from a line of porcupines whose destiny is to serve human beings not for better, but for worse, for the very worst, and as he grows up in the bush, the porcupine becomes the double of a young human monster, Kibandi. Together, they kill and kill. Translated from the French in chatty, fast prose, with mere commas dividing sentences as the porcupine talks to his dear Baobab tree, the novel is really one scenario over and over again. But even if readers skip some parts, they will be caught by the fast, sly observation, not only of the so-called traditional brutality but also of the idiotic white ethnologists, bloated with reason and clogged with prejudice, who want all the locals dressing in leopard skins and living up trees. Born in the Congo and now a teacher at UCLA, award-winning writer Mabanckou blends the surreal with some sour comic observation, and the dual perspective creates a sharp narrative.--Rochman, Hazel Copyright 2010 Booklist

Library Journal Review

Masculine initiation tales are nothing new, but this latest from poet/novelist Mabanckou- (African Psycho)-winner of the Prix Renaudot-gives a twisted and geographically specific take on the genre. According to African legend, every human has an animal double; here, the double of a Congolese boy named Kibandi is a porcupine. Once Kibandi is initiated at age 11, he draws his double into acts of violence and murder. Finally, the poor creature offers a confession for relief. The novel consists of five sections plus an appendix that places a metafictional filter on the novel: "this singular porcupine, so likable, chatty and restless, with his deep knowledge of human nature and his way, even up to the final page, of wielding digression like a weapon, his aim being to draw a portrait of us human beings, and often, indeed, to blame us." VERDICT The breezy writing plays fast and loose with familiar grammatical rules but is overall a pleasure to read if you can stomach the unexplained violence of a story where, halfway through, "death has relieved my master of the last of his scruples."-Travis Fristoe, Alachua Co. Lib. District, Gainesville, FL (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.