4.5 stars *may change
I'm at a loss for words about this book. A memoir based on Ibrahima Balde's journey and put into words by the poet Amets Arzallus Antia, this is truly an astonishing book. Following his journey from Guinea to Libya, Algeria, Morocco—Ibrahima faces the darkest parts of life as he searches for his brother Alhassane.
This was not a joyful book. Far from it, it's one of the most realistically tragic things I've read. The worst part about everything is that you know it's true. That these are more than words put on paper: they're the living, breathing memories and recollections of a man at his worst.
I've said this many times, but I don't read book descriptions. I find that they're usually very misleading about the actual contents of the story. That being said, it also means I end up having no clue what's happening. I genuinely didn't know this was a memoir until the end when it showcased the authors. Because of that, the writing really took me off guard.
That's something I would lead with: the writing in this is weird. It's written by a poet, so of course it ought to be a bit bizarre, but it also takes the extra step of being a /translated/ book, so it's already further changed the story. Usually most books tend to go for that poetic, flowery prose. Not this. This is straight-to-the-point in every regard. In fact, I'm almost 99% sure this book was written by Balde speaking into a recorder and Antia just transcribing the whole thing. He speaks to the reader multiple times and has an incredibly conversational tone. Not even exaggerating—there's a bit where he says something along the lines of, "Do you see my pants here? Look there," and, of course, I can't see them and I can't look there because he's not really here.
I don't have anything to say or to add to the actual contents of the story. Very simply, it is something that should be read from his mouth alone. Truly quite horrific.
Thank you to Edelweiss for providing an advanced reader's copy.