- Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Soft Skull Press (May 7 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1593762739
- ISBN-13: 978-1593762735
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 16.8 x 1.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #378,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"'This is Taxi Driver for Africa's blank generation... a deftly ironic Grand Guignol, a pulp fiction vision of Frantz Fanon's "wretched of the earth" that somehow manages to be both frightening and self-mocking at the same time' Time Out, New York '[An] auspicious debut from a francophone author who most certainly deserves to be discovered. It is smart, stylish and plenty "literary'" Globe and Mall 'Mabanckou's novel... discovers a fascinating new way to hang readers on those tenterhooks... African Psycho presents no gloomy Raskolnikov, nor the fixed sneer of Patrick Bateman, but a haunted burlesque' The Believer 'A macabre but comical take on a would-be serial killer' Vanity Fair 'Disturbing - and disturbingly funny' New Yorker"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
The history of 'Credit Gone Away', a squalid Congolese bar, is related by one of its most loyal customers, Broken Glass, who has been commissioned by its owner to set down an account of the characters who frequent it. Broken Glass himself is a disgraced alcoholic school teacher with a love of French language and literature which he has largely failed to communicate to his pupils but which he displays in the pages of his notebook. The notebook is also a farewell to the bar and to his fellow drinkers. After writing the final words Broken Glass will go down to the River Tchinouka and throw himself into its murky waters, where his lamented mother also drowned.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Recombinant, May 20 2010
By Cynthia "Andante Cantabile" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Broken Glass (Paperback)
This is a quirky book with lots of clever pivots to literature, arts, politics, popular culture, religion, etc. In fact the best parts of the book are when Mabanckou goes off on a jazz like riff where he ties in unrelated things in clever ways. Here's a description of a fist fight between Broken and another damaged patron, other customers gather to witness, "....because I was Mohammed Ali and he was George Foreman, and I was floating like a butterfly, I was stinging like a bee, and he was a flat footed vegetable....." Here's a passage comparing a charismatic shaman to another showman, "...Hitchcock was a real life-size character, a talented man, a guy who could make your spine shiver just with a few birds, or a rear window, he could turn you into a psycho with a single characteristic little trick....."Broken Glass is the name of the narrator. He's a patron/hanger on/employee at the Credit Gone West Bar in the Congo. The bar owner, Stubborn Snail, asks Broken to create a chronicle of the other inhabitants. Since Broken is a former educator who's fallen on tough times he's a natural at interviewing and documenting others while keeping up with his red wine quotient. Obviously the book is rife with metaphor and it's mostly funny in a tragic way until Broken begins to tell his own story. Then it's depressing and everymanish.
Mabanckou's sentences begin with small letters. Only names and places start with capitals. He doesn't use periods, words fall over one another separated by commas. Sadness repeats itself and never ends. Tragedy doesn't change, the same stories repeat. This was a difficult book to enjoy though it was clever and insightful and for all I know, in my ignorance, indicative of Africa.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A short, compelling read, Jan 7 2011
By Chris Gillespie - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Broken Glass (Paperback)
The old alcoholic and aptly named Broken Glass lives at the only bar in Congo, the Credit Gone West, and writes compelling stories of his experiences at the bar -- customer stories, his addiction to red wine, and what led to his ultimate demise to town lush."Broken Glass" is a short read, I finished the book in a few days, but the ride is fun while it lass. Each of Broken Glass' stories are well-told: rich with dark humor, cultural references, and are in some cases very sad. There are some memorable scenes, one of which includes a pissing content between crass bar patrons.
My only gripe with "Broken Glass" is that the author loses steam towards the end of the book, which is more of reflection of Broken Glass' character arc, but lacks the same charm and humor of the work's early stories.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Floats and stings, Feb 9 2012
By Phoenix - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Broken Glass (Paperback)
Call this a literary feat, a tragedy a good ramble...more than anything I found the narrator picked me up and wouldn't let me go until the last page. A short but powerful novel, full of literary/cultural allusions and laugh out loud, totally absurd scenes that form the most memorable parts of this book.
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