The Villain's Dance

by Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Roland Glasser (Translator)

Following the international success of his debut novel Tram 83, Fiston Mwanza Mujila is back with his highly anticipated second novel, which follows a remarkable series of characters during the Mobutu regime. The Democratic Republic of Congo, otherwise known as Congo-Kinshasa or DRCongo, has had a series of names since its founding. The name of Zaire best corresponds to the experience of the novel’s characters. The years of Mobutu’s regime were filled with utopias, dreams, fantasies and other uncontrolled desires for social redemption, the quest for easy enrichment and the desecration of places of power. Among these Zairians’ immigration to Angola during the civil war boycotting the borders inherited from colonization, as if the country did not have its own diamonds, and the occupation of public places by children from outside. The author creates the atmosphere of the time through a roundup of the diviner Tshiamuena, also known as Madonna of the Cafunfo mines, prides herself of being God with whoever is willing to listen to her. Franz Baumgartner, an apprentice writer originally from Austria and rumba lover, goes around the bars in search of material for his novel. Sanza, Le Blanc and other street children share information to the intelligence services when they are not living off begging and robbery. Djibril, taxi driver, only lives for reggae music. As soon as night falls, each character dances and plays his own role in a country mined by dictatorship.

Genres: Africa, Fiction, Historical Fiction, France, Historical, Adult, Audiobook

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2020

About the author

Fiston Nasser Mwanza Mujila is a Congolese writer.. He now lives in Graz, Austria and is pursuing a PhD in Romance Languages. His writing has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Gold Medal at the 6th Jeux de la Francophonie in Beirut as well as the Best Text for Theater (State Theater, Mainz) in 2010. His poems, prose works, and plays are reactions to the political turbulence that has come in the wake of the independence of the Congo and its effect on day-to-day life. His debut novel Tram 83 was a French Voices 2014 grant recipient and won the Grand Prix du Premier Roman des SGDL, and was shortlisted for numerous other awards, including the Prix du Monde. Tram 83 has drawn comparisons to Fitzgerald, Céline, García Márquez, Hunter S. Thompson and even a painting by Hyeronimous Bosch or a piece by Coltrane.

(from http://www.pontas-agency.com/fiston-m...)

Reviews

[Meike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now a Finalist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature 2024
English: The Villain's Dance
Congolese-Austrian author Mujila writes about life in the borderlands between Zaire and Angola in the 1990's: In the author's hometown of Lubumbashi (then Zaire), a gang of street kids and an Austrian expat navigate the oppressive last years of Mobutu's dictatorship with the upcoming civil war already on the horizon, while some Zaireans cross the border into war-torn Angola to seek a fortune in the diamond mines, where young men risk their lives and a woman claiming to be a God gains a following among the precarious illegal diamond hunters.

This book requires readers to dive into the politics of Central Africa, including the Belgian and Portuguese colonial heritage, Mobutu's reign and the civil unrest in a country that set out to re-claim its own culture (the very name "Zaire" is an attempt to revitalize African culture in opposition to the legacy of Belgian oppression), but fell apart. Needless to say, I learnt a lot.

But Mujila's novel is also an aesthetic triumph: The sentences and sound are infused with Rumba, Mambo, and African Jazz, the title-giving "Dance of the villains" (in German: "Dance of the Devils") is performed by people living under devastating circumstances, who are often both victims and perpetrators. The cast of characters is vivid and absorbing, and while I have to admit that I first struggled to follow the plot (due to the fact that I needed to gather some information about the countries and the time the story is set in), I then got sucked into the world the author evokes and the tone that carries the story.

The overall bleak, oppressive atmosphere, the suspenseful plot, and the unique language make this book a winner. Now I want to read more literature from Central Africa.

[Anna Carina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ja komm, auch wenn mir der Jazz des Buches (der Autor hat beim Schreiben tatsächlich Jazz gehört🤪) zwischenzeitlich alle Nerven geraubt hat, ist das ne hammer hart gut gearbeitete Sache.
Nen wirklichen Plot gibts nicht. Das ist ehr eine große Straßenparty mit Ausflügen ins Mambo um den Tanz der Teufel (eine Rumba) abzufeiern. Auf mich wirkte das wie ein Improtheater (das ich ebenfalls nicht wirklich schätze).
Fiston Mwanza Mujila hat allerdings ein Sprachtalent sondergleichen. Das Buch wummert und wabert in einer lockeren, ironischen Abgeranztheit vor sich hin. Kippt sprachlich nie ins Gewöhnliche, Stumpfe. Behält trotz der Härte der Straße, des Lebens, der Hoffnungslosigkeit eine anspruchsvolle Note. Einige Figuren versanden am Ende. Das Buch wirkt irgendwie nicht auserzählt. Mag aber dem ganzen Stil geschuldet sein, der darauf angelegt ist, nur szenische Schnappschüsse zu liefern. Die Kapitel sind auch extrem kurz.
Neben der Big Party und Bierchen zischen, Klebstoff schnüffeln, ungewaschen Schlägereien anzetteln, gibts Geheimdienstaktivitäten, Diamantenfieber, einen Regimesturz, den Autor Franz aus Österreich und die Madonna, die sich selbst als Gott bezeichnet. Die Madonna ist eine Symbolfigur, die mythologisch aufgeladen wird und einen ganz skurrilen Drive in den Text bringt.
Alles weitere selber lesen....

[endrju · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been rereading Necropolitics for a class I'm teaching, and it's a great moment of synchronicity that I picked up Mujila's novel at the same time. Especially as both Mbembe and Mujila set much of their work in mining zones, the latter in the former Zaire and Angola, the former across Africa. Both show the effects of colonialism and extractive capitalism, based on necropolitical technologies of governing racialised subjects through death. What is interesting about Mujila is the vividness of the narrative, which describes street children, drug and alcohol abuse, a variety of crimes, and the general lumpenproletarian nature of the people who work in and around the diamond mines. I'm wondering whether this narrative energy should be taken as a means of resistance, pointing to the fact that life will continue in some form even in the most devastated environments, or whether it should be taken as an effect of extractive capitalism or some other material-semiotic field to be extracted. The question remains open, and for me that's the great thing about this novel.

[Günter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jetzt wollte ich vor allem schreiben, dass ich froh bin, dass ich damit endlich durch bin, dass das ein anstrengendes Stück Lesearbeit war. Andererseits dann Anna Carinas Rezension gelesen. Die hat schon auch recht und ich verweise gerne darauf.
Einig sind wir uns jedenfalls darin, dass das Vorgängerwerk Tram 83 genial war.

[Cici · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book where I could tell I was reading a translation, from its unsteady gait. I would love to read the original to see how much of the staccato was from the author vs the translator. Dad and I certainly shared some laughs…

Under other circumstances I probably wouldn’t have made it very far into this book, but it was my first time reading a story set in Congo (/Zaïre) <3 It had a very oratory feel to it, and the fact that the stories felt disjointed and outlandish felt very true to my experiences speaking with Congolese people. Mwanza Mujila painted a charming picture of the vibrance and soundtrack of Zaïre.

[Nikoleta L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is something that I liked about this book, but it wasn’t the characters (flat), or the plot (huh?). I wasn’t keen on the way the book is structured and the style was nothing to write home about. Yet here I am, giving it three stars because, somehow, it still managed to get etched in my brain. All in all, an interesting experience.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Finalist, National Book Awards 2024 for Translated Literature.

I really enjoyed the language and the rhythms of this stream-of-consciousness quasi-novel about street kids, diamond miners, sinister secret service agents, and various other colorful characters before, during and after the Zairian civil war (1990s) - and I particularly enjoyed it being read aloud on Audible - but I must admit that half the time I didn’t know (nor care) what was going on. Not for readers who like plot but definitely for readers who like poetry, jazz, wild dancing, and Africa.

Enormous kudos to the translator (from French) Roland Glasser for capturing the poetry of this so perfectly.

[Phyllis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know almost nothing about Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) or its culture or history. For that reason, among others, I found it difficult to connect with this novel. It was not always clear to me what was intended to be satire, or humor, or poignancy. I don’t regret reading this book, and I do think I learned at least something about Zaire at the end of the 20th century. What I learned, though, was not encouraging.

[Fanny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extremely interesting topic, but bland protagonists and random side-characters that disappear as soon as they were introduced. Since there is no clear story to begin with, it's hard to tell where the author digresses and what he actually meant to say.

[Beth Janus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but also confusing.

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comme dans Tram 83, il y a des éléments qui font beaucoup de plaisir dans les livres de Fiston Mwanza Mujila: ce rythme de vie, de la musique, de la langue, cet exotisme, cette vivacité.
Mais également comme dans Tram83, je n’ai pas réussi de vraiment suivre l’histoire, les personnages sont restés loin de moi (un peu moins peut-être que dans Tram83).
Il me manque une certaine profondeur. Fiston Mwanza Mujila décrit de la misère, les enfants qui fuient leurs familles pour vivre dans la rue, qui prennent la colle, qui volent, qui font de petits boulots de criminels. Des jeunes qui travaillent et meurent dans les mines. Des gens qui font n’importe quoi pour survivre ou pour monter un peu dans la hiérarchie et avoir un peu de richesse. Mais la souffrance dans ces vies est décrite assez “non-spectaculaire”, ce qui pour moi rend assez difficile de comprendre les personnages, de me plonger vraiment dans l’histoire.
En même temps, c’est peut-être une réalité de leur vie avec la colle dans la misère de ne pas trop y réfléchir et simplement faire ce qu’il faut pour voir le lendemain...

[Andy Weston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in the 1990s in Mujila's native Democratic Republic of Congo, this takes the form of the stories of three characters, and three storylines that alternate and come together in the last part of the book. It all takes place during the last years of the first President of Zaire (now DRC), Mobutu Sese Seko. Mobutu's was a military dictatorship, notorious for corruption and nepotism, and his extravagant lifestyle.

Local life of the three young male protagonists has music and nightlife in common, and the craze at the time of 'the villain's dance', a mad frenzy that often went on for days, a chance to escape the poverty and stress of everyday life.

There is a vague sort of plot running through the novel, as the Mobutu regime falls, but the 54 chapters are largely episodic with humour ever present.
It is boisterous and vivid, occasionally funny, though not providing the level of entertainment of the tremendous Tram 83.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5

What I liked
- the historical setting of Zaire as a civil war breaks out
- the rhythmic writing that mirrors jazz music
- the blend of serious themes of poverty, violence and dark humor of the characters’ lives through funny dialogues

What I struggled with
- I’d encourage readers unfamiliar with the history of Zaire and Angola to first read about it. Or at least read the author’s notes first!
- there are quite a lot of characters and I feel like none of them are fully realized. I wonder if the purpose is more to paint a picture of what life is like for the “street kids” during the 90s

[Joyreadsbuku · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 - Intriguing elements, such as the location (1990s Zaire & Angola), cultural mentions (famous people such as Mamu Nationale & Papa Wemba), and societal/political topics. But even with all that, I was confused and lost most of the time, especially bcs the book turned out to be going nowhere in particular. I found this hard to get into and hard to get through, as the pacing was what annoyed me. Also, if the translation from French to English would have been better, I think I would have enjoyed this way more.

As for the audiobook: lots of Lingala words were mispronounced and made my ears bleed.

[Mina Widding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Det här var en ganska rörig läsning, och jag förstår det som att den rörigheten i sig liksom är en gestaltning över den plats och tid den beskriver, men det föll mig inte riktigt i smaken. Kanske är min hjärna lite för trött för att kunna ta emot det. Det finns en sprudlighet här, en slags galenskap, mustighet. Men det är svårt att få grepp om narrativet, känns rätt mycket som en fragmentarisk berättelse. Perspektiven skiftas, jagform och tredje person, och jag greppar inte alltid vem som för ordet. Jag tänker som sagt att det är en del av gestaltningen, men det gör inte läsningen lättare, och för mig blev den därför inte så njutbar som jag kanske önskat.

[Chema Caballero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difícil de leer. Situado en los últimos años del régimen de Mobutu donde todos sueñan con hacerse ricos. Una constelación de personajes entre RDC y Angola. Historias que se cruzan, política y ambiciones.

[Dree · Rating 4 out of 5]

1990s Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Angola. I sweeping cast of characters--from street kids to regular workers, con men to honest miners hoping to strike it rich, the Madonna of the Calufo Mines, an Austrian writer. Where did they come from and how did they get to where they are--as everything shifts at the end of Mobutu's reign, the Angolan civil war drags on, everyone ages and jockeys for position in an unstable time and place. There are always the dance clubs to let people relax and have fun--every night, dancing and drinking to their heart's content.

This novel is raucous but also a slow read--it reminded me of the many gold rush novels (from any place) I have read, but in a modern setting.

This was very interesting and I am curious about this author's earlier novel now.

[Richard Derus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Following the international success of his debut novel Tram 83, Fiston Mwanza Mujila is back with his highly anticipated second novel, which follows a remarkable series of characters during the Mobutu regime.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, otherwise known as Congo-Kinshasa or DRCongo, has had a series of names since its founding. The name of Zaire best corresponds to the experience of the novel’s characters. The years of Mobutu’s regime were filled with utopias, dreams, fantasies and other uncontrolled desires for social redemption, the quest for easy enrichment and the desecration of places of power.

Among these Zairians’ immigration to Angola during the civil war boycotting the borders inherited from colonization, as if the country did not have its own diamonds, and the occupation of public places by children from outside. The author creates the atmosphere of the time through a roundup of the diviner Tshiamuena, also known as Madonna of the Cafunfo mines, prides herself of being God with whoever is willing to listen to her. Franz Baumgartner, an apprentice writer originally from Austria and rumba lover, goes around the bars in search of material for his novel. Sanza, Le Blanc and other street children share information to the intelligence services when they are not living off begging and robbery. Djibril, taxi driver, only lives for reggae music.

As soon as night falls, each character dances and plays his own role in a country mined by dictatorship.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Want to know how much I appreciate Author Fiston Mwanza Mujila's talents?

I didn't pan, belittle, or insult his poetry. All y'all know how I feel about poetry. And I gave it more than three stars! Be amazed, be impressed...I hope you'll be inspired to go get one. Tram 83 worked for me, as well; I know a lot of folks were't fans but it felt like a breeze from Africa to me, hot, wet, heavily freighted. This impression left me for dead in the first instance; I was less enrapt with its story and atmosphere then than I am in retrospect. In part that's down to my subsequent experience of reading The Villain's Dance.

In common with my earlier reads of the author's books, I began this one with an awareness of atmosphere. He is always, or so it feels to me, careful to begin as he means to go on. I'm reasonably sure the huge majority of my readers are unaware of Mobutu's identity, and are more or less uninformed about the name "Zaire" and its history...many in my generation will have known the name Zaire vaguely applies to a huge place near the Congo River but be blissfully unaware that the name is no longer used, or why that happened.

I think that gives the novel almost an SFnal appeal. There's little sense of geography encompassing the story in US readers, so why not just go all the way and market it as taking place on a different planet entirely? *I* can do this, I'm a book reviewer, the publisher can't. The level of outrage engendered would be epic. However, let me propose this to you: If you're willing to learn the names of made-up places like Middle Earth, Arrakis, Pern, Atlantis, Downbelow Station, and their different inhabitants, conflicts, social norms, what's the hold up on Zaire and Brazzaville?

Maybe the tiniest taint of racism? Worth some energy to think about.

Assuming you're in the already-overcame-it or the overcoming-it-now group, this story's got great conflicts between dark-grey, pitch-black, and palest shades of violet people trying their best to make it in a world where up and down just switched places...like being on a space station whose spin just changed speeds dramatically.

Maybe my increased appreciation for this read makes more sense than I thought it did at first.

The people in this book aren't just as well-realized as the setting, for the most part; see below. The pace of the story is provided by history, as it's based on the realities then prevailing. The entire enterprise of nation-building collapsing into civil war (by definition a chaotic break in the life of a society) honestly needs little of that tarting up to make it compelling, even riveting, reading. What Author Fiston does very well here is to fragment the locations of the chaos to give different people reason to speak their truth without losing the core purpose of telling us this story. Like Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, we are taken into realms of deep desperation and left there long enough to get it; then we're offered a peek into the purpose of the extraction and the exploitation that requires...we're not left to wallow, the way The Octopus, f/ex, does with us in service of the same sharp criticism of the cutting edge of capitalism. Poe said it very succinctly in the nineteenth century: "{C}orporations, it is very well known, have neither posteriors to be kicked, nor souls to be damned." (Thanks for showing me the accurate quote again, P-E!)

Edges, as noted above, cut; in this story we're in the path of the blade so see both the wielding and cutting inherent in its very existence. People fail. It is inevitable. Challenges go unmet still less mastered. As often as not that is a design feature of the challenge. It engenders judgment and contempt for failure, but leaves the challenge, well, unchallenged. I suspect the true-to-life experience of people showing up for a minute then vanishing will affront a lot of complacently smug story-structure addicts. It's not by accident, y'all; it's a feature not a bug. Like life in an unstable place at a volatile time, different people will come, only to go without fanfare, or even explanation. Most of the characters trying to make it any old how they can haven't got the wherewithal to care, often enough to notice, who is who except at the precise flash of the camera that "now" represents.

I am trying as best I can to explain away the most common issues I've seen raised in others's assessments of the book. I'm not sure it matters. I hope y'all will attend to my 4.5* rating more closely than to my blandishments. A book of this trenchance is not to be dismissed. I'm hopeful that a few will take this moment of US culture shock to see what has happened in other places at this kind of inflection point.

Forewarned is forearmed.

[Ethan Philion · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah sure the prose has an energetic rhythmic flow and I learned a lot of the history of Angola and the magical realism is effective BUT my big takeaway from this book is wondering whether there’s a frequently used phrase in the modern day Democratic Republic of the Congo that translates to “defenestrate” in English or French because that word gets used like 8 times in the English translation.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love deep vellum and I love deep vellum’s translations in particular. I thoroughly enjoyed being dolloped into 1990s Angola/Zaire. And so generous with the music references! The surreality of civil war plus actual surreality blended really hazily and made me feel like I was on glue too.

[Alejandra (Allie) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I quite enjoyed this meandering novel, but feel like it could have been SO MUCH better if it had maintained a narrow focus on the African street urchin themes and kept the lens on Sanza and Molakisi. Even the focus on Ngungi, a fellow street urchin, feels like it ultimately comes at the cost of the narrative power of Sanza and Molakisi's stories, which showcase two different outcomes for two kids for whom street life once felt like the only pathway.

The cast of characters is fun and there are moments in the novel where the wackiness and ingenuity of such an ensemble cast really shines, creating absurdly hilarious moments that still manage to convey some deep truths of postcolonial society in the context of civil war. However, the novel does end up with a disjointed feeling as a result of so many characters with little narrative connection to each other. Mujila spends so much of the novel talking about characters such as Monsieur Guillaume, Tshiamuena, and Franz, only to have their storylines end in relative obscurity, dropping them off the face of the vivid Congolese universe Mujila so wonderfully captures in his writing. The narrative payoff from including these characters is simply not there, and that is perhaps the novel's greatest fault.

The translation itself feels inventive and deeply humanizing of the French language while preserving the feel for the reader that what they are reading is surely not something that was concocted in English. The flows of the sentences, the word choices such as "jacked a beer" (what a funny visual that brings to mind) or the use of "defenestrate" keep you engaged with Mujila's language throughout, awaiting the next inventive phrasing of actions that would otherwise come across as mundane.

In all, I am very glad I got the chance to read this novel as it was a very engaging introduction to African literature and it has made me deeply curious of African culture, which until this novel had lived in my periphery (to the joy of the colonizers and chagrin of the colonized everywhere). I am excited to learn more about African countries and engage with more literature from the region.

[Kit Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

i cold dig harry truman up and kill him again for the quote "If you want an efficient government, get a dictatorship." Dictatorships are in point of fact comically and bizarrely inefficient. Think of yourself scrolling down the endless scroll of uber eats, and then picture a government that runs on one person's appetite. It's not pretty. More to the point, it doesn't make any sense at all. I guess that's the lesson from this book, a Caldera novel about the latter days of Zaire, when some people are still trying to guess what Mobute wants and work towards it, but some are just trying to get their kicks or petty revenges. And most are just trying to go to the club and get fucked up. A government run by one becomes a lot of principalities of one, and civil society becomes a dumb joke. I loved this, it stands to reason. This is a sub-sub-subgenre I have a lot of interest and investment in, and this stands with Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo or Wizard of the Crow by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o as a great example of the African version of the Caldera novel.

[Kurt Fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hearing about the international success of his debut novel, I looked for _Tram 83_ in my local library system. They did not have it, but had this Fiston Mwanza Mujila novel instead. I wanted to like it; I was nonplussed. It started out okay, but quickly went nowhere. Any hint of thread or narrative frayed and faded away. No plot, no character study, no social commentary, no historical fiction, no cohesive structure, no great prose, nothing experimental, and no entertainment value.

One quirk: I see the word 'defenestrated' about once in every 200-300 books I read. This was used about 5-6 times in this book. Same with 'conurbations' which I see used even less frequently. Was the original author, or the translator? Regardless, some $5 words for a novel with nothing else going for it.

Recommendation: skip it.

[Tutankhamun18 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dieses Roman spielt im grenzgebiet zwischen Angola und Kongo (Kinshasa) ab. Der Titel bezieht sich auf der Tanz der Armen Leute die in zwei versionen getanzt werden kann “die längere dauerte eine Stunde und siebenunddreißig oder neununddreißig Minuten, die kürzere dauerte achtzehn Minuten oder auch zehn, wenn der DJ genug Klebstoff intus hatte.” Dieser wird durch den Roman auch mehrmals genutzt. Die Handlung ist teilweise schwer deutbar. Das generelle Thema ist Ausnutzung, Raub und Macht und wie sich dies mit Diamanten ausspielt. Wir verfolgen einige Charaktere die mit Macht oder Verlust der Macht in Berührung kommen.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final, chaotic days of Mobutu’s Zaire (present day Democratic Republic of the Congo) through the lives of Sanza, a homeless young man, diamond hunter Molakisi, Austrian writer Franz, and a gang of street kids. Under the threat of civil war, some Zaireans leave to seek fortunes in Angola’s illegal diamond mines. With a rhythmic writing style imitating rumba, reggae and jazz, the novel portrays the cultural vibrancy of lives under oppressive political forces shaped by Belgian and Portuguese colonial legacies. Vivid setting and musical writing, but with a disjointed feel and not much of a plot. A little hard to follow on audio, so the physical text probably works better.

3.5/5

[K's Bognoter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Det livsfarlige arbejde i Angolas og Zaires diamantminer. En kaotisk og blodig borgerkrig. Vilkårlig vold i hænderne på et diktatorisk regimes efterretningstjenester. Profeter, medicinmænd og kloge koner. Limsniffende gadebørn. Drømmen om et bedre liv degenereret til penge, penge, penge. Det hele leveret til rytmerne af inciterende, congolesisk rumba og blandet med masser af øl og sprut. Sådan går Stodderdansen i Fiston Mwanza Mujilas anden roman.
Læs hele min anmeldelse på K's bognoter: https://bognoter.dk/2021/09/20/fiston...

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm so sad that my lack of knowledge about the DRC and Angolan recent history prevented me from grasping more of the hidden meanings in this novel. The language and the humor were wonderful, and although a few words were over used (defenestration, jacking beers, and patrons of the male and female sexes for e.g.), I loved the journey. Now I'm off to find some more knowledgeable people who can explain to me the many points I missed.

[Daniel Polansky]

A selection of neer'do'wells try and make it big in the closing days of the Mobutu regime in this lively and sardonic novel. Mujila emigrated to Austria and there is more than a touch of Mitteleuropa in his bleak hedonism and chaotic enumerations (also he name checks Musil quite a lot). I've become quite a fan of Mujila after two books, his novels are sharp and strange and entirely concerned with themselves rather than pandering to the expectations of a Western audience.

[Paul Narvaez · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

This book has a lively energy. It is fast-paced and moves around to all kinds of characters which really gives a sense of place and the people. Taking place in Zaire during a period of changes, I found that background information added a unique flavor. Mujila is good. On the strength of this book, I went ahead and purchased his first novel "Tram 83".

[weeewooh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing style is insane. Colorful, dynamic, messy, energetic, magical, etc etc etc. Would read it again just for the prose - feels like it should be more of a painting than it is a narrative. That being said, such a headache to get through.

Flashes of significance, especially with regard to the desire to gain or hold on to wealth. I didn't connect with it beyond that level.