The eldest of four children, Guinean boy Ibrahima was living in the capital, Conakry, with his shoe-seller father, when his dad suddenly passed away. Focused on providing for his mother and siblings back in the village, illiterate Ibrahima spent the next few years travelling around, picking up skills and earning a little money along the way. It was a precarious life for a child. Eventually he set himself up to become a truck driver, a job that could give him a steady income and enable his younger brother - his miñan - Alhassane, to stay in school. But when he discovers Alhassane has left the village and is in a refugee camp in Libya, en route to Europe, Ibrahima puts his own dreams on hold and sets off in search of his brother. Passing through a number of north African countries, often on foot, Ibrahima is desperate to find his brother and get them both back home to Guinea.
This book provides an unflinching account of one refugee's experience. While Ibrahima lived to tell his tale, so many don't. In this translation, the reader is occasionally reminded that this is an oral story, with Ibrahima addressing his friend, the Basque poet Amets Arzallus, directly. Perhaps Arzallus' original work brings a stronger sense of this? While I still got the sense of urgency, fear and at times hopelessness, that Ibrahima was trying to convey, there was something a bit 'flat' about it. I suspect it is the translation that dampens the emotion at times, rendering it more dispassionate than the story warrants. Overall, still a good and important read.
With thanks to NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for an eARC to read and review.