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As The Crow Flies
Indeed I too would have loved to write one of those serene stories with a beginning and an end. As you know only too well, it is never like that, though. Lives mingle, people tame one another and part. Destinies are lost.This groundbreaking novel represents a set of universal experiences which can be read as a mosaic of life in the 20th century. As The Crow Flies describes the way in which the text is written; Tadjo flies over different lives and experiences - as a crow does - occasionally swooping down on one small detail or character, moving between relationships in search of truth.
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
8 people are currently reading
400 people want to read
About the author
Véronique Tadjo
77 books59 followersVéronique Tadjo (born 1955) is a writer, poet, novelist, and artist from Côte d'Ivoire. Having lived and worked in many countries within the African continent and diaspora, she feels herself to be pan-African, in a way that is reflected in the subject matter, imagery and allusions of her work.
Born in Paris, Véronique Tadjo was the daughter of an Ivorian civil servant and a French painter and sculptor. Brought up in Abidjan, she travelled widely with her family.
Tadjo completed her BA degree at the University of Abidjan and her doctorate at the Sorbonne in African-American Literature and Civilization. In 1983, she went to Howard University in Washington, D.C., on a Fulbright research scholarship.
In 1979, Tadjo chose to teach English at the Lycée Moderne de Korhogo (secondary school) in the North of Côte d'Ivoire. She subsequently became a lecturer at the English department of the University of Abidjan until 1993.
In the past few years, she has facilitated workshops in writing and illustrating children's books in Mali, Benin, Chad, Haiti, Mauritius, French Guyana, Burundi, Rwanda and South Africa.
She has lived in Paris, Lagos, Mexico City, Nairobi and London. Tadjo is currently based in Johannesburg, where since 2007 she has been head of French Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Tadjo received the Literary Prize of L'Agence de Cooperation Culturelle et Technique in 1983 and the UNICEF Prize in 1993 for Mamy Wata and the Monster, which was also chosen as one of Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century, one of only four children's books selected. In 2005, Tadjo won the Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire.
(from Wikipedia)
Born in Paris, Véronique Tadjo was the daughter of an Ivorian civil servant and a French painter and sculptor. Brought up in Abidjan, she travelled widely with her family.
Tadjo completed her BA degree at the University of Abidjan and her doctorate at the Sorbonne in African-American Literature and Civilization. In 1983, she went to Howard University in Washington, D.C., on a Fulbright research scholarship.
In 1979, Tadjo chose to teach English at the Lycée Moderne de Korhogo (secondary school) in the North of Côte d'Ivoire. She subsequently became a lecturer at the English department of the University of Abidjan until 1993.
In the past few years, she has facilitated workshops in writing and illustrating children's books in Mali, Benin, Chad, Haiti, Mauritius, French Guyana, Burundi, Rwanda and South Africa.
She has lived in Paris, Lagos, Mexico City, Nairobi and London. Tadjo is currently based in Johannesburg, where since 2007 she has been head of French Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Tadjo received the Literary Prize of L'Agence de Cooperation Culturelle et Technique in 1983 and the UNICEF Prize in 1993 for Mamy Wata and the Monster, which was also chosen as one of Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century, one of only four children's books selected. In 2005, Tadjo won the Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 7, 2022
Huh - As the Crow Flies... The writing was AMAZING—gorgeous, lyrical prose and I lovingly drank it in—but it wasn't until after I'd finished the book that I discovered what it was all about!🤦♀️ It was labelled a "novel" by Kobo—where I bought it, online—but as I searched for something to explain my confusion upon finishing the book, I went to Goodreads and their description explained it clearly!
So, despite loving the prose and quite enjoying the relationship snippets, I spent much of my time reading it with confusion looming large. Um, are we still talking about the same person? Wait, wasn't he in America a moment ago? OMG - didn't she just die a few pages back? No matter, NOW I understand, and it makes complete sense. I really did love the author's writing and will definitely read her books again. She writes so darned beautifully!💜💜💜💜
Update: Turns out I read another of her books a year ago, but wasn't terribly impressed: In the Company of Men. Regardless, if she's written something that's clearly a novel, I will read it.
4 "initially-confused-but-eventually-clear" stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Tadjo flies over different lives and experiences—as a crow does—occasionally swooping down on one small detail or character, moving between relationships in search of truth.Eureka!😲 Wow - that info would have been handy to have prior to reading it (though I may not have purchased the book had I known of the "swooping". I'm a reader of novels; I don't read short stories or other "non-novel-like" formats).
So, despite loving the prose and quite enjoying the relationship snippets, I spent much of my time reading it with confusion looming large. Um, are we still talking about the same person? Wait, wasn't he in America a moment ago? OMG - didn't she just die a few pages back? No matter, NOW I understand, and it makes complete sense. I really did love the author's writing and will definitely read her books again. She writes so darned beautifully!💜💜💜💜
Update: Turns out I read another of her books a year ago, but wasn't terribly impressed: In the Company of Men. Regardless, if she's written something that's clearly a novel, I will read it.
4 "initially-confused-but-eventually-clear" stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
June 26, 2017
3.5/5
Anyways. The book. Ivorian via heritage is something few authors on this site can lay claim to, and coupling that to women in translation gives me a work I'm comfortable with throwing at others in hopes that they'll like it more than I did. Other key words include Experimental and Postcolonial and all that jazz that'll give you a migraine if you actively refuse to venture outside of the standard literary comfort zone. Freedom of choice and all, but it's not my fault that the trends what gets read where and how and how long are so damn consistent. What is is my personal disfavoring of the facts and metaphors this work beats around and through. I appreciated the oscillation between the aerial beauty of vagueness and the acrid stench that is the meditation on gendered violence, but the number of times various disabilities were viewed as adequate substitutes for actual engagement with language was one and one and far too many. Translation, translation, translation, but if that were true, my numbfuck of a country wouldn't still be enacting genocide on various extremely-Englished populations within its borders, so I prefer to take what I can get and poke the dialectic into a higher pitch.
In the end, I expected more smaller bits of the small piece that this is to appeal, but areas of expertise are not built on universal enjoyment. To all those reading, you should still check this out, as well as 50 Books By African Women That Everyone Should Read. Read a little as if the world were a thing for a change.
Waiting. This is what is wearing me out. These days have minds of their own.I've reached the point of my literary career where I no longer worry about subconscious overcompensation skewing my evaluations when it comes to works on the margins of my view. If another reader finds my praise overblown, I'll be too thrilled with a population large enough to encompass diverging to worry about 'fake' opinions and all that self-doubt. Time will always be of the essence so long as literature is a subsidiary of capitalism, so I'd rather read, go with my gut, and move on, especially now when the end of my access to one of the, if not the largest, collection of library books is fast approaching. Chances are good I won't burn through my hundreds of home library collection works between June and grad school, but if there's one thing I've learned from my unorthodox undergrad days, it's don't put too much stock in long winded extensions of academic training. A PhD would be cool and all, but I've got enough experience in interlibrary loans to be able to say with confidence that I'd work there for the rest of my days.
Anyways. The book. Ivorian via heritage is something few authors on this site can lay claim to, and coupling that to women in translation gives me a work I'm comfortable with throwing at others in hopes that they'll like it more than I did. Other key words include Experimental and Postcolonial and all that jazz that'll give you a migraine if you actively refuse to venture outside of the standard literary comfort zone. Freedom of choice and all, but it's not my fault that the trends what gets read where and how and how long are so damn consistent. What is is my personal disfavoring of the facts and metaphors this work beats around and through. I appreciated the oscillation between the aerial beauty of vagueness and the acrid stench that is the meditation on gendered violence, but the number of times various disabilities were viewed as adequate substitutes for actual engagement with language was one and one and far too many. Translation, translation, translation, but if that were true, my numbfuck of a country wouldn't still be enacting genocide on various extremely-Englished populations within its borders, so I prefer to take what I can get and poke the dialectic into a higher pitch.
In the end, I expected more smaller bits of the small piece that this is to appeal, but areas of expertise are not built on universal enjoyment. To all those reading, you should still check this out, as well as 50 Books By African Women That Everyone Should Read. Read a little as if the world were a thing for a change.
You should listen to those whose voices remain unheard although the wisdom they carry is shaped by their closeness to the earth. No refined language but the pace of life at a gallop refashiones outmoded images, well-worn phrases, and ways of thinking that are out of date.
November 6, 2016
!!! https://africanbookaddict.com/2016/11...
This work was originally written in French - as Veronique Tadjo is Ivorian (from Côte d'Ivoire- Francophone West African nation). Wangui wa Goro (who also translated Ngugi wa Thiong'o's novel - Matigari, which I loved) displayed her fantastic powers and translated this work of art as well. I'm grateful to wa Goro, because without her superb skills of interpreting and transforming this work into English, some of us would really be missing out on some awesome texts.
But I have to admit - this novella is not for everyone. Some readers may not appreciate the format of this book. Its made up of several (interconnected) stories, poems, observations... However, I believe writers would LOVE the heartfelt, lyrical anecdotes Tadjo spills onto these pages. Its actually really hard to review this book since it touches on a lot of different things: like desire, homesickness, (unrequited) love, immigration, poverty, privilege - almost any, and everything that can be felt and observed is portrayed in this book.
It took me a while to finish this (over a month), thanks to school work. But I'm glad I stuck with this and finished it despite the discombobulated format which can be seen as confusing, YET wonderful at the same time.
Y'all be sleeping on the African Writers Series books. Yes, most books in this series may be printed in (silly) small fonts; yes, books in this series may have awful book cover art. But they will always be true African classics :)
MORE ON africanbookaddict.com soon! Plus, some lovely quotes from this book.
This work was originally written in French - as Veronique Tadjo is Ivorian (from Côte d'Ivoire- Francophone West African nation). Wangui wa Goro (who also translated Ngugi wa Thiong'o's novel - Matigari, which I loved) displayed her fantastic powers and translated this work of art as well. I'm grateful to wa Goro, because without her superb skills of interpreting and transforming this work into English, some of us would really be missing out on some awesome texts.
But I have to admit - this novella is not for everyone. Some readers may not appreciate the format of this book. Its made up of several (interconnected) stories, poems, observations... However, I believe writers would LOVE the heartfelt, lyrical anecdotes Tadjo spills onto these pages. Its actually really hard to review this book since it touches on a lot of different things: like desire, homesickness, (unrequited) love, immigration, poverty, privilege - almost any, and everything that can be felt and observed is portrayed in this book.
It took me a while to finish this (over a month), thanks to school work. But I'm glad I stuck with this and finished it despite the discombobulated format which can be seen as confusing, YET wonderful at the same time.
Y'all be sleeping on the African Writers Series books. Yes, most books in this series may be printed in (silly) small fonts; yes, books in this series may have awful book cover art. But they will always be true African classics :)
MORE ON africanbookaddict.com soon! Plus, some lovely quotes from this book.
April 1, 2018
This book feels like a collection of fragmented disjointed memories. I can't say I truly know what it was about. Perhaps about forgetting someone you loved who did not love you back. The one memory that stayed with me is where she talks about an old begger who beat a child to death so he could continue to have a begging monopoly.
Not much is said about Ivory Coast.
Not much is said about Ivory Coast.
February 1, 2018
A set of short, some very short, stories about love. Told in poetic prose that was too elegiac for me to enjoy.
October 1, 2024
The writing is absolutely beautiful! After finishing it yesterday I don't remember pretty much anything from it except that it was lovely and a bit tedious. So I don't think I'll remember it in the future, unfortunately.
September 23, 2012
As the Crow Flies is a love story of some sorts. The story is a cascade of individual stories capable of standing on their own as shown by one thread which was published under the title Betrayal in the Opening Spaces edited by Yvonne Vera.
The story opens with a woman whose husband also has a wife. Initially, she was happy; her heart was filled with joy. Then things began to change and she was not happy anymore. There was a detachment, somewhat. And she applied for a divorce. The coming of this woman, from abroad, to meet this man interspersed several sections of the story. Thus, as if the story is diverting from some course, which it always did, then suddenly the woman at an airport comes up.
continue here http://freduagyeman.blogspot.com/2012...
The story opens with a woman whose husband also has a wife. Initially, she was happy; her heart was filled with joy. Then things began to change and she was not happy anymore. There was a detachment, somewhat. And she applied for a divorce. The coming of this woman, from abroad, to meet this man interspersed several sections of the story. Thus, as if the story is diverting from some course, which it always did, then suddenly the woman at an airport comes up.
continue here http://freduagyeman.blogspot.com/2012...
December 18, 2017
Reads 35//50: AS THE CROW FLIES BY VERONIQUE TADJO
.
#50booksinayearchallenge
#50readschallenge
.
I am a big fan of word play ... In my world word play is the beginning of foreplay. 😈This love for words make me enjoy poetry a lot. I love seeing the intentional grammatical errors. I love unveiling the hidden meaning in words. Some poems punch me right at the gut rendering me breathless on a spinning head.
.
However, even with my love for words so strong this book took a heavy toll on me. It had slightly over 100 pages yet it took me 7days to get through. I tried very hard to find an angle where it could be interesting but it was in vain.
.
Food for thought:
PERSIST
.
#MenWhoRead 😍 #GirlsWhoRead 💪
#SGI
.
#50booksinayearchallenge
#50readschallenge
.
I am a big fan of word play ... In my world word play is the beginning of foreplay. 😈This love for words make me enjoy poetry a lot. I love seeing the intentional grammatical errors. I love unveiling the hidden meaning in words. Some poems punch me right at the gut rendering me breathless on a spinning head.
.
However, even with my love for words so strong this book took a heavy toll on me. It had slightly over 100 pages yet it took me 7days to get through. I tried very hard to find an angle where it could be interesting but it was in vain.
.
Food for thought:
PERSIST
.
#MenWhoRead 😍 #GirlsWhoRead 💪
#SGI
January 10, 2021
You have got to love Veronique Tadjo. There’s something about her books. It’s something more than just burying your head in a book. You immerse yourself in it. You follow her words. You listen to their sounds. Their echoes. The things they say long after you’re gone.
All or probably most of the stories in the book are expressive. Some are like little letters to a lover, and others, they talk of pain, and hope, but Tadjo carves all of these somehow on the theme of love—for someone. For something.
You might have to read the book more than once to totally get it. But if you’re someone who appreciates poetry, I’m sure you will get this. Or well, maybe not.
All or probably most of the stories in the book are expressive. Some are like little letters to a lover, and others, they talk of pain, and hope, but Tadjo carves all of these somehow on the theme of love—for someone. For something.
You might have to read the book more than once to totally get it. But if you’re someone who appreciates poetry, I’m sure you will get this. Or well, maybe not.
May 4, 2013
As the Crow flies- wanders and soars just like the bird.
The story is told in bits and pieces and you experience different settings, people and emotions and you are left with the task of making meaning of it- and seeing how they are all connected.
It's a beautiful read.
Award: 4 stars
Reason: It feels more lyrical as you read it and you cannot help but wonder when you will connect the dots as you are carried away by the pieces you read.
The story is told in bits and pieces and you experience different settings, people and emotions and you are left with the task of making meaning of it- and seeing how they are all connected.
It's a beautiful read.
Award: 4 stars
Reason: It feels more lyrical as you read it and you cannot help but wonder when you will connect the dots as you are carried away by the pieces you read.
May 23, 2015
Short unconnected stories told in poetic language. The theme of love, longing and loss dominates the work. It makes the whole book seem like unwritten love letters from a heart going through different seasons. Véronique chose an unconventional format which could leave the book a failure in the hands of someone less skilled, but she pulls it off and leaves us with beautiful compelling snippets of flowing thoughts.
March 4, 2012
A book that I have been meaning to read for a long time, and I guess I am glad that I finally did. Though I have to admit that I found Tadjo's style in this novel is not really to my taste. The individual sections are lyrical and interesting, but how they all tie in together is not always clear to me.
December 23, 2014
loved this book. Loved the concept for the book.
December 13, 2016
The short stories left me yearning for more...great writing skills. I connected well with the various characters in the different stories. The theme of loss and yearning was pronounced
December 31, 2017
Poetic but I struggled to find the thread between these stories that would have made this more satisfying for me.
December 15, 2018
Joli petit livre, entre poésie et anecdotes, à la fois léger et profond. J'ai adoré l'écriture de Tadjo, très poétique, imagée, personnelle.
Une belle découverte.
Une belle découverte.
December 19, 2024
most of the poems didn't resonate with me — I would say it's a case of a specific taste — but there were definitely some gems!
Read
July 27, 2020I don't know how to rate this little enigmatic book. It seemed like it was written by someone trying to work through fresh heartbreak from a failed love affair. On the one hand there was something compelling about its abstraction and dreamlike quality, but I was distracted by inconsistent tenses and points of view; as well as superficial-sounding sentences like: “There is no smoke without fire; if you find ashes, it must be that something has burnt.” (LXIII, page 89)
December 30, 2022
The book flows with interconnected love stories. The author presents the reader with some of the idiosyncracies of western life and African life. The stories appear to be in a form of poetry with little theme of humanity, egoism and love. There's a lot to appreciate from this and recommendable.
April 21, 2020
Veronique Tadjo nimbly sweeps from one anonymous experience of love, loss, loneliness, suffering, grief, and desire to another, creating a moving and meaningful examination of humanity itself.
February 1, 2023
The writing is very good, but I was lost regarding whether to place this under poetry or fiction.
March 21, 2021
The language is beautiful but I have no idea what I just read.
May 14, 2017
Short prose pieces come together to form or just suggest narratives about life and love in multiple places. Well written.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews