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Afrika-trilogien #3
Liberty
Christian er søn af et dansk ægtepar, der bor og arbejder i Tanzania. Han er meget overladt til sig selv, men bliver ven med Marcus, en sort dreng med en miserabel familiebaggrund, som arbejder for en hvid familie.
De to drenges venskab vokser sig varmt og stærkt i en afrikansk hverdag, der udsætter dem for meget intense og voldsomme oplevelser. En hverdag og verden fyldt med kontraster og konflikter i alle generationer og alle miljøer, hvor sygdom, død og alkohol hærger.
Helt uproblematisk forbliver venskabet dog ikke, for den hvide vil være sort, den sorte hvid ? og som de bliver ældre, vokser modsætningsforholdet mellem dem yderligere, indtil Christian sendes hjem til Aalborg for at bo hos slægtninge. Men er Danmark lykken for ham nu?
De to drenges venskab vokser sig varmt og stærkt i en afrikansk hverdag, der udsætter dem for meget intense og voldsomme oplevelser. En hverdag og verden fyldt med kontraster og konflikter i alle generationer og alle miljøer, hvor sygdom, død og alkohol hærger.
Helt uproblematisk forbliver venskabet dog ikke, for den hvide vil være sort, den sorte hvid ? og som de bliver ældre, vokser modsætningsforholdet mellem dem yderligere, indtil Christian sendes hjem til Aalborg for at bo hos slægtninge. Men er Danmark lykken for ham nu?
712 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
46 people are currently reading
914 people want to read
About the author
Jakob Ejersbo
11 books68 followersJakob Ejersbo is a writer who died young. He succumbed to cancer at 40, having published a volume of short stories and a novel, Nordkraft, which won the 2003 Golden Laurel Prize. But more importantly, it was hailed by critics and readers alike as a great new Danish novel, ushering in a new type of fiction that would draw a line under the minimalism and symbolism that had prevailed in Danish literature during the late 1990s.
A gritty, realistic tale about disaffected youth in Aalborg, Denmark’s fourth largest city, it captured the Danes’ imaginations, holding a mirror to their society and rendering them as they saw themselves.
It was the last book Ejersbo would live to publish. He died in July 2008, just 10 months after being diagnosed with cancer. Throughout his illness, Ejersbo strove to complete his latest project, an ambitious trilogy about the relationship between the West and the Third World. Shortly after his death, his publisher, Johannes Riis, literary director at Gyldendal, revealed that he had left behind a manuscript and that it was virtually finished.
At a cumulative 1,600 pages, Ejersbo’s trilogy is a formidable work, and when the first part, Eksil, was released in Denmark in summer 2009 it caused just as much of stir as did Nordkraft. The literary critic Klaus Rothstein wrote in the Danish Literary Magazine that ‘seldom has anyone written anything so insistent and impassioned, so glowing hot and ice-cold, so heartfelt and so cynical’.
The trilogy is primarily set in Eastern Africa and explores the relationships between European ex-pats and the Tanzanians they live amongst. Ejersbo was not a writer for whom easy solutions and happy endings held any interested, and there are none to be found in these bleak but impeccably observed books. The trilogy is also formally inventive: two novels, Exile and Liberty sandwich a collection of stories that returns to the characters introduced in the first part.
In October 2011, MacLehose Press will be publishing Exile in English, translated by Mette Petersen. It is primarily the story of Samantha, the daughter of neglectful, abusive English parents, who takes solace in sex, drugs and lies but cannot control her destiny once the wheel of catastrophe has begun to turn. Revolution will follow in 2012 and Liberty in 2013. I’ll let Klaus Rothstein have the last word, except to say that we haven’t been as excited about a Scandinavian trilogy since Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy:
"Jakob Ejersbo was a deliberate and original writer, who was not only able to maintain an artistic overview of the antipoetry of existence but was also capable of describing it in finely narrated and captivating language. Exile is an electrifying novel, and its final chapter – which gives the novel its name – shocks the reader as a shattering highpoint of modern Danish literature."
Klaus Rothstein, Danish Literary Magazine
A gritty, realistic tale about disaffected youth in Aalborg, Denmark’s fourth largest city, it captured the Danes’ imaginations, holding a mirror to their society and rendering them as they saw themselves.
It was the last book Ejersbo would live to publish. He died in July 2008, just 10 months after being diagnosed with cancer. Throughout his illness, Ejersbo strove to complete his latest project, an ambitious trilogy about the relationship between the West and the Third World. Shortly after his death, his publisher, Johannes Riis, literary director at Gyldendal, revealed that he had left behind a manuscript and that it was virtually finished.
At a cumulative 1,600 pages, Ejersbo’s trilogy is a formidable work, and when the first part, Eksil, was released in Denmark in summer 2009 it caused just as much of stir as did Nordkraft. The literary critic Klaus Rothstein wrote in the Danish Literary Magazine that ‘seldom has anyone written anything so insistent and impassioned, so glowing hot and ice-cold, so heartfelt and so cynical’.
The trilogy is primarily set in Eastern Africa and explores the relationships between European ex-pats and the Tanzanians they live amongst. Ejersbo was not a writer for whom easy solutions and happy endings held any interested, and there are none to be found in these bleak but impeccably observed books. The trilogy is also formally inventive: two novels, Exile and Liberty sandwich a collection of stories that returns to the characters introduced in the first part.
In October 2011, MacLehose Press will be publishing Exile in English, translated by Mette Petersen. It is primarily the story of Samantha, the daughter of neglectful, abusive English parents, who takes solace in sex, drugs and lies but cannot control her destiny once the wheel of catastrophe has begun to turn. Revolution will follow in 2012 and Liberty in 2013. I’ll let Klaus Rothstein have the last word, except to say that we haven’t been as excited about a Scandinavian trilogy since Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy:
"Jakob Ejersbo was a deliberate and original writer, who was not only able to maintain an artistic overview of the antipoetry of existence but was also capable of describing it in finely narrated and captivating language. Exile is an electrifying novel, and its final chapter – which gives the novel its name – shocks the reader as a shattering highpoint of modern Danish literature."
Klaus Rothstein, Danish Literary Magazine
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
October 26, 2021
- Where have you been, Gabriel?
- On Earth boss. Thou didst say the message was urgent.
- The message?
- Yes boss. About Africa. I'm pretty sure it's sorted out now.
- Sorted out?
- Yes boss. Western people didn't understand Africa. Thou hast repeated that time and again.
- Well, I suppose I have. But--
- I did a good job boss if I say so myself. Born, started accumulating relevant experience at age six, wrote a literary masterpiece, got cancer, died. There and back inside forty years. Thou hast told us not to waste Thy time. I try to listen boss.
- You're telling me you've solved the Africa thing by writing a novel?
- Trust me boss. When I say masterpiece I'm just giving you the facts. Those smug Westerners will read this and they'll never think about Africa the same way again. Two parallel first-person present-tense narratives, one from a Western voice, one from an African voice. They'll feel they've been a Westerner living in Africa, they'll feel they've been an African person who's got to know Westerners, they'll feel they know what African people think about Westerners. In Swahili.
- But Western people don't know Swahili, Gabriel.
- My book will make them feel like they do. It's written in white person language but it sounds like Swahili. That's what they'll experience.
- Hardly any Western people even know what Swahili sounds like. How will they be able to tell?
- They just will. Trust me boss. This will change them.
- Gabriel, explain it to me a little more. You don't usually show so much initiative. So the language sounds like Swahili, but in fact it's English?
- Not English, boss. Danish.
- Danish?!!
- Yes boss. Like Thou said.
- Gabriel, what do you think I said to you?
- Thou said Thou wanted a tall black and a Danish. Boss? Boss? Did I do something wrong?
- Gabriel, I just asked you to get me a coffee and a pastry.
- Thou meanest Thou spake literally?
- I always speak literally. We've been through this before.
- Boss... I... I... I don't know what to say.
- I suppose it can't be translated into English?
- Uh, no boss. You see, the technique I used--
- Never mind, Gabriel. I know you meant well. It's a beautiful novel, Danish people will love it. We'll sort out the Africa thing somehow.
- On Earth boss. Thou didst say the message was urgent.
- The message?
- Yes boss. About Africa. I'm pretty sure it's sorted out now.
- Sorted out?
- Yes boss. Western people didn't understand Africa. Thou hast repeated that time and again.
- Well, I suppose I have. But--
- I did a good job boss if I say so myself. Born, started accumulating relevant experience at age six, wrote a literary masterpiece, got cancer, died. There and back inside forty years. Thou hast told us not to waste Thy time. I try to listen boss.
- You're telling me you've solved the Africa thing by writing a novel?
- Trust me boss. When I say masterpiece I'm just giving you the facts. Those smug Westerners will read this and they'll never think about Africa the same way again. Two parallel first-person present-tense narratives, one from a Western voice, one from an African voice. They'll feel they've been a Westerner living in Africa, they'll feel they've been an African person who's got to know Westerners, they'll feel they know what African people think about Westerners. In Swahili.
- But Western people don't know Swahili, Gabriel.
- My book will make them feel like they do. It's written in white person language but it sounds like Swahili. That's what they'll experience.
- Hardly any Western people even know what Swahili sounds like. How will they be able to tell?
- They just will. Trust me boss. This will change them.
- Gabriel, explain it to me a little more. You don't usually show so much initiative. So the language sounds like Swahili, but in fact it's English?
- Not English, boss. Danish.
- Danish?!!
- Yes boss. Like Thou said.
- Gabriel, what do you think I said to you?
- Thou said Thou wanted a tall black and a Danish. Boss? Boss? Did I do something wrong?
- Gabriel, I just asked you to get me a coffee and a pastry.
- Thou meanest Thou spake literally?
- I always speak literally. We've been through this before.
- Boss... I... I... I don't know what to say.
- I suppose it can't be translated into English?
- Uh, no boss. You see, the technique I used--
- Never mind, Gabriel. I know you meant well. It's a beautiful novel, Danish people will love it. We'll sort out the Africa thing somehow.
May 21, 2024
Every time I notched up another hundred pages of Liberty, my sense of foreboding increased. It is the book I couldn't put down, but never wanted to finish. Not only because the story itself will have ended at that point, but because of the author's stupidly early, fast, death. The end of the book marks the end of the author, rabid cancer at forty years. Wiki quotes his publisher at the funeral: "And now here I stand, with a freezingly clear and merciless awareness that, in the course of the past year, I have witnessed something of the most unfair and meaningless I have experienced in my life. To see so much originality, so much talent go to waste and never get the chance to unfold. It is unbearable."
And he died alone, no partner, no children, which is how he might have died in his own book which is about the aloneness of everybody.
It pains me to put this book - and the whole trilogy, I suppose, and maybe everything he wrote - into my shelf 'books you won't read before you die'. It drives me crazy that the Anglo-world's obsession with Scandi is limited to 'noir' (an abused word if ever there was one) and a certain type of furniture. I recommend An ‘Un-business-like Business’: Publishing Danish Literature in Translation in the UK 1990–2015 by Ellen Kythor for a consideration of why it is that Miss Smilla sold over 1M copies in GB, whilst the three volumes of the African Trilogy together sold 600 copies between them. Shakes head.
It was particularly hard to track down volume three of this trilogy. By accident I ended up with two copies, both ex-library. So you can't even read this by asking your library for it. Shakes head again.
And he died alone, no partner, no children, which is how he might have died in his own book which is about the aloneness of everybody.
It pains me to put this book - and the whole trilogy, I suppose, and maybe everything he wrote - into my shelf 'books you won't read before you die'. It drives me crazy that the Anglo-world's obsession with Scandi is limited to 'noir' (an abused word if ever there was one) and a certain type of furniture. I recommend An ‘Un-business-like Business’: Publishing Danish Literature in Translation in the UK 1990–2015 by Ellen Kythor for a consideration of why it is that Miss Smilla sold over 1M copies in GB, whilst the three volumes of the African Trilogy together sold 600 copies between them. Shakes head.
It was particularly hard to track down volume three of this trilogy. By accident I ended up with two copies, both ex-library. So you can't even read this by asking your library for it. Shakes head again.
January 14, 2015
A fantastic novel by an author of immense talent.
The late Jakob Ejersbo's third novel in the Africa trilogy Liberty is a amazing end to an amazing series. This biggest book of the three at over 700 pages, it is a totally engrossing tale, spanning an entire decade observing the lives and friendship between Danish ex-pat Christian and native Tanzanian Marcus, houseboy to a family of Swedes. The dual narrative works and Christian and Marcus's voices are equally compelling. A lot happens with a lot of characters, but I found it easy to keep track of it all, because of the great storytelling. In the last one hundred pages, Ejersbo cranks the story up a notch, if that was even possible. I wish the story was seven hundred pages longer!
Highly recommended. Read this and find yourself amongst a whole host of interesting characters in the searing Tanzanian heat.
The late Jakob Ejersbo's third novel in the Africa trilogy Liberty is a amazing end to an amazing series. This biggest book of the three at over 700 pages, it is a totally engrossing tale, spanning an entire decade observing the lives and friendship between Danish ex-pat Christian and native Tanzanian Marcus, houseboy to a family of Swedes. The dual narrative works and Christian and Marcus's voices are equally compelling. A lot happens with a lot of characters, but I found it easy to keep track of it all, because of the great storytelling. In the last one hundred pages, Ejersbo cranks the story up a notch, if that was even possible. I wish the story was seven hundred pages longer!
Highly recommended. Read this and find yourself amongst a whole host of interesting characters in the searing Tanzanian heat.
June 3, 2011
I sandhed en forbandelse af en roman!!! Kunne ganske enkelt ikke laegge den fra mig. Men samtidig er det deprimerende laesning, der tager alle forestillinger man maatte have om det grundlaeggende gode i mennesket fra een. Virkelig? Er det saadan det er, naar sandheden skal frem? Det er soerme svaert at vaere den samme efter at have laest denne bog. Ikke mere realisme til mig lige foreloebig ;-) Men spoeg til side: Gaa ikke glip af denne bog. Simpelthen een af de bedste boeger jeg nogensinde har laest.
December 27, 2016
Eehhhh! Liberty er ligeså udstrakt, kompromisløs og intimiderende som en sandstorm i Sahara; Den smyger sig ind, finder vej ind til steder i dig, som du troede afskærmet eller hærdet, men som selvfølgelig ikke kan modstå denne fortællings indbyggede rytme af menneskelige håb, drømme og planer, som opstår for hurtigt at blive tvunget i dialog med Christians, Marcus', Rachels, Ibrahims og alle de øvrige personers konkrete omstændigheder: Den fysiske overlevelse fra dag til dag må nødvendigvis gå forud for alt andet. På denne vis åbner Liberty på en afgørende ny måde denne læsers forståelse af, hvordan overlevelsens pris helt indlysende må være tilsidesættelsen af personlige grænser, idealer og værdier både overfor en selv og i forholdet til venner og familie. Grum og gribende er Liberty, og tilbyder dig i kraft af sproget, som forekommer at være en lineær, "realtime oversættelse" swahili-dansk(!) (jeg kender intet sidestykke) en tur ind bag pandebrasken på Marcus, som er født sort Tanzanianer. God tur til nye læsere!
January 18, 2020
Slutningen på det store semi-selvbiografiske Ejersboske epos. Sikke et brag, og sikke nogle tanker bøgerne sætter i gang. Med den afslutning melder der sig en række spørgsmål: Skulle man have læst Liberty først og Eksil til sidst, som flere har anbefalet? Skulle jeg have læst bøgerne med længere pauser, så man ikke nåede at blive mæt af den dybt deprimerende (men trods alt fængende) afrikanske tristesse? Liberty er ikke så overrumplende, som Eksil var det, og rummer også en del passager med tomgang og gentagelser, men overordnet set kan man godt forsvare de 700 sider. Om Ejersbo så når inspirationskilderne Millers, Hemingways eller Bukowskis højder, kan med rimelighed diskuteres, men uanset hvad er Afrikatrilogien et stærkt, rungende indspark i moderne dansk litteratur.
June 28, 2019
Tydeligt at der et tale om et ufuldstændigt værk fra forfatterens hånd (færdiggjort posthumt). Hvor de to første bind står knivskarpt, stramt skrevet og redigeret, trinerer Liberty omvendt alt for længe. Historien mangler elementær fremdrift og man ender desværre med at kede sig lidt, i takt med at hovedpersonen Christians (50 pct Ejersbo) liv står i stampe i Afrika (sic). Grundmaterialet er der, men hvis det for alvor skal leve, kræver det at man skærer 300 sider.
May 12, 2018
Fantastisk bog. Fantastisk trilogi. Nogen af de bedste bøger jeg har læst. Der er så meget godt at sige om dem, at jeg mangler ord. Kan kun sige, at jeg glæder mig som en sindsyg til at læse dem igen.
July 20, 2021
Jeg læste ikke Nordkraft i skolen, men jeg har kunnet forstå, hvorfor den kunne være blevet en klassiker. Nu har jeg læst Eksil og Liberty fra Jakob Ejersbos Afrika-trilogi og jeg er blæst bagover. Ken Follett har af gode grunde ikke selv kunnet bygge en katedral, men Jakob Ejersbo skriver som har han selv levet hver eneste karakters liv i Liberty. Den barskhed, realisme og sproglige detalje er ren guf. Afrika-trilogien er ikke kun får afrofile mennesker.
May 21, 2024
Good book
February 24, 2012
Liberty er lige så anbefalelsesværdig som både Eksil og Revolution, men nu trænger jeg så også til at læse noget, der er lidt mere opløftende for det er den barske side af Afrika, der skildres.
May 22, 2022
'Liberty' was way too long. While the topic of life in Tanzania remains fascinating, at 700 pages I wish this delivered more substance, more emotion, something to justify the length. I still think the first book, 'Exile' carried the most punch. This is one where the ideas were there, but the situations ended up going in circles and felt like a drag.
We're now following Christian and Marcus from teenage years to young adults. The dual perspective means that we can follow the language of each of them, Danish Christian moved by his father to Africa, and black Marcus striving for a better life while serving a Swedish household. It's as much a story of their friendship and what brings them together, as much as a story of alienation and distance from themselves and their surroundings and their desire to become the race they're not.
Because of the first person narrative I anticipate that we will have an intimate an honest portrait of the characters. While I thought that I could understand Marcus' motivations, I didn't quite get Christian. Many of his actions were surprising to me, they felt pretty left-field. I would have liked to understand his patterns of thinking better, and I feel this was a missed opportunity. He expresses himself much more plot-based. I don't know why he wanted to stay in Africa apart from the drama, why he fell in love with Samantha or how quickly he forgot about her thanks to Rachel. What I did really like though is that, because we followed many of the peripheral characters in the previous two books, it creates a curious image of what characters think of each other. It makes the world bigger, pretty much what you'd imagine in everyday life as people are walking past you. For example I remember Samantha thought of Christian as a puppy begging for her, Rachel considered him the creme de la creme, her saviour, and here Christian reads as impulsive and impatient.
But this also means that there are some scenes that don't add much newness, for example the rape in the mine. When Marcus was getting with different women I also felt like I'm getting the picture already, this isn't interesting anymore.
The writing, however, might be interpreted as simplistic, with short sentences, common words, but it is very effective. There's occasionally a Swahili expression, a Danish or a Swedish one, and the idioms very much add to the colour and vivacity of Africa.
If you'd like to understand life in Africa better - I would highly recommend this series, especially the first book. It doesn't pull away from the violence and the rage, and if you are Western it will probably upset and anger you when it comes to the treatment of women, racism, aggression, corruption and in general the post-colonial world. While I don't think that book three will add to this understanding, you might agree more with the other reviewers that found it more worthwhile than I did.
We're now following Christian and Marcus from teenage years to young adults. The dual perspective means that we can follow the language of each of them, Danish Christian moved by his father to Africa, and black Marcus striving for a better life while serving a Swedish household. It's as much a story of their friendship and what brings them together, as much as a story of alienation and distance from themselves and their surroundings and their desire to become the race they're not.
Because of the first person narrative I anticipate that we will have an intimate an honest portrait of the characters. While I thought that I could understand Marcus' motivations, I didn't quite get Christian. Many of his actions were surprising to me, they felt pretty left-field. I would have liked to understand his patterns of thinking better, and I feel this was a missed opportunity. He expresses himself much more plot-based. I don't know why he wanted to stay in Africa apart from the drama, why he fell in love with Samantha or how quickly he forgot about her thanks to Rachel. What I did really like though is that, because we followed many of the peripheral characters in the previous two books, it creates a curious image of what characters think of each other. It makes the world bigger, pretty much what you'd imagine in everyday life as people are walking past you. For example I remember Samantha thought of Christian as a puppy begging for her, Rachel considered him the creme de la creme, her saviour, and here Christian reads as impulsive and impatient.
But this also means that there are some scenes that don't add much newness, for example the rape in the mine. When Marcus was getting with different women I also felt like I'm getting the picture already, this isn't interesting anymore.
The writing, however, might be interpreted as simplistic, with short sentences, common words, but it is very effective. There's occasionally a Swahili expression, a Danish or a Swedish one, and the idioms very much add to the colour and vivacity of Africa.
If you'd like to understand life in Africa better - I would highly recommend this series, especially the first book. It doesn't pull away from the violence and the rage, and if you are Western it will probably upset and anger you when it comes to the treatment of women, racism, aggression, corruption and in general the post-colonial world. While I don't think that book three will add to this understanding, you might agree more with the other reviewers that found it more worthwhile than I did.
June 21, 2022
Endelig ferdig med denne boka, jammen har jeg levd litt i Afrika de siste tre ukene😅
For en skildring #jakobejersbo har fått inn her, noen ganger blitt overrasket når jrg har lest to timer for å så se ut av vinduet og se grønne regnfulle norge🙈
I boka #liberty møter vi guttene Christian og Marco, som blir bekjente i Afrika. Christian kommer med familien sin fra Danmark, og har store drømmer om å bli suksessfull med sin diskotek ide (dette er på 1980tallet!), og Marco jobber som tjenestegutt hos en svensk familie og prøver å styre seg inn i den hvite manns verden ved å gjøre så deres makt blomstrer, for å prøve å få en liten bit av den kaka. Dette er hvor Marco og Christian bonder, ved å hjelpe hverandre. Christian har penger og status, mens Marco har knowledge på hvem som kan smøres og hvordan de kan starte diskotek.
Etterhvert blir Christian mer og mer blindet av makt og suksess, og overser råd og hjelpen Marco prøver å gi, samtidig som flere afrikanere også vil ha en bit av kaka, som tyr til å så onde tanker i hodet til Christian om Marco. Dette sliter mer og mer på vennskapet dem imellom, samtidig som andre intriger, dødsfall og utroskap i familier påvirker deres hverdag.
En utrolig spennende og innlevelsesrik bok fra Jakob Ejersbo, anbefaler den virkelig 👍😁
#bok #bøker #godstemning #lese #books #bookstagram #instabok #bokorm #bookworm #lesmer #bedremedbok #detdumålese #leseglede #bokelsker
#bokblogg
#Aschehoug #lesmer
For en skildring #jakobejersbo har fått inn her, noen ganger blitt overrasket når jrg har lest to timer for å så se ut av vinduet og se grønne regnfulle norge🙈
I boka #liberty møter vi guttene Christian og Marco, som blir bekjente i Afrika. Christian kommer med familien sin fra Danmark, og har store drømmer om å bli suksessfull med sin diskotek ide (dette er på 1980tallet!), og Marco jobber som tjenestegutt hos en svensk familie og prøver å styre seg inn i den hvite manns verden ved å gjøre så deres makt blomstrer, for å prøve å få en liten bit av den kaka. Dette er hvor Marco og Christian bonder, ved å hjelpe hverandre. Christian har penger og status, mens Marco har knowledge på hvem som kan smøres og hvordan de kan starte diskotek.
Etterhvert blir Christian mer og mer blindet av makt og suksess, og overser råd og hjelpen Marco prøver å gi, samtidig som flere afrikanere også vil ha en bit av kaka, som tyr til å så onde tanker i hodet til Christian om Marco. Dette sliter mer og mer på vennskapet dem imellom, samtidig som andre intriger, dødsfall og utroskap i familier påvirker deres hverdag.
En utrolig spennende og innlevelsesrik bok fra Jakob Ejersbo, anbefaler den virkelig 👍😁
#bok #bøker #godstemning #lese #books #bookstagram #instabok #bokorm #bookworm #lesmer #bedremedbok #detdumålese #leseglede #bokelsker
#bokblogg
#Aschehoug #lesmer
November 9, 2021
Tr. Mette Petersen. A very satisfying, if depressing, end to the trilogy, this pulls together the threads of the first two books in to the lives of two friends Marcus and Christian. Like the first two books it is a rather cynical account of the lives of ex pats in Tanzania (mainly in this case working in the aid industry) as well as the lives of the Tanzanians who live and work alongside them. There is plenty of uncomfortable food for thought on the role of ‘the west’ in the developing world, the characters it encourages as well as, in this case, the displacement that Christian feels as a Danish boy growing up in Africa, with all of the advantages that that entails but a dangerously underdeveloped appreciation of them. Ultimately there is not much feel good here and the reader is forced in to some awkward places but this is not always a bad thing - although I have to maintain the hope from the first book that some of the behaviours are exaggerated because too many of the characters are simply awful people, even if you see more in Liberty why that may be so..
June 16, 2018
This book will take you on a mind-blowing journey and depict what it means to be human in Africa. This is the last book in Ejersbo's Africa Triology - the other two books are Exile and Revolution which will introduce you to other characters than Christian and Marcus, who are the main characters in Liberty. You'll encounter the beauty of what it means to pursuit happiness and success, but also the price humans have to pay for their dreams in Africa. In my opinion what makes this book so good is the fact that the characters are like real humans, they are not perfect and they don't try to hide it. You can see their flaws shine through. You also don't know who is the good guy who is the bad guy? Some of the themes which this book explores are identity, pursuit of happiness and shattered dreams. Read it!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 29, 2018
Let nok at læse, men alt for lang.
I starten kunne jeg bedst identificere mig med danske Christian, den ene af bogens to fortællere, mens jeg havde det sværere med Marcus fra Tanzania. Marcus virker meget rationel, men også opportunistisk. Omstændighederne (Tanzania i 1980'erne) taget i betragning kan man ikke klandre ham, men han virker noget beregnende. Det bliver han sådan set ved med hele bogen igennem.
Balancen tipper dog alligevel, for på trods af at begge fortællere er upålidelige, viser det sig efterhånden at Christian er en sjuft og en døgenigt. De sidste 300 sider er derfor hårde at komme gennem, fordi man for længst er holdt op med at holde med nogen.
Til gengæld får man, formoder jeg, en grundlæggende forståelse for hvor svært det er at få noget til at fungere i et samfund som Tanzania. Ikke opmuntrende læsning.
I starten kunne jeg bedst identificere mig med danske Christian, den ene af bogens to fortællere, mens jeg havde det sværere med Marcus fra Tanzania. Marcus virker meget rationel, men også opportunistisk. Omstændighederne (Tanzania i 1980'erne) taget i betragning kan man ikke klandre ham, men han virker noget beregnende. Det bliver han sådan set ved med hele bogen igennem.
Balancen tipper dog alligevel, for på trods af at begge fortællere er upålidelige, viser det sig efterhånden at Christian er en sjuft og en døgenigt. De sidste 300 sider er derfor hårde at komme gennem, fordi man for længst er holdt op med at holde med nogen.
Til gengæld får man, formoder jeg, en grundlæggende forståelse for hvor svært det er at få noget til at fungere i et samfund som Tanzania. Ikke opmuntrende læsning.
January 26, 2023
Fantastisk roman. Den bedste i trilogien.
Jakobs evne til at fremstille de sorte afrikanernes håbløse og håb på en og samme tid, er eminent. Og hans evne til at fremstille den hvide slægts klodsede og arrogante, frembrusende adfærd er mindst ligeså imponerende.
Man siger at man taber sit hjerte til Afrika, men at Afrika kan sluge dig med hud og hår, hvis du farer det mindste vild fra stien. Liberty er et storslået eksempel herpå.
Eneste lille minus er, at bogen midtvejs tenderer til at blive lidt for ensformig og repetitive. Jeg tænker at den måske godt kunne have haft gavn af lidt mere redigering i den henseende. Men med tanke på at Jakob døde af kræft inden redigeringen var overstået, så er det ikke noget, der skal trække ned i min samlede bedømmelse af dette mesterværk.
Jakobs evne til at fremstille de sorte afrikanernes håbløse og håb på en og samme tid, er eminent. Og hans evne til at fremstille den hvide slægts klodsede og arrogante, frembrusende adfærd er mindst ligeså imponerende.
Man siger at man taber sit hjerte til Afrika, men at Afrika kan sluge dig med hud og hår, hvis du farer det mindste vild fra stien. Liberty er et storslået eksempel herpå.
Eneste lille minus er, at bogen midtvejs tenderer til at blive lidt for ensformig og repetitive. Jeg tænker at den måske godt kunne have haft gavn af lidt mere redigering i den henseende. Men med tanke på at Jakob døde af kræft inden redigeringen var overstået, så er det ikke noget, der skal trække ned i min samlede bedømmelse af dette mesterværk.
June 6, 2018
The three Books have been stranding on my shelves for 8 years but with Liberty I have now read them all. It took me so long to start because I new it would be a misanthropic experience - and it was. But it was also an amazingly well written saga of Africa and the dilemmas of identity that I will never forget. If you haven’t read Liberty, Revolution or Exile maybe it should be this summer
August 25, 2019
A great in-depth exploration of whiteness and blackness from the perspective of two boys, one European, the other African. A pessimist book that nevertheless provokes one to thing about race, class and privilege in a new way. Also a great reading experience, the unique narrative keeps the reader going without rest for 764 pages (in the Norwegian translation that I read)
July 5, 2024
Sidste bog I den store Afrika trilogi.
Meget i samme stil som de 2 forrige, men for lang (708 sider) i forhold til hvor meget der sker i den. Jeg syntes heller ikke slutningen er særligt tilfredsstillende.
Alt i alt bliver "Eksil" min favorit. Så jeg ville foreslå at, hvis man vil læse en dansk kult klassiker men ikke har for meget tid (eller tålmodighed), SÅ LÆS EKSIL!
Meget i samme stil som de 2 forrige, men for lang (708 sider) i forhold til hvor meget der sker i den. Jeg syntes heller ikke slutningen er særligt tilfredsstillende.
Alt i alt bliver "Eksil" min favorit. Så jeg ville foreslå at, hvis man vil læse en dansk kult klassiker men ikke har for meget tid (eller tålmodighed), SÅ LÆS EKSIL!
July 8, 2017
This offers a very straight insight in the way the (African) world works. Nasty but I guess very true.
July 17, 2021
Virkelig god læseoplevelse!
October 26, 2021
Jakob dumped me because I was too white, but I've posthumously forgiven him. It's worth learning Danish just to be able to read his trilogy.
January 3, 2022
Blev ikke færdig. Dårlig skrevet
December 30, 2023
Tog de 700 sider på under en uge. Ham Ejersbo ku sgu fortælle en historie.
July 3, 2024
Fantastisk god bok som gjør en god jobb i å forklare hvorfor mennesker handler som de gjør, når det tilsynelatende kan virke irrasjonelt.
September 16, 2025
Fed og rå historie, som er spændende at læse igennem alle 711 sider.
March 24, 2017
Funny. Tragic. Brilliant!
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