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The Devil that Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Quest by Aminatta Forna - 4 stars - My Review

“The account I read was not the way I had imagined my father's trial at all. I imagined – well, what exactly? That the prosecution's case would have been much more ingenious, more inventive, I suppose. Instead there it was: seven volumes in which the end was written before the start, in which every word demonstrated a contempt for the truth that was brutal, undisguised and arrogant. My father had not been facing one man or even a government, but a system, an entire order, in which everyone from judge to juror knew their role.”

This book is Aminatta Forna’s memoir of her father, Dr. Mohamed Sorie Forna, former minister of finance in Sierra Leone, who was executed on trumped up charges of treason in 1975. Haunted by the past, she decided to reconstruct exactly what happened and why. She engaged relatives and tracked down people involved in order to discover the truth. In the process, she conveys the tortured history of Sierra Leone from the 1960s to 2000s.

The book is part childhood memoir, as the author was a child when her father was killed. I could almost feel her sense of anguish as I read it. She occasionally gets into more detail than perhaps was necessary for the reader, and I probably will not remember many of the names cited, but I am certain it was necessary for the author as she worked through such a personal traumatic experience. I have now read five books by Aminatta Forna, and I always enjoy the author’s elegant writing style.

“There are three words to denote the passing of time: today, tomorrow and yesterday. Everything else is viewed in relation to those three positions and extends only a few days in either direction, perhaps because life in rural Africa is so full of hazards that people prefer to live in the here and now rather than speculate on an uncertain future.”

Thanks, for the review. I have it on my TBR along with several other of her books. I read Happiness and decided she is an author I want to read more of.

Booknblues wrote: "Thanks, for the review. I have it on my TBR along with several other of her books. I read Happiness and decided she is an author I want to read more of."

I love her writing style. I've been tracking my favorite authors, and here are the others I have read in case it is helpful:

The Memory of Love - 5 stars- My Review

The Window Seat: Notes from a Life in Motion - 4 stars - My Review

Ancestor Stones: A Novel - 4 stars - My Review