Great African Reads discussion

This thread is for discussions of our Nov/Dec 2023 read of At Night All Blood is Black, by David Diop - Notice that there may be SPOILERS (Find the no-spoiler thread here)
- Feel free to discuss anything you like about the book here: Here's a few questions to get you started:
How did you like the characters? The plot? The style? The portrayal of characters and their surroundings?

Can’t read the comments!

Nancy wrote: "Can’t read the comments!"

Where? Here? There aren't any yet?

I get emails that sound interesting. Then when I click on them all I get is a long lis that includes comments that are years old. No way to get access to what is actually going on. Then I have to enter a separate email for Good Teads to get access to Great Africa.

Nan wrote: "I get emails that sound interesting. Then when I click on them all I get is a long lis that includes comments that are years old. No way to get access to what is actually going on. Then I have to e..."
Hmkay that's weird?! I haven't sent anything from the group, maybe it's a general Goodreads mail? I get a weird one with 'activity' from every group I'm a member of, maybe it's that one?

At last I figured out what was going on and got to this page.

I read this book awhile ago and am glad I did.

His new book Beyond The Door of No Return looks like a book I will read soon.

I have one question: What do you think happened to Yoro Ba, the shepherd? I tend to think that, if he had just died, someone would have given Penndo the news. Some brother would have tried to reach her. Then, I have 2 theories: 1) or there’s an event in Senegal’s history I’m missing, or 2) Yoro Ba and his sons were also kidnapped and sold as slaves.

Of course it is a mystery of the novel but I am really concerned…

I suspect they were also kidnapped or something similar happened to them. It may also be that a climatic event in another part of the area wiped them out during a drought or similar.

I'm trying to figure out at what stage in the narration does the narrator change from Alfa to Mademba. I'm pretty sure up to the drawings of the hands is narrated by Alfa, but at some point Mademba takes over since Alfa has allowed his spirit to join him.

The perspective is interesting, we hear very seldom about the Africans in Europe in WWI. One other exception that I can think of is Dancing the Death Drill. I read The Black Terrorist, but that is WWII and based on factual events.

Glad I read this one and also appreciate it for its brevity.

I feel like the moment in which Mademba takes the word is just after Alfa and the daughter of the doctor make love. After that, everything turns confusing.

Maybe this way Mademba experiences his first time having sex with a woman before dying: through the body of Alfa. Just as wonderful as Alfa has experienced it with Fary Thiam before departing.

That makes a lot of sense, Luisa. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

That is just one possible interpretation… of course this was the most cryptic part of the book. After finishing it I was like ??????????

I want to look up other novels about Senegalese tirailleurs during WWI to share them with you, if you are interested. I remember a chapter devoted to them in Désir d’Afrique by Boniface Mongo-Mboussa, but I don’t have this book in the home I am staying on vacation :( I’ll send you other titles whenever I can, for your enjoyment!!!!

Thank you so much! I would be interested as my sister-in-law is an historian specialising in WWI in Africa, so she would definitely appreciate the titles as well.

Wow Carolien, that's really interesting! One of my boyfriend's classmates wanted to do his final dissertation about WWII (and specifically, while the Vichy government in France), but the teacher dismissed that topic saying "there are no references". That's why I find interesting --and courageous!-- what your sister-in-law is devoting to.

Here are the references discussed by Mongo-Mboussa (I don't know the titles of the translations into English, so I send you the original titles in French and you look them up):
- Force-bonté (1926) by Bakary Diallo from Senegal
- The poem Et caetera (Pigments, 1928) by Léon-Gontran Damas from French Guiana
- The poem Hosties noires (1948) by Léopold Sédar Senghor from Senegal
- Morts pour la France (1985) by Doumby Fakoly from Mali
- Les contes d'Amadou Koumba (1947) by Birago Diop from Senegal
- Le lieutenant de Kouta (1982) by Massa Makan Diabaté from Mali
- Le nègre Potemkine (1990) by Blaise N'Djehoya from Cameroon

I marked you the year and the country just in case she is just studying a geographical area or epoch in specific :)

Thank you so much, I'll pass these on to her! I really appreciate it.

Caroline, I have just finished this one It took me a while to get into but read the last half in one go and I really enjoyed it in the end. The twist and change of narrator also struck me. I suspect the change is possibly when he enters the hospital (or retreat) grounds, when he buries the hands? Disquieting and enchanting at the same time.