Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

In the imaginary town of Kalep, somewhere on the Atlantic coast of the Sahel, the Islamists (here called "the Brotherhood") had taken over - despite the country's attempt to dislodge them. A group of friends decide to show that they are not ready to accept that - by publishing a journal.

That's the main premise of this novel. The author is from Senegal and this novel had won quite a lot of awards (both in French and in English). And even if awards are not always an indication of quality, they got it right here.

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr has a very distinctive way of introducing his characters - while most writers will immediately tell you if you had already met the spouse or the brother of a newly introduced character, he tells you the story as if they are unrelated until the relationship either becomes important for the story or they just end up in the same place and not spelling/showing it becomes hard. I don't think it is an attempt at secrecy - it is more of a "that could have happened to anyone, not just to the doctor's wife" kind of thing.

The story opens with an execution - a young couple is killed for daring to fall in love (and follow up on their love). That makes the circle of friends decide to publish their journal (and gives us one part of the narration). That also makes the two mothers who lost their children start sending each other letters - some of them very private, some of them discussing what they see in their towns (which often ties to the other narrative). Sarr adds yet another voice - the voice of the commander of the Islamist troops Abdel Karim Konaté (it is unclear if the name is randomly chosen - there is a Malian politician by that name who was in the government around that time). And then there are the inhabitants of Kalep - we meet quite a lot of them, and sometimes it takes awhile to find out who connects to whom and how. But the connections are there - even where you least expect - and by the end of the novel, it becomes obvious that there is no "we" and "them" - everyone is connected in one way or another. And yet, there is evil and there is good.

It is a brutal novel - that initial execution feels almost like an appetizer as the novel continues. The scariest part is that it can happen - there is nothing in it that is impossible. And I cannot even imagine how much more urgent and possible it sounded in 2015 when it was published, with ISIS at the height of their power a continent away.… (more)