The Parachute Drop

Follows the president of a fictional West African country through a coup and on to his death at the hands of his opponents. Along the way, an important post-colonial view of the instability, corruption, interference of former colonial masters, greed and lust. The author eventually died at the hands of the Burkinabe regime but lives on in the more beautiful parts of the book set in the episodes set in the more rural parts of the country where humanity and hope exist.

The writing sometimes veers towards the larger then life ridiculing of the characters which may detract a little from the seriousness of the message it contains, but overall this is a successful book and an important contribution to the African post-colonial literature and show more history. show less

The backstory around how this novel was written and published is as interesting as this active novel set in the 'fictitious' African nation of Watinbow, which is clearly a fictionalized Burkina Faso. The author, Norbert Zongo, was a journalist, and perhaps the first without ties to the President and willing to expose him, who wrote pieces such as 'The Mobutuization of Burkina Faso'. The modus operandi of the President of Burkina Faso was to car bomb political subversives (or anyone not praising the leadership) and Zongo did not escape this fate. Ultimately tortured for writing The Parachute Drop sometime before 1982, Zongo went on the be blown up in a car...even though he took precautions such as never riding in the same car twice.

The show more novel follows the trials and travails of an African President, Gouama, of a small African nation recently independent. Gouama has the typical millions stashed in a Swiss bank account skimmed from IMF loans and/or world aid. There are betraying Western 'advisors', torture, imprisonment, harsh swamps, illness, coup attempts, and a mix of other exciting action. Even so, the story reads slowly and the main character is so wishy-washy that the policies of the administration are more believable than that the President's malice, greed, passion are all afterthoughts to his lust. show less

Yes, that Zongo was murdered by the regime he satirizes in this book adds a level of poignancy to the story, but sadly that does not make it a good novel.

Fable sur la dictature, le roman Le parachutage parle du déclin d'un dictature hédoniste qui se fait berner par un entourage corrompue à l'os et épris du pouvoir.

Et malgré les mises en garde d'anges-gardiens paradoxalement dépeint comme étant la gangrène du pays puisque communistes ainsi que par ses propres conseillers machiavéliques corrompus, l'avertissant de ses dérives en citant Machiavel, le dictateur n'arrive pas à se défaire de l'illusion du pouvoir et de l'argent.

Ainsi bien que les pistes soient un peu détournées, le roman me semble dépeindre la montée en force du groupe de Sankara face à un dictateur (Saye Zerbo) corrompu. Ainsi pour l'auteur Zongo dans son roman à thèse fort relevé, le mal ne réside par show more dans le communisme comme idéal mais dans le détournement des richesses du pays au profit d'une élite. show less