Book description
Alfa and Mademba are two of the many Senegalese soldiers fighting in the Great War. Together they climb dutifully out of their trenches to attack France's German enemies whenever the whistle blows, until Mademba is wounded, and dies in a shell hole with his belly torn open.
Without his more-than-brother,…
Why read it?
3 authors picked At Night All Blood Is Black as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This is an award-winning book that will take you somewhere you are unlikely to have been before. I recommend having been a soldier, as someone who directly and indirectly writes on war, and with the knowledge of it being a domain of human folly, enfolding extreme emotions extending from hate to love. It held me in its grip. It made the familiar unfamiliar in a way that invited self-reflection. While a translation, its command of language was evident
A driving force behind so many fiction writers is not just to tell a compelling story but to expose particular aspects of…
From Tony's list on make a difference to people and their worlds.
I'd also highly recommend Diop's "Beyond The Door of No Return" for its fascinating reclamation of a dark history.
Diop is a French writer (b.1966) and this book won the 2021 International Booker Prize.
I don’t seek out war stories, particularly those set in the trenches of the Great War, as this one is, but At Night All Blood Is Black isn’t your standard war novel.
I was hoping for something beyond the mud and the bayonets, the horror and its unending aftermath. I was hoping for an understanding of the paradox of being human and, even though the book is unapologetically bleak, I wasn’t disappointed.
How come? The love between the soldiers, Alfa and Mademba, is at the…
From Em's list on short reads that dare to offer something deep.
If you love At Night All Blood Is Black...
The High House
The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.
The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.
Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…
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