The Desert and the Drum (Dedalus Africa)

Posted on by

The Desert and the Drum is the first novel ever to be translated into English from Mauritania It won the Ahmadou Kourouma Prize in 2016.Everything changes for Rayhana when foreigners with strange machines arrive to mine for metal near her Bedouin camp One of them is the enigmatic Yahya Rayhana s association with him leads to her abandoning all she knows and fleeing alone to the city When her tribe discover she s stolen their sacred drum they pursue her to exact their revenge Though Rayhana has her own missing person to seek.The Desert and the Drum tells of Rayhana s rift with her family, the disturbing characters she encounters in the metropolis, her attempts to separate friend from foe and to find a place for herself amidst the contradictions of contemporary Mauritania. Read The Desert and the Drum (Dedalus Africa) by Mbarfek Ould Beyrouk – kino-fada.fr Beyrouk provides a rarely seen view of a young Bedouin woman who dares to defy her tribe She changes her life when she flees the desert finding herself alone in the city In the city the story revolves around...few reviews which provide food for thought I feel the Arablit article emphasising the ethnographic quality over the novel s literary merits is somewhat unfair I felt it was quite nicely translated, and captures the narrator s tone and rage quite realistically It has also been unfavourably compared to Miral al Tahawy s Bedouin perspective, which...I m reading books from around the world this year this author is from Mauritania In fact, this is the first book from this West African country that has been translated into English.I appreciated the lack of resolution to this harrowing tale of a young girl fleeing her Bedouin tribes people having stolen their sacred drum as retribution for the theft and disappearance of her child The reader was left to decide for herself what would become of the strong lead character Will she be captured and forced to submit to the will of those wielding far greater official authority or will her strength and intelligence allow her to evade capture and reunite with her young son Interes I appreciated the lack of resolution to this harrowing tale of a young girl fleeing her Bedouin tribes people having stolen their sacred drum as retribution for the theft and disappearance of her child The reader was left to decide for herself what would become of the strong lead char...As a Mauritanian I really enjoyed the book if you wanna learn about our history and culture I highly recommend this book

The Desert and the Drum (Dedalus Africa)
  • 17 June 2018
  • Kindle Edition
  • 111 pages
  • Mbarfek Ould Beyrouk
  • The Desert and the Drum (Dedalus Africa)