Paradise

Paradise is at once the story of an African boy s coming of age, a tragic love story, and a tale of the corruption of traditional African patterns by European colonialism It presents a major African voice to American readers a voice that prompted Peter Tinniswood to write in the London Times, reviewing Gurnah s previous novel, Mr Gurnah is a very fine writer I am certain he will become a great one Paradise is Abdulrazak Gurnah s great novel At twelve, Yusuf, the protagonist of this twentieth century odyssey, is sold by his father in repayment of a debt From the simple life of rural Africa, Yusuf is thrown into the complexities of precolonial urban East Africa a fascinating world in which Muslim black Africans, Christian missionaries, and Indians from the subcontinent coexist in a fragile, subtle social hierarchy Through the eyes of Yusuf, Gurnah depicts communities at war, trading safaris gone awry, and the universal trials of adolescence Then, just as Yusuf begins to comprehend the choices required of him, he and everyone around him must adjust to the new reality of European colonialism The result is a page turning saga that covers the same territory as the novels of Isak Dinesen and William Boyd, but does so from a perspective never before available on that seldom chronicled part of the world. New Download [ Paradise ] Author [ Abdulrazak Gurnah ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr A curious and surprising novel, which I think can be easily misunderstood, if the reviews are anyhing to go by It concerns Yusef, a boy who is taken by his uncle from his parents to pay a debt He works in his uncle s shop with Khalil an older boy in a similar situation As Yusef grows it is clear that he is very attractive to women and men Uncle Aziz takes him on one of his trading expeditions through what is now Tanzania and we encounter jungle, strange and wonderful people Yusef stays wi A curious and surprising novel, which I think can be easily misunderstood, if the reviews are anyhing to go by It concerns Yusef, a boy who is taken by his uncle from his parents to pay a debt He works in his uncle s shop with Khalil an older boy in a similar situation As Yusef grows it is clear that he is very attractive to women and men Uncle Aziz takes him on one of his trading expeditions through what is now Tanzania and we encounter jungle, strange and wonderful people Yusef stays with a trading partner of Aziz for a time, where his growing attractiveness continues to be a problem He then goes on a journey with Aziz and his trading caravan and has further adventures They return to the uncle s home after some time and Yusef s beauty continues to be a problem There is a, on the surface, puzzlin...DNFI rarely do this, but I have to face facts I m not going to finish this book Maybe I could have another day, another time, a different place and mood, but considering I was reading this in April for the Around the World in 12 Books Challenge, I ve run out of time and must admit defeat Out of 247 pages I read to page 126.Shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize now the Man Booker Prize , this story about a boy called Yusuf who is sold into the service of a successful merchant to pay his fathe DNFI rarely do this, but I have to face facts I m not going to finish this book Maybe I could have another day, another time, a different place and mood, but consideri...The best description I can give of this book is that it reads like a translation, even though it isn t There s a certain flatness and distance to the writing that I associate with poor translations, and this turned out to be a book I had to push myself through Fortunately, it s short.Paradise is the story of an adolescent boy, Yusuf, in early 20th century Tanzania Yusuf s parents sell him to a merchant to satisfy a debt, and he spends the rest of the book worki...I really enjoyed listening to a story told while Tanzania was just experiencing the first bit of colonization and even better to hear it from someone from a lower caste The plot if pretty much non existent, but there are some interesting cha...A historical novel set around WWI in East Africa, modern day Kenya and Tanzania, then the area around Tanganyika and Zanzibar The Germans are moving in and building railroads A young man from the interior is sold into bondage by his father to his uncle in payment of a debt Poverty at home is such that the boy looks forward to a bone in his soup, so moving to the coastal city may be an improvement The uncle owns a store in a coastal city and is a trader in the days of year long pack animal ca A historical novel set around WWI in East Africa, modern day Kenya and Tanzania, then the area around Tanganyika and Zanzibar The Germans are moving in and building railroads A young man from the interior is sold into bondage by his father to his uncle in payment of a debt Poverty at home is such that the boy looks forward to a bone in his soup, so moving to the coastal city may be an improvement The uncle owns a store in a coastal city and is a trader in the days of year long pack animal caravans into the heart of Africa the lakes around where modern day Congo and Uganda meet The story switches from the rural interior to the cosmopolitan urban coastal world The boy and his uncle are Moslems the young man who runs the store and takes charge of the boy is Indian the interior folks have traditional African religions There is discussion of differences among the various gods The characters use a variety of languages including Arabic, German and English the lingua franca is Swahili T...Centered on the life of Yusuf, taken from his home to repay a debt to a trader, Paradise sets the reader down in the region we now know as Tanzania and asks that we look at the world from that vantage point, in all its complexity Europeans arrive on the scene as strange, ugly creatures with hair growing out their ears and a bewildering sense of authority ethnic and racial divisions criss cross each community and reveal the history of trade and human migration that have shaped the region for hu Centered on the life of Yusuf, taken from his home to repay a debt to a trader, Paradise sets the reader down in the region we now know as Tanzania and asks that we look at the world from that vantage point, in all its complexity Europeans arrive on the scene as strange, ugly creatures with hair growing out their ears and a bewildering sense of authority ethnic and racial divisions criss cross each com...When you have Zanzibar as the backdrop to a book you d expect wonders given it s rich culture and history.I was speechless when I finished reading Paradise not out of amazement but disappointment This had the potential to be one awesome book, but Gurnah ruined it I hated just how unoriginal his main character was Ripped straight out of Chapte...Yusuf is young when he has to leave his family in order to become a rehani, a sort of hostage held in order to repay his father s unpaid debts to a rich merchant, the man who he calls Uncle Aziz but that sooner or later will become only the seyyid master.Yusuf follows the merchant in quite a passionate way, even in dangerous situations such as an expedition through the inner parts of the country in which he seriously risks to lose his own life Yusuf is beautiful, and passionate, and idealist Yusuf is young when he has to leave his family in order to become a rehani, a sort of hostage held in order to repay his father s unpaid debts to a rich merchant, the man who he calls Uncle Aziz but that sooner or later will become only the seyyid master.Yusuf follows the merchant in quite a passionate way, even in dangerous situations such as an expedition through the inner parts of the country in which he seriously risks to lose ...Yusuf is taken from his home by his Uncle as repayment of his father s debts Thrown into a new situation, Yusuf must find his place in the whole as he travels around Africa.The biggest appeal of this b...Light on story but long on literary ness The book gives a detailed picture of a specific point in time, an Africa on the brink of colonial takeover, told from the point of view of some of the lowest castes in society The final pages turn this into a decent character study, too.

• English
• 08 July 2017
Abdulrazak Gurnah
• Paperback
• 256 pages
• 1565841638
• Abdulrazak Gurnah
• Paradise