Le Baobab Fou

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The subject of intense admiration and not a little shock, when it was first published The Abandoned Baobab has consistently captivated readers ever since The book has been translated into numerous languages and was chosen by QBR Black Book Review as one of Africa s 100 best books of the twentieth century No African woman had ever been so frank, in an autobiography, or written so poignantly, about the intimate details of her life a distinction that, than two decades later, still holds true. Abandoned by her mother and sent to live with relatives in Dakar, the author tells of being educated in the French colonial school system, where she comes gradually to feel alienated from her family and Muslim upbringing, growing enad with the West Academic success gives her the opportunity to study in Belgium, which she looks upon as a promised land There she is objectified as an exotic creature, however, and she descends into promiscuity, alcohol and drug abuse, and, eventually, prostitution It was out of concern on her editor s part about her candor that the author used the pseudonym Ken Bugul, the Wolof phrase for the person no one wants Her return to Senegal, which concludes the book, presents her with a past she cannot reenter, a painful but necessary realization as she begins to create a new life there. As Norman Rush wrote in the New York Times Book Review, One comes away from The Abandoned Baobab reluctant to take leave of a brave, sympathetic, and resilient woman Despite its unflinching look at our darkest impulses, and at the stark facts of being a colonized African, the book is ultimatelyinspirational, for it exposes us to a remarkable sensibility and a hard won understanding of one s place in the world.CARAF Books Caribbean and African Literature Translated from French Read Le Baobab Fou – kino-fada.fr Contrast Between the village in Senegal and the Belgian city Between Bugul s means of conveyance and my mode of decoding It is always hot there It is always cold there, she says of the village, a line I d usually have read as a boring paradox but that here leads out from me a humbled understanding that this place is out of the time I know In the city time and the narrative snagged on it roll onward like the conveyor belt of a machine, like the tread of a tank, while when Bugul s consciousne Contrast Between the village in Senegal and the Belgian city Between Bugul s means of conveyance and my mode of decoding It is always hot there It is always cold there, she says of the village, a line I d usually have read...I didn t much enjoy this book Perhaps once I have a chance to talk about it with my classmates, I can get a better understanding of the novel I don t have high hopes, though The overall narrative structure of the novel was very off putting the speaker felt quite distanced from her audience At times it felt like listening to someone talk to herself you feel like you re intruding, a little awkward and confused at hearing only one side of a conversation Additionally, the chronology jumped I didn t much enjoy this book Perhaps once I have a chance to talk about it...Ken unha nena senegalesa que sofre o abandono familiar e inicia unha b squeda identitaria como africana moderna no mundo occidental A incomprensi n, a alienaci n, o racismo e a inadaptaci n son unha constante neste libro no que a procura da identidade vital para acadar a superviven...Historia interesante sobre el choque entre la modernidad occidental y la tradici n africana, a lo Aventura ambigua de Cheikh Hamidou Kane, aunque menos filos fica Narra la experiencia de transitar en esa visi n construida, impuesta, de la tierra prometida el norte El descubrir de Ken, las experiencias vicerales por las que pasa, el descubir de su cuerpo, los recuerdos v vidos de la madre abandonandola ...Serein et tourment Un malaise g n ral, d un continent l autre, des gens qui, sans doute tentent de r ver leur vie au d triment des r alit s et le moi dans la douleur toujours de sa conscience Extrait Il faut se demander parfois comment allait ce monde sans appr hender de r pondre chaque jour de la vie, les v nements se succ daient in luctables On pouvait r ver sa vie, mais on ne pouvait pas r ver sa r alit Le quotidien n est constitu que par des instants Comment un tre hum Serein...At first I wasn t a huge fan of this book, but about half way through it started to win me over There were a lot of little quotes in here that I really enjoyed and rang true to me But there were also times where it seemed to...Interesting content, and I loved Bugul s perspective of the artists and liberals in Belgium who were only interested in knowing her as an Other, someone beautiful and exotic that they could brag about knowing But the writing, or the translation, is earnest and melodramatic Again...While I can appreciate the importance of this book, I found it rather tedious to read perhaps it would have been better in the original French, but I only had it in English , and never made it all the way to the end I was looking for some...A really complex look at a woman s relationship with location and identity the trauma of exile So much of the writer s personal experiences are present in this book and it s a very insightful and intense read.I think this book was poorly translated I couldn t readthan a few pages the language was terrible formal, stilted, distanced The protagonist constantly referred to her father as the father and there were other weird things like that I couldn t even bring myself to finish it.

Le Baobab Fou
  • 11 April 2017
  • 183 pages
  • 2723608387
  • Ken Bugul
  • Le Baobab Fou