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Petit pays
Avant, Gabriel faisait les quatre cents coups avec ses copains dans leur coin de paradis. Et puis l'harmonie familiale s'est disloquée en même temps que son "petit pays", le Burundi, ce bout d'Afrique centrale brutalement malmenée par l'Histoire.
Plus tard, Gabriel fait revivre un monde à jamais perdu. Les battements de cœur et les souffles coupés, les pensées profondes et les rires déployés, le parfum de citronnelle, les termites, les jours d'orages, les jacarandas en fleurs... L'enfance, son infinie douceur, ses douleurs qui ne nous quittent jamais.
Plus tard, Gabriel fait revivre un monde à jamais perdu. Les battements de cœur et les souffles coupés, les pensées profondes et les rires déployés, le parfum de citronnelle, les termites, les jours d'orages, les jacarandas en fleurs... L'enfance, son infinie douceur, ses douleurs qui ne nous quittent jamais.
224 pages, Paperback
First published August 24, 2016
About the author
Gaël Faye
8 books300 followersFrench-Rwandan Gaël Faye is an author, composer and hip hop artist. He was born in 1982 in Burundi, and has a Rwandan mother and French father. In 1995, after the outbreak of the civil war and the Rwandan genocide, the family moved to France. Gaël studied finance and worked in London for two years for an investment fund, then he left London to embark on a career of writing and music. He is as influenced by Creole literature as he is by hip hop culture, and released an album in 2010 with the group Milk Coffee & Sugar. In 2013, his first solo album, Pili Pili sur un Croissant au Beurre, appeared. It was recorded between Bujumbura and Paris, and is filled with a plethora of musical influences: rap laced with soul and jazz, semba, Congolese rumba... In 2018 he received the prestigious Victoires de la Musique Award. Small Country is his first novel. It was a huge bestseller in France, winning the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens 2016, and is being published in thirty territories worldwide.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,120 reviews
March 9, 2021
Small Country by Gael Faye
I think in this review I’ll focus on the background to the story, rather than the story itself. The small country is Burundi in central Africa near Lake Victoria. It is a small country - about the size of Massachusetts. And the story is really about two small countries, counting next-door Rwanda, about the same size. They are sandwiched in among Uganda, Congo and Tanzania. (OK the geography professor in me is finished – but wait – I’ll give you a map too for the quiz on Friday!)
The story starts with a boy about 10 years old growing up in the 1980s and early 90s. He is bi-racial. His mother is ethnically Tutsi, a refugee from violence in next-door Rwanda, and his father is a French businessman. So they are well-off and live in the rich part of Burundi’s capital city, Bujumbura (that won’t be on the quiz). They have a car and servants. He hangs out with a neighborhood gang of little kids that includes other bi-racial kids and some rich African kids. Mostly they hang out in a junked van, steal fruit and have an occasional beer or cigarette.
He knows his mother fled violence but he has no idea how cyclical all this is: civil wars and mass violence in 1965, 1972, 1988 and now it’s the ‘90s. The violence occurs in both nations (Rwanda and Burundi) between the two ethnic groups: the Tutsis, tall and slender (like his mother) and the Hutus, shorter and stockier. Although the Tutsis are a minority (less than 20% in each of the two countries) they have typically been the dominant group, controlling the economy and the politics. But democracy flipped the scales. That sounds like a good thing until we hear that the Hutu army is giving out machetes to everyone and encouraging them to kill Tutsis. In the past, there were massacres of Hutus by Tutsis. What goes around comes around. The UN categorized the violence in 1993 as genocide. More than 500,000 individuals were brutally killed, mainly in Rwanda, but with the killings spilling over into Burundi.
What were the problems? “…neighbors were Rwandans who had left their country to escape carnage, massacres, wars, pogroms, purges, destruction, fires, tsetse flies, pillaging, apartheid, rapes, murders, settling of scores, and I don’t know what else. Like Maman and her family, they had fled those problems only to encounter new ones in Burundi – poverty, exclusion, quotas, xenophobia, rejection, being made into scapegoats, depression, homesickness, and nostalgia. The problems of refugees.”
Here’s a scene as the father drives his children to school: “The route to school was littered with burned-out cars, blocks of stone obstructing our way, and melted tires, some of which were still steaming. Whenever there was a body on the side of the road, Papa ordered us not to look.”
While this horrendous violence forms the background to the story, most of the story is not about the violence; it’s a coming-of-age story of the young boy. We read of how he interacts with the Hutu servants, how he and his sister react to their parents’ marriage breaking up; how he rebels against the local gang as it starts to move toward actual violence, and how he seeks solace with an elderly woman neighbor who encourages him to read and discuss books with her. Only a couple of scenes in the book are violent. But we read of the aftermath of violence as we might read in a newspaper account.
I liked the writing and the story kept my attention all the way through.
The story is semi-autobiographical. The author (b. 1982) grew up in Burundi with a Rwandan mother and a French father and moved to France during the violence. Considering the major themes of the book, it’s amazing to me that it has such a very high rating on GR: 4.2 with 11,000 ratings– that’s up there near the Harry Potters. Small Country won several literary awards in France and has been translated into more than 30 languages. The author has written another novel, published in 2020, but it appears it has not yet been translated into English. The author also leads a rapper group called Milk, Coffee, Sugar.
Map from economist.com
Burundi landscape from cdn.royalcoffee.com
Burundi's capital city from investburundi.com
The author on an album cover from rhythmpassport.com
I think in this review I’ll focus on the background to the story, rather than the story itself. The small country is Burundi in central Africa near Lake Victoria. It is a small country - about the size of Massachusetts. And the story is really about two small countries, counting next-door Rwanda, about the same size. They are sandwiched in among Uganda, Congo and Tanzania. (OK the geography professor in me is finished – but wait – I’ll give you a map too for the quiz on Friday!)
The story starts with a boy about 10 years old growing up in the 1980s and early 90s. He is bi-racial. His mother is ethnically Tutsi, a refugee from violence in next-door Rwanda, and his father is a French businessman. So they are well-off and live in the rich part of Burundi’s capital city, Bujumbura (that won’t be on the quiz). They have a car and servants. He hangs out with a neighborhood gang of little kids that includes other bi-racial kids and some rich African kids. Mostly they hang out in a junked van, steal fruit and have an occasional beer or cigarette.
He knows his mother fled violence but he has no idea how cyclical all this is: civil wars and mass violence in 1965, 1972, 1988 and now it’s the ‘90s. The violence occurs in both nations (Rwanda and Burundi) between the two ethnic groups: the Tutsis, tall and slender (like his mother) and the Hutus, shorter and stockier. Although the Tutsis are a minority (less than 20% in each of the two countries) they have typically been the dominant group, controlling the economy and the politics. But democracy flipped the scales. That sounds like a good thing until we hear that the Hutu army is giving out machetes to everyone and encouraging them to kill Tutsis. In the past, there were massacres of Hutus by Tutsis. What goes around comes around. The UN categorized the violence in 1993 as genocide. More than 500,000 individuals were brutally killed, mainly in Rwanda, but with the killings spilling over into Burundi.
What were the problems? “…neighbors were Rwandans who had left their country to escape carnage, massacres, wars, pogroms, purges, destruction, fires, tsetse flies, pillaging, apartheid, rapes, murders, settling of scores, and I don’t know what else. Like Maman and her family, they had fled those problems only to encounter new ones in Burundi – poverty, exclusion, quotas, xenophobia, rejection, being made into scapegoats, depression, homesickness, and nostalgia. The problems of refugees.”
Here’s a scene as the father drives his children to school: “The route to school was littered with burned-out cars, blocks of stone obstructing our way, and melted tires, some of which were still steaming. Whenever there was a body on the side of the road, Papa ordered us not to look.”
While this horrendous violence forms the background to the story, most of the story is not about the violence; it’s a coming-of-age story of the young boy. We read of how he interacts with the Hutu servants, how he and his sister react to their parents’ marriage breaking up; how he rebels against the local gang as it starts to move toward actual violence, and how he seeks solace with an elderly woman neighbor who encourages him to read and discuss books with her. Only a couple of scenes in the book are violent. But we read of the aftermath of violence as we might read in a newspaper account.
I liked the writing and the story kept my attention all the way through.
The story is semi-autobiographical. The author (b. 1982) grew up in Burundi with a Rwandan mother and a French father and moved to France during the violence. Considering the major themes of the book, it’s amazing to me that it has such a very high rating on GR: 4.2 with 11,000 ratings– that’s up there near the Harry Potters. Small Country won several literary awards in France and has been translated into more than 30 languages. The author has written another novel, published in 2020, but it appears it has not yet been translated into English. The author also leads a rapper group called Milk, Coffee, Sugar.
Map from economist.com
Burundi landscape from cdn.royalcoffee.com
Burundi's capital city from investburundi.com
The author on an album cover from rhythmpassport.com
May 17, 2018
This almost feels like two different stories, and in a way it is just that. The first part features a ten year old boy, Gabby, his sister And, his mother who was from Rwanda and his father, who is a French ex pat. It is marked by the innocence of youth, of being able to live a somewhat privileged life in a safe community. His days spent playing with his friends, their rivalry with a boy named Frances, his only worry the disintegrating relationship of his parents. In Burundi, the first democratic election is soon to be held, and people have high hopes for their country.
The second half shows the gradual loss of his innocence. In Rwanda the genocide has begun, and his mother travels to Rwanda seeking the family she has there. She finds a horror beyond words, and on her returns to her family, she is much changed, barely recognizable. Gabby, now eleven thinks,
"Genocide is an oil slick: those who don't drown in it are polluted for life."
A novel that shows the detriment of war, the frutality of trying to stay neutral when it is brought to your door. Countries torn apart, families torn apart, there are no winners. I loved the character of Gabby, insightful and wise for his age, he tries to stay uninvolved, burying himself in his books, but is soon shocked out of his complacency. The innocence and quietness of the first part of this book serves to highlight the changes that war brings, the loss of innocence, in the second half. Jarringly so.
The author doesn't spare the readers, the terror, the horror, but also how living with these conditions becomes the new normal. It is not until it is brought to their door that this changes. We are not left hanging about the outcome, the last end of the book features some very insightful thoughts in a letter Gabby writes. It also catches us up on the near future, what happened to some of these characters, and the effect in had on their lives. The third book about Rwanda that I have read this month, all of them both different and the same. This is a well done story, one definitely worth reading.
ARC from Edelweiss.
The second half shows the gradual loss of his innocence. In Rwanda the genocide has begun, and his mother travels to Rwanda seeking the family she has there. She finds a horror beyond words, and on her returns to her family, she is much changed, barely recognizable. Gabby, now eleven thinks,
"Genocide is an oil slick: those who don't drown in it are polluted for life."
A novel that shows the detriment of war, the frutality of trying to stay neutral when it is brought to your door. Countries torn apart, families torn apart, there are no winners. I loved the character of Gabby, insightful and wise for his age, he tries to stay uninvolved, burying himself in his books, but is soon shocked out of his complacency. The innocence and quietness of the first part of this book serves to highlight the changes that war brings, the loss of innocence, in the second half. Jarringly so.
The author doesn't spare the readers, the terror, the horror, but also how living with these conditions becomes the new normal. It is not until it is brought to their door that this changes. We are not left hanging about the outcome, the last end of the book features some very insightful thoughts in a letter Gabby writes. It also catches us up on the near future, what happened to some of these characters, and the effect in had on their lives. The third book about Rwanda that I have read this month, all of them both different and the same. This is a well done story, one definitely worth reading.
ARC from Edelweiss.
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October 15, 2021
PARADISO PERDUTO
Il film omonimo uscito nel 2020 diretto da Éric Barbier.
Il paradiso perduto è quello del piccolo Gaby, la spensieratezza dell’infanzia, fino ai dodici anni, perduta quando la paura e la morte arrivano d'improvviso alla porta, costringendolo, proprio come è successo a Gaël Faye, a lasciare il suo paese natale, il Burundi, per trasferirsi in Francia.
L’illusione della felicità che si sbriciola quando la realtà irrompe col suo tremendo carico di morte e violenza.
Un brusco passaggio d’età, da bambino ad adulto nel giro di pochi mesi.
Le immagini che seguono sono prese dal videoclip “Petit Pays“ di Gaël Faye.
Gaby è figlio di padre francese e madre rwandese (tutsi). Ha una sorella di qualche anno più piccola, Ana. I genitori si separano perché il matrimonio ha perso vitalità, ma anche perché il bianco non riesce a superare un fondo di razzismo verso i neri – e se non si tratta di lui, si tratta certamente dei suoi amici colonialisti bianchi.
La storia è bella e regala una prospettiva insolita, il genocidio del 1994 in Rwanda visto dal piccolo paese fratello, il Burundi: la separazione familiare - i personaggi - la gang dei ragazzi - come man mano cresce l’odio e la separazione.
Ha un buon ritmo, senza fretta ma anche senza soste. C'è da chiedersi se l'essere musicista abbia giovato a trovare la buona fluidità di racconto.
Il finale è straziante, la fuga in Francia di Gaby e Ana avviene senza genitori, che rimangono in Africa, i due fratelli cresceranno con una famiglia affidataria.
La storia sembra simile a quella personale dello scrittore che però, fortunatamente, mi sembra di capire che lasciando l’Africa avesse accanto i suoi genitori.
Nel finale migliora anche la scrittura: pur scivolando nell’enfasi, è comunque la scrittura di un giovane uomo e corrisponde al personaggio che racconta.
Purtroppo il 95% del breve romanzo soffre invece di una scrittura zoppicante, come succede spesso quando un adulto vuole mettersi all’altezza di un bambino, riprodurre il linguaggio e la prospettiva dell’infanzia è impresa quasi impossibile. Ancora di più, se l’autore mischia la consapevolezza retrospettiva dell’adulto, il cosiddetto senno del poi.
Molto meglio, come dicevo, le ultime pagine quando Gaby racconta e scrive da adulto, da trentenne, lingua scrittura ed età del personaggio corrispondono più felicemente.
Colpisce pensare che adesso Gaël Faye sia andato a vivere in Rwanda, vicino al confine col Burundi, dove è successo quello che è successo (e in Burundi la violenza si è protratta fin verso il 2010), spinto dalla paura generata dall’episodio di Charlie Hebdo, quando ha capito che il percorso per allontanarsi dalla ferocia non è in una sola direzione perché la violenza arriva anche all’ovest.
Colpisce, ma forse anche no, che all’epoca, dall’aprile al luglio del 1994, abbiamo ignorato quello che stava succedendo in Rwanda (ma questo piccolo libro accenna anche a quello che era successo prima, a partire dall’indipendenza, in Rwanda e in Burundi), e adesso se ne parli perché a scriverne è un famoso rapper, la cui fama illumina un angolo di mondo rimasto troppo a lungo al buio.
Colpisce, ma forse anche no, che la casa editrice Bompiani nella biografia dello scrittore parli di guerra civile invece che di genocidio, collochi i fatti nel 1995 invece che nel 1994, e poi traduca barricate invece di barriere, come se volesse rafforzare la tesi negazionista del genocidio a favore della guerra civile: nonostante l’autore famoso rapper, nonostante i premi vinti, le migliaia di copie vendute, il tam tam della promozione, il Rwanda non merita ancora neppure quel minimo di accuratezza, vince sempre la crassa ignoranza.
26.338 km² Rwanda
27.830 km² Burundi
25.711 km² Sicilia
23.844 km² Lombardia
Il film omonimo uscito nel 2020 diretto da Éric Barbier.
Il paradiso perduto è quello del piccolo Gaby, la spensieratezza dell’infanzia, fino ai dodici anni, perduta quando la paura e la morte arrivano d'improvviso alla porta, costringendolo, proprio come è successo a Gaël Faye, a lasciare il suo paese natale, il Burundi, per trasferirsi in Francia.
L’illusione della felicità che si sbriciola quando la realtà irrompe col suo tremendo carico di morte e violenza.
Un brusco passaggio d’età, da bambino ad adulto nel giro di pochi mesi.
Le immagini che seguono sono prese dal videoclip “Petit Pays“ di Gaël Faye.
Gaby è figlio di padre francese e madre rwandese (tutsi). Ha una sorella di qualche anno più piccola, Ana. I genitori si separano perché il matrimonio ha perso vitalità, ma anche perché il bianco non riesce a superare un fondo di razzismo verso i neri – e se non si tratta di lui, si tratta certamente dei suoi amici colonialisti bianchi.
La storia è bella e regala una prospettiva insolita, il genocidio del 1994 in Rwanda visto dal piccolo paese fratello, il Burundi: la separazione familiare - i personaggi - la gang dei ragazzi - come man mano cresce l’odio e la separazione.
Ha un buon ritmo, senza fretta ma anche senza soste. C'è da chiedersi se l'essere musicista abbia giovato a trovare la buona fluidità di racconto.
Il finale è straziante, la fuga in Francia di Gaby e Ana avviene senza genitori, che rimangono in Africa, i due fratelli cresceranno con una famiglia affidataria.
La storia sembra simile a quella personale dello scrittore che però, fortunatamente, mi sembra di capire che lasciando l’Africa avesse accanto i suoi genitori.
Nel finale migliora anche la scrittura: pur scivolando nell’enfasi, è comunque la scrittura di un giovane uomo e corrisponde al personaggio che racconta.
Purtroppo il 95% del breve romanzo soffre invece di una scrittura zoppicante, come succede spesso quando un adulto vuole mettersi all’altezza di un bambino, riprodurre il linguaggio e la prospettiva dell’infanzia è impresa quasi impossibile. Ancora di più, se l’autore mischia la consapevolezza retrospettiva dell’adulto, il cosiddetto senno del poi.
Molto meglio, come dicevo, le ultime pagine quando Gaby racconta e scrive da adulto, da trentenne, lingua scrittura ed età del personaggio corrispondono più felicemente.
Colpisce pensare che adesso Gaël Faye sia andato a vivere in Rwanda, vicino al confine col Burundi, dove è successo quello che è successo (e in Burundi la violenza si è protratta fin verso il 2010), spinto dalla paura generata dall’episodio di Charlie Hebdo, quando ha capito che il percorso per allontanarsi dalla ferocia non è in una sola direzione perché la violenza arriva anche all’ovest.
Colpisce, ma forse anche no, che all’epoca, dall’aprile al luglio del 1994, abbiamo ignorato quello che stava succedendo in Rwanda (ma questo piccolo libro accenna anche a quello che era successo prima, a partire dall’indipendenza, in Rwanda e in Burundi), e adesso se ne parli perché a scriverne è un famoso rapper, la cui fama illumina un angolo di mondo rimasto troppo a lungo al buio.
Colpisce, ma forse anche no, che la casa editrice Bompiani nella biografia dello scrittore parli di guerra civile invece che di genocidio, collochi i fatti nel 1995 invece che nel 1994, e poi traduca barricate invece di barriere, come se volesse rafforzare la tesi negazionista del genocidio a favore della guerra civile: nonostante l’autore famoso rapper, nonostante i premi vinti, le migliaia di copie vendute, il tam tam della promozione, il Rwanda non merita ancora neppure quel minimo di accuratezza, vince sempre la crassa ignoranza.
26.338 km² Rwanda
27.830 km² Burundi
25.711 km² Sicilia
23.844 km² Lombardia
July 22, 2019
Small Country is the powerful coming of age tale of Gaby, a young mixed-race boy growing up in Burundi. He lives an idyllic lifestyle with his French father, Rwandan mother and his sister. Gaby is a typical ten year old, likes cycling, watching movies and swimming in the river with his friends. However darkness is looming on the horizon, and Gaby, his family and friends aren't ready for the war and genocide that takes over the country.
This is a gripping tale, how one young boy has to live through atrocities that no child should have to see. As he watches the world as he knows it fall apart, and he doesn't know how to keep his family safe. As he watches people he knows perish, his only question is one of his own survival. This book is immensely readable, but the contents are quite brutal. While I recommend this book, I do know it's not for everyone, yet it's a tale that had to be told.
This is a gripping tale, how one young boy has to live through atrocities that no child should have to see. As he watches the world as he knows it fall apart, and he doesn't know how to keep his family safe. As he watches people he knows perish, his only question is one of his own survival. This book is immensely readable, but the contents are quite brutal. While I recommend this book, I do know it's not for everyone, yet it's a tale that had to be told.
May 17, 2018
War always takes it upon itself, unsolicited, to find us an enemy. I wanted to remain neutral, but I couldn’t. I was born with this story. It ran in my blood. I belonged to it.
3.5 Stars. A coming-of-age tale set during the Burundian Civil War. Ten-year-old Gabriel lives in Burundi with his Rwandan mother and French father. He has a normal childhood in his beautiful homeland until the horrors of war arrive in his neighborhood. Gabriel wants to ignore all the conflict going on around him, but there comes a day where he can't hide anymore and he's presented with an impossible choice.
The earth had moved imperceptibly beneath our feet. It did so every day in this country, in this corner of the world. We were living on the axis of the Great Rift, at the precise spot where Africa fractures. The people of this region mirrored the land. Beneath the calm appearance, behind the façade of smiles and optimistic speeches, dark underground forces were continuously at work, fomenting violence and destruction that returned for successive periods, like bad winds: 1965, 1972, 1988. A glowering, uninvited ghost showing up at regular intervals to remind us that peace is merely a brief interlude between two wars. This poisonous lava, the thick flow of blood, was ready to rise to the surface once more. We didn’t know it yet, but the hour of the inferno had come, and the night was about to unleash its cackle of hyenas and wild dogs.
The book is 192 pages and has similar word density to a YA novel, so it's a quick read. The topic is inherently emotional, but the method of storytelling kept me at an emotional distance. I felt like I was viewing the story through too many filters; it's told through the limited view of a privileged child from the perspective of an adult. I was actually most emotionally attached to the minor characters (the aunt's family and Prothé). The first half reads like a memoir and the lack of tension in the meandering tale of Gaby's childhood antics almost lost my interest completely. However, the author was effective in illustrating the many sides of his homeland by showing the stark contrast between Gaby's idyllic life before the war versus the horrors that followed. The story picked up in the second half, but the distance kicked in again—one of the most brutal and unforgettable parts is simply a recollection from a character who was a bit of an enigma for me.
Genocide is an oil slick: those who don’t drown in it are polluted for life.
While I had trouble connecting to Gaby and his immediate family, there are many concepts and parts in this book that will stay with me forever:
• Privilege: Gaby discusses how war initially affected the various economic classes differently. His life was relatively normal for a long time, even as the war raged at the homes of his family's domestic staff. At one point, Gaby's Rwandan mother shows resentment towards him and his sister because of their French blood.
• There are many things that Gaby doesn't understand because he's a child: "The country was built on whispers and riddles." Eventually, the adult conflicts start creeping into his classroom and he begins to perceive things he'd missed before. The loss of innocence was heartbreaking.
• The way war and politics eventually break down all barriers and inflict themselves on everyone.
• The relationship between violence and fear & the parallels between the children's street conflicts and the war.
• Differences between leaving home by choice and being forced to flee.
• A bar where people held discussions in the protection of darkness.
• The letter in Chapter 27.
I used to think I was exiled from my country. But, in retracing the steps of my past, I have understood that I was exiled from my childhood. Which seems so much crueler.
In Small Country, a man grapples with the senselessness of war and it's permanent effects. From a young age, Gaby wants nothing more than to overcome his overwhelming fear, but that seems to become an impossibility after everything he witnesses. I liked the writing, so my reservations are mostly a matter of storytelling preferences. There are many powerful scenes, but there was also an emotional gap that I couldn’t bridge.
Context :
Burundian genocides (1990-1994) & Rwandan Connection
The assassination of Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira in 1993 - Their airplane was shot down as they landed in Rwanda. Genocidal killings of Tutsis and murders of moderate Hutus began the next day
Rwanda: How the genocide happened (BBC, 2011) - "Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days."
• Another favorite passage from the book:
"Happiness is something you only see in the rear-view mirror. The next day? Look at it. Here it is. Slaughtering hope, making the horizon futile, crushing dreams. I prayed for us, Gaby, I prayed as often as I could. The more I prayed, the more God abandoned us, and the more faith I had in his strength. God makes us undergo these ordeals so we can prove to him that we don’t doubt him. It’s as if he’s telling us that great love relies on trust. We shouldn’t doubt the beauty of things, not even under a torturing sky. If you aren’t surprised by the cockerel’s crow or the light above the mountain ridge, if you don’t believe in the goodness of your soul, then you’re not striving anymore, and it’s as if you were already dead.”
“Tomorrow, the sun will rise and we shall try again" Prothé concluded.
__________
I received this book for free from NetGalley and Hogarth. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. It will be available on June 5th, 2018.
September 16, 2019
I‘ve seldom read a book that touched and moved me as much as Small Country. Told from the perspective of a young boy, it brings to life a bit of African history which is so terrible it once made international front page news but now seems quite forgotten: the genocide of the Tutsi in Burundi and Rwanda. Small Country talks of broken dreams, a stolen childhood, masses of innocents lives taken in the most brutal ways and a hatred which is profound and extremely hard to understand.
This book is one of the best debut novels I‘ve read in years. The language is beautiful with exactly the right words. The letters Gaby writes to his French penpal and to his dead cousin are both the saddest and most perfect ones imaginable.
At the beginning of the book Gaby asks his father what distinguishes Tutsi and Hutu but his father can‘t really tell him. Gaby doesn‘t really understand the difference and neither did I. I would have liked to learn a bit more about the two ethnic groups and wish the author had explained it in a few sentences. This would have made understanding some of the political developments and motivations easier.
This book is one of the best debut novels I‘ve read in years. The language is beautiful with exactly the right words. The letters Gaby writes to his French penpal and to his dead cousin are both the saddest and most perfect ones imaginable.
At the beginning of the book Gaby asks his father what distinguishes Tutsi and Hutu but his father can‘t really tell him. Gaby doesn‘t really understand the difference and neither did I. I would have liked to learn a bit more about the two ethnic groups and wish the author had explained it in a few sentences. This would have made understanding some of the political developments and motivations easier.
January 19, 2021
Abhorrence
In this emotionally charged book, Gaël Faye carefully navigates through a modern time where human depravity descended so deep into the abyss. Unfortunately, it seems human history is littered with wars and atrocities, however, we sometimes seem to really outdo the horror, especially when the cruelty is incited from a systematic national directive of genocide. Can we continue to describe this as human? In 1994 the racial tensions between Hutu and Tutsi made global news for the brutal massacre of Tutsis by Hutus in Rwanda, and to a lesser extent in Burundi. What was it really over and was it worth it? The shocking quote below when trying to understand the reasons behind the horror illustrates how futile and tragic the whole conflict was:
Ten-year-old Gaby (Gabriel) lives with his French father, Rwandan mother (soon to be separated) and sister Ana, in Bujumbura, in Burundi, which borders Rwanda. In the 1990s Gaby and his 4 other friends, Gino, Armand and the twins, spend time doing what all friends do, they argue, they play, they pick mangoes (not always honestly) and sell to make money. They use an old VW Combi as their HQ and play the games all children want to. They do, however, get that uneasy feeling when adults get worried and start speaking in whispers, when attitudes change and anxiety creeps into everyday life.
How long can they be shielded from the fear, brutality and atrocities that are escalating in Burundi and neighbouring Rwanda?
NOT FOREVER – [pause, silence, tears]
Gaël Faye has written a really heartfelt, moving and inspiring book dealing with the loss of innocence and dreams when humanity descends to unimaginable depths of depravity. The effects on family, especially those that have witnessed or narrowly escaped the killings, is compassionately narrated in the story. This is an absolutely excellent debut, wonderfully well written and deserves to be read, lest we forget. When asked of Hutu militia why do you kill with machetes when you have guns, the answer was, bullets cost money and they [victims] are poor.
Many thanks to Random House UK, Vintage Publishing and NetGalley, for an ARC version of the book in return for an honest review.
In this emotionally charged book, Gaël Faye carefully navigates through a modern time where human depravity descended so deep into the abyss. Unfortunately, it seems human history is littered with wars and atrocities, however, we sometimes seem to really outdo the horror, especially when the cruelty is incited from a systematic national directive of genocide. Can we continue to describe this as human? In 1994 the racial tensions between Hutu and Tutsi made global news for the brutal massacre of Tutsis by Hutus in Rwanda, and to a lesser extent in Burundi. What was it really over and was it worth it? The shocking quote below when trying to understand the reasons behind the horror illustrates how futile and tragic the whole conflict was:
“The war between Tutsis and Hutus … is it because they don’t have the same land?”
“No, they have the same country.”
“So … they don’t have the same language?”
“No, they speak the same language.”
“So … they don’t have the same God?”
“No, they have the same God.”
“So … why are they at war?”
“Because they don’t have the same nose.”
Ten-year-old Gaby (Gabriel) lives with his French father, Rwandan mother (soon to be separated) and sister Ana, in Bujumbura, in Burundi, which borders Rwanda. In the 1990s Gaby and his 4 other friends, Gino, Armand and the twins, spend time doing what all friends do, they argue, they play, they pick mangoes (not always honestly) and sell to make money. They use an old VW Combi as their HQ and play the games all children want to. They do, however, get that uneasy feeling when adults get worried and start speaking in whispers, when attitudes change and anxiety creeps into everyday life.
How long can they be shielded from the fear, brutality and atrocities that are escalating in Burundi and neighbouring Rwanda?
NOT FOREVER – [pause, silence, tears]
“This poisonous lava, the thick flow of blood, was ready to rise to the surface once more. We didn’t know it yet but the hour of the inferno had come, and the night was about to unleash its crackle of hyenas and wild dogs.”Innocence is lost!
Gaël Faye has written a really heartfelt, moving and inspiring book dealing with the loss of innocence and dreams when humanity descends to unimaginable depths of depravity. The effects on family, especially those that have witnessed or narrowly escaped the killings, is compassionately narrated in the story. This is an absolutely excellent debut, wonderfully well written and deserves to be read, lest we forget. When asked of Hutu militia why do you kill with machetes when you have guns, the answer was, bullets cost money and they [victims] are poor.
Many thanks to Random House UK, Vintage Publishing and NetGalley, for an ARC version of the book in return for an honest review.
March 29, 2018
Bufff, no me quedan lágrimas, me ha roto el alma, es un libro durísimo pero necesario, porque es de esos que les da voz a la guerra, a la muerte y a la injusticia, a todos aquellos que no son más que una cifra en el noticiario. Es poético y desgarrador, es algo muy especial que nadie debería perderse, porque desde pequeños siempre nos han dicho que tenemos que estar felices y agradecidos de nacer en el sitio que hemos nacido y bla bla bla, pero a la mierda con eso, deberíamos estar cabreados e indignados y convertirnos en una sociedad que exija igualdad, justicia y paz en el mundo. Falta mucho para eso, pero tengo la esperanza de que algún día lleguemos a eso punto.
July 9, 2018
There are two themes in Gael Faye’s book, Small Country, relatable and unimaginable.
Relateable is 10 year old Burundian native, Gaby, in the beginning bricks back memories at that age of spending days in the neighborhood with friends, getting into simple mischief and exploration of his neighborhood. He was just leaving the age of innocence and just beginning to understand life.
His only real worry at that time was watching the distance and separation growing between his mother, who was from Rwanda and his French ex pat father.
The story continues and the reader is drawn to what so few of us could ever imagine, war, genocide, murder and heartbreak at that tender age.
“A glowing, uninvited ghost is showing up at regular intervals to remind us that peace is merely a brief interlude between two wars...we didn’t know it yet, but the hour of the inferno had come, and the night was about to unleash it’s cackles of hyenas and wild dogs.”
Gaby’s unimagineable journey continues along with knowledge that his life will always be really two lives, the one before the war and the one after.
Gael Faye’s book is sad, poignant, heartbreaking at times and a reminder to so many of us of how grateful and luck we really are.
#Netgalley #SmallCountry
Relateable is 10 year old Burundian native, Gaby, in the beginning bricks back memories at that age of spending days in the neighborhood with friends, getting into simple mischief and exploration of his neighborhood. He was just leaving the age of innocence and just beginning to understand life.
His only real worry at that time was watching the distance and separation growing between his mother, who was from Rwanda and his French ex pat father.
The story continues and the reader is drawn to what so few of us could ever imagine, war, genocide, murder and heartbreak at that tender age.
“A glowing, uninvited ghost is showing up at regular intervals to remind us that peace is merely a brief interlude between two wars...we didn’t know it yet, but the hour of the inferno had come, and the night was about to unleash it’s cackles of hyenas and wild dogs.”
Gaby’s unimagineable journey continues along with knowledge that his life will always be really two lives, the one before the war and the one after.
Gael Faye’s book is sad, poignant, heartbreaking at times and a reminder to so many of us of how grateful and luck we really are.
#Netgalley #SmallCountry
August 6, 2020
This short book is written in the form of a memoir by the 33 year old Gabriel who is now living in France. The story is set in Burundi during 1992 and 1993 when Gabriel aged 10/11 is living in an expat neighborhood with his younger sister Ana and their French father Michel and Rwandan (Tutsi) mother Yvonne. This is the second book I've read this month about the genocide in Rwanda. The first book (nonfiction) told me that it was the Belgians who had sorted the Rwandans into ethnic groups Tutsis, Hutus and Twa pygmies. Tutsis and Hutus lived in the same land, had the same religion and spoke the same languages so nothing really separated them except some artificial sorting imposed by Europeans on Africans. This book doesn't deal with the history of the ethnic conflict, other than Michel's opinion that the difference was based on the shape of their noses. Actually, in the case of each book I felt like I was inspecting a house by looking through a pinhole. The stories were very personal and focused, but I'm still missing the larger picture.
Yvonne had to flee Rwanda in 1963 when she was 4 after her family home was burned and she still feels like an outsider in Burundi. Perhaps that is why she is the only member of the family who acknowledges the dangers that are coming. Gabriel enjoyed a relatively stress-free childhood with his friends, until a military coup in Burundi wiped out its recent experimentation with democracy and the reports of killings in Rwanda could no longer be ignored. The family eventually faced threats of violence from both the Hutus and the Tutsis. However, the majority of this book is about Gabriel hanging out with his friends and I can't say I really felt his pain when things went badly because there was a certain remoteness in the writing. For the most part Gabriel viewed the war with his peripheral vision.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
Yvonne had to flee Rwanda in 1963 when she was 4 after her family home was burned and she still feels like an outsider in Burundi. Perhaps that is why she is the only member of the family who acknowledges the dangers that are coming. Gabriel enjoyed a relatively stress-free childhood with his friends, until a military coup in Burundi wiped out its recent experimentation with democracy and the reports of killings in Rwanda could no longer be ignored. The family eventually faced threats of violence from both the Hutus and the Tutsis. However, the majority of this book is about Gabriel hanging out with his friends and I can't say I really felt his pain when things went badly because there was a certain remoteness in the writing. For the most part Gabriel viewed the war with his peripheral vision.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
December 30, 2018
This is not your classic immigrant story: In his debut novel, musician Gaël Faye does not talk much about the life of a refugee in France. Rather, he talks about life in Burundi, where the happy childhood of his protagonist Gaby starts to disintegrate when his parents (a Tutsi from Rwanda and a Frenchman) separate and it becomes less and less feasible for the adults around him to shelter him from the growing political turmoil. Gaby witnesses different forms of violence and finally neighbouring Ruanda being ruined by a genocide, the repercussions of which spread to his hometown, his friends and his own family. Faye shows why people leave the country and the people they love and come to Europe - because they want to survive, because they have seen way to many burning bodies, rotting human remains, torture and pointless killings. There are some seriously haunting scenes in this book, so beware before picking it up. In this novel, safety is a cul-de-sac.
Faye, born in 1982, grew up in Burundi and fled to France in 1995 - it remains unclear how much of this book is autobiographical, but there's a documentary in which Faye visits Burundi and Ruanda, including places from his childhood (here's the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjWxA...) and a very telling song entitled "Petit Pays" he did in 2012 (here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTF2p...).
So all in all, the story and the imagery are strong, the only thing that bothered me was that parts of the book are just over-explained which takes away from the poetic merit: When an old and a young person talk about the country, we are informed that one stands for the future and one for the past, we are informed that the whole violence is pointless and so on - all of this is of course correct, but I don't need to have it spelt out for me, on the contrary: Faye can trust in his material and his abilities, the scenes alone are much stronger without all the (unnecessary) explanations.
This certainly is a good book, but I think Faye is able to write a very good book, and I can't wait to read it.
Faye, born in 1982, grew up in Burundi and fled to France in 1995 - it remains unclear how much of this book is autobiographical, but there's a documentary in which Faye visits Burundi and Ruanda, including places from his childhood (here's the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjWxA...) and a very telling song entitled "Petit Pays" he did in 2012 (here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTF2p...).
So all in all, the story and the imagery are strong, the only thing that bothered me was that parts of the book are just over-explained which takes away from the poetic merit: When an old and a young person talk about the country, we are informed that one stands for the future and one for the past, we are informed that the whole violence is pointless and so on - all of this is of course correct, but I don't need to have it spelt out for me, on the contrary: Faye can trust in his material and his abilities, the scenes alone are much stronger without all the (unnecessary) explanations.
This certainly is a good book, but I think Faye is able to write a very good book, and I can't wait to read it.
March 20, 2017
Ce livre est absolument magnifique et m'a fait passer par toute une gamme d'émotions au fil de ma lecture.
Pendant toute la première partie, on se sent transporté au Burundi, on a vraiment l'impression de ressentir la moiteur, d'entendre les crapauds et de goûter les mangues (Petit Pays m'a d'ailleurs filé une sacrée fringale de mangues), l'insouciance de l'enfance est magnifiquement bien décrite, même si, déjà, à l'arrière-plan, les tensions politiques sont là.
Et puis soudain, la guerre rattrape Gaby et ses amis, et tout bascule... malgré tout, même si la deuxième partie du livre est évidemment dure, très dure, il n'y a aucune complaisance à décrire l'horreur pour l'horreur ou à en rajouter. L'Histoire se suffit à elle-même, et Gaël Faye a vraiment un talent fou pour nous la faire revivre.
Le style (superbe) et l'amour des livres qui transpire de Petit Pays a fini par me convaincre que ce serait forcément un de mes livres préférés cette année même si on n'est qu'en mars.
Pendant toute la première partie, on se sent transporté au Burundi, on a vraiment l'impression de ressentir la moiteur, d'entendre les crapauds et de goûter les mangues (Petit Pays m'a d'ailleurs filé une sacrée fringale de mangues), l'insouciance de l'enfance est magnifiquement bien décrite, même si, déjà, à l'arrière-plan, les tensions politiques sont là.
Et puis soudain, la guerre rattrape Gaby et ses amis, et tout bascule... malgré tout, même si la deuxième partie du livre est évidemment dure, très dure, il n'y a aucune complaisance à décrire l'horreur pour l'horreur ou à en rajouter. L'Histoire se suffit à elle-même, et Gaël Faye a vraiment un talent fou pour nous la faire revivre.
Le style (superbe) et l'amour des livres qui transpire de Petit Pays a fini par me convaincre que ce serait forcément un de mes livres préférés cette année même si on n'est qu'en mars.
April 21, 2024
Revisiting this book and going through all my tabs and annotations again made me raise its rating to 5 stars. Gaël Faye can write soooo fucking beautifully, it's really enchanting! Based on writing style alone, he has definitely become a new favorite author of mine. Even though I'm doubtful, I hope he'll publish another novel soon.
Although the novel is not autobiographical, it is based on Gaël Faye's own experiences growing up in Burundi during this period. Gaël Faye himself was born in 1982 in Bujumbura to a French father and Rwandan mother. Just like Gaby, at the age 13, he emigrated to France with his family, escaping the Burundian civil war.
At the beginning of the book, a grown-up Gaby reflects on a conversation he has had with his father about the ethnic strife between the Tutsi and the Hutu when he was little, realising how futile it was and how much violence has been brought onto his people because of it. When little Gaby asked his father about the war, he asked if it was because the Tutsi and Hutus didn’t have the same country, or the same language, or the same God. To which is father replied that it’s not because of that, they share all of that, it’s “because they don’t have the same nose.” Referring to the fact that in colonial times, the colonizers favoured the Tutsi over the Hutu when assigning administrative roles, believing them to be migrants from Ethiopia and racially superior. These mythologies provided the base for anti-Tutsi propaganda in 1994.
In the first few chapters, we follow a young Gaby as he witnesses his parent’s marriage fall apart. His mother and father constantly fight and eventually end up getting divorced. For the readers, it’s clear that his parents couldn't overcome their cultural differences. Gaby’s mother loathed her husband for his opportunism and that he wouldn't take the family to France, whereas Gaby’s father had no sympathies for the trauma of his wife.
Their horizon is small and their days follow a simple routine: they wake up, prepare for school, are driven there by their servants, and after school, they are allowed to hang out with the kids of the neighbourhood, most of which are also mixed with European fathers and African mothers.
The shadow of the rising brutality and violence was there from the start. But as Gaby grows older, the tensions between the Hutu and the Tutsi rise even more. Yvonne fears for her aunt and her nieces and nephews who are still in Rwanda. With every phone call, every piece of news on the radio, she grows more and more worried. Gaby notices this but has the privilege to not pay too much attention to it in the beginning. He isn’t concerned with the lives of the adults around him, rather, he wants to go on adventures with his friends.
However, when the news of the coup d’état arrive in Burundi, even their friend group can't stay blissfully unaware, and everything changes for the group. The twins leave the country with their family, leaving also a hole in the group that will never be filled. The boys feel forced to pick a side. Nobody is allowed to remain neutral. The violence has finally arrived amongst themselves as well. It was us versus them.
Gaël Faye managed to show the shattering impact of the genocide for those who survived it, those who seemingly came out of it “unscathed”. He unmasks this myth as untrue. No one came out of it unscathed. Gaby’s mother becomes mentally ill, depressed, traumatised. She no longer sleeps or eats. She is like a ghost. When she sleeps, she is haunted by nightmares. She is afraid, angry, bitter, hurt, lost, and in excruciating pain. She had to burry so many of her family members, if there was something left to bury.
Petit Pays is an incredibly touching book that I would highly recommend. Personally, I found the first half to be a bit stronger than the second half (due to certain plot points) but overall, it was a captivating read that moved me, and educated me. Watching all of the events of Gaby’s childhood unravel, witnessing how the stability and beauty of his life is slowly dismantled, will definitely stay with me for a long time. It made me think of all the people who have lived through violence and hatred. Those who have been destroyed by it or died, and those who have been wounded but persisted.
War, without being asked, always takes care of finding an enemy. I wanted to remain neutral, but I couldn't. I was born with this story. It flowed into me. I belonged to it.Set in Burundi, Rwanda and France, Petit Pays tells the story of 10-year-old Gaby, who lives with his French father and Rwandan mother in an impasse in a comfortable district of Bujumbura. Gabriel's sheltered upbringing leaves him oblivious to the increasing tensions between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority (to which he, through his mother, belongs). As neighbouring Rwanda faces the outbreak of civil war and genocide, which spill over into Burundi, the innocence of Gaby and his group of friends is brutally shattered.
Although the novel is not autobiographical, it is based on Gaël Faye's own experiences growing up in Burundi during this period. Gaël Faye himself was born in 1982 in Bujumbura to a French father and Rwandan mother. Just like Gaby, at the age 13, he emigrated to France with his family, escaping the Burundian civil war.
I had to leave. She told me to keep these words in memory of her: beware of the cold, watch over your secret gardens, become rich in your readings, your encounters, your loves, never forget where you come from...Petit Pays is a haunting coming-of-age story about what it means to belong and to grow up during a period where violence and resentments reach their peaks. It is a tale of loss, family and friends, disrupted lives, beautiful and painful memories, and the burden and gift of survival.
At the beginning of the book, a grown-up Gaby reflects on a conversation he has had with his father about the ethnic strife between the Tutsi and the Hutu when he was little, realising how futile it was and how much violence has been brought onto his people because of it. When little Gaby asked his father about the war, he asked if it was because the Tutsi and Hutus didn’t have the same country, or the same language, or the same God. To which is father replied that it’s not because of that, they share all of that, it’s “because they don’t have the same nose.” Referring to the fact that in colonial times, the colonizers favoured the Tutsi over the Hutu when assigning administrative roles, believing them to be migrants from Ethiopia and racially superior. These mythologies provided the base for anti-Tutsi propaganda in 1994.
I am obsessed with this return. Not a day goes by without the country remembering me. A furtive noise, a diffuse smell, an afternoon light, a gesture, a silence sometimes, are enough to awaken the memory of childhood. "You won't find anything there but ghosts and a bunch of ruins", Ana keeps telling me, she never wants to hear about this "cursed country" again. I listen to her. I believe her. She has always been more lucid than me. So I push this idea out of my head. I decide once and for all that I will never go back there. My life is here. In France.The story begins as Gaby’s childhood memories, now living in France, resurface, triggered by his 33rd birthday that he spent alone. He thinks back on his upbringing, his home country and his family. How it all started and how it all fell apart.
In the first few chapters, we follow a young Gaby as he witnesses his parent’s marriage fall apart. His mother and father constantly fight and eventually end up getting divorced. For the readers, it’s clear that his parents couldn't overcome their cultural differences. Gaby’s mother loathed her husband for his opportunism and that he wouldn't take the family to France, whereas Gaby’s father had no sympathies for the trauma of his wife.
What is our life like in Bujumbura? Can you tell me? Apart from this miserable little life?None of them were at home in Burundi, but only Yvonne felt displaced, yearning for the security of Paris, knowing full well that the tensions in Rwanda could (and would) spill into Burundi as well, endangering her life and the lives of her children. Michel, on his part, has made Bujumbura his little paradise, with domestic servants, sunny weather and a beautiful landscape – a paradise he refuses to leave, especially not due to the “hysterics” of his wife.
You fled the quietness of your France to find adventure in Africa. Good for you! I am looking for the security I never had, the comfort of raising my children in a country where one is not afraid to die because one is ...
Like Maman and her family, they had fled these problems and encountered new ones in Burundi - poverty, exclusion, quotas, xenophobia, rejection, scapegoating, depression, homesickness, nostalgia. Refugee problems.Michel was in Burundi by chance. He failed to recognise the mental toll of the life as a refugee that his wife lived. Despite her privileges, by being married to a white Frenchman, she still had to leave her family and home behind, with little hopes of ever coming back and feeling safe there.
My home? It was here. Of course, I was the son of a Rwandan woman, but my reality was Burundi, the French school, Kinanira, the dead end. The rest did not exist.For Gaby and Ana, Bujumbura truly is home. They don't know anything else. But the people around them don’t recognise them as Burundian. They are either seen as white and French, or Tutsi, even by their own family: “Mom retorted that her children were little Frenchmen, that they shouldn't bother everyone with their Rwandan stories.”
Their horizon is small and their days follow a simple routine: they wake up, prepare for school, are driven there by their servants, and after school, they are allowed to hang out with the kids of the neighbourhood, most of which are also mixed with European fathers and African mothers.
We knew every corner of the cul-de-sac and we wanted to stay there for life, the five of us, together.It is in those chapters that we met Gaby’s closest friends: the twins, Gino and Armand. And Francis who is somewhat of an outsider. Their dynamic reminded me a lot of Darling’s friend group in We Need New Names and I loved following these little misfits along on their adventures. Gaël Faye managed to capture what it means to be young, oblivious, innocent and full of hope and joy. Reading about Gaby’s carefreeness, his little games with his friends; it made my heart sing, it made me yearn for my childhood days and friends, and it frightened me because I knew that that bliss wasn’t supposed to last.
The shadow of the rising brutality and violence was there from the start. But as Gaby grows older, the tensions between the Hutu and the Tutsi rise even more. Yvonne fears for her aunt and her nieces and nephews who are still in Rwanda. With every phone call, every piece of news on the radio, she grows more and more worried. Gaby notices this but has the privilege to not pay too much attention to it in the beginning. He isn’t concerned with the lives of the adults around him, rather, he wants to go on adventures with his friends.
However, when the news of the coup d’état arrive in Burundi, even their friend group can't stay blissfully unaware, and everything changes for the group. The twins leave the country with their family, leaving also a hole in the group that will never be filled. The boys feel forced to pick a side. Nobody is allowed to remain neutral. The violence has finally arrived amongst themselves as well. It was us versus them.
I can't remember when we started thinking differently. To consider that, in the future, there would be us on one side and, on the other, enemies, like Francis.As a reader, it is painful to witness how Gaby is forced to grow up, how he is put into situations that no child (or even adult) should ever be put into. Albeit, I found the Lord of the Flies-moment to be a little bit over the top it marked the death of childhood innocence quite illustratively.
Gaël Faye managed to show the shattering impact of the genocide for those who survived it, those who seemingly came out of it “unscathed”. He unmasks this myth as untrue. No one came out of it unscathed. Gaby’s mother becomes mentally ill, depressed, traumatised. She no longer sleeps or eats. She is like a ghost. When she sleeps, she is haunted by nightmares. She is afraid, angry, bitter, hurt, lost, and in excruciating pain. She had to burry so many of her family members, if there was something left to bury.
We live. They are dead. Mom couldn't stand the thought. She was less crazy than the world around us. I didn't blame her, but I was afraid for Ana. Every night now, Mama asked her to go with her to her nightmare lands. I had to save Ana, to save us. I wanted Mom to go away, to leave us in peace, to rid our minds of the horrors she had lived through so that we could still dream, to hope for life. I didn't understand why we had to suffer too.Gaby and Ana become scared of their mom because she is crazy, because she scares them. When Gaby tells his father what how his mother haunts them at night, Michel decides to pack their bags and move with his kids back to France. Everything changes. Gaby and Ana are uprooted. Leaving their home, and their mother behind.
The genocide is an oil slick, those who did not drown are oiled for life.It is painful to bear witness to all of that. And yet, Gaël Faye invites you to take it all in, to pay respect to all the people who have survived through this trauma. In his poetic voice, he sheds light on so many important issues that aren’t often glossed over in the mainstream media; allowing people to take up space who are too often pushed to the margins.
Petit Pays is an incredibly touching book that I would highly recommend. Personally, I found the first half to be a bit stronger than the second half (due to certain plot points) but overall, it was a captivating read that moved me, and educated me. Watching all of the events of Gaby’s childhood unravel, witnessing how the stability and beauty of his life is slowly dismantled, will definitely stay with me for a long time. It made me think of all the people who have lived through violence and hatred. Those who have been destroyed by it or died, and those who have been wounded but persisted.
November 17, 2018
A wonderful book. Powerful in its intensity. Here we view the horrors of genocide through the eyes of an eleven year old boy in Burundi. Gabriel recounts his experiences twenty years after witnessing the murders and brutality that took place in his home country of Burundi and its neighbor Rwanda in 1994. Faye claims the novel is not autobiographical, but is based on his experiences at the outbreak of the civil war. And what terrible experiences they are. This slim novel carries a heavy punch. I can't recommend it enough.
May 19, 2018
It had moments that were very compelling, but the overall story was disjointed and felt incomplete. There wasn't anything particularly special about the writing; it was a fine translation. I do think it's cool that the author is a musician, and I definitely want to check out his work.
February 7, 2018
Once I got into the rhythm of this, which is to say, reading in French, and getting past the need to look up too many new words, I couldn't put this down, by the time I found my own reading rhythm, the life of Gaby and his sister Ana, his parents, his friends had its claws in me and I had to know what was going to happen next.
The book starts with Gaby reflecting on a conversation with his father, a turning point in his understanding of the ethnic origin of his people, of the difference between the Hutu, and the Tutsi. He is trying to understand the motivation for the ethnic violence that caused his mother to flee her country of origin.
His father is French, his mother Tutsi from Rwanda, they live in the small country bordering Rwanda, Tanzania called Burundi. It boasts the second deepest lake in the world.
An italicised chapter depicts him in France, on his 33rd birthday, unable to reach his sister Ana, falling into what has become an annual melancholy, thinking about his 11th birthday, his parents and friends. And thus begins the novel, back in Burundi when he is 10 years old, remembering those last days of his parents marriage, replaying the scenes that may have contributed to the demise of their relationship.
The conversations that highlight the cultural differences, the disputes that provoke them to raise those issues, two people, neither of whom are really at home where they are, whose references are from elsewhere, who yearn for different things, Yvonne dreams of Paris, Michel is content with his piece of paradise, his business, his beautiful home, domestic servants, the climate, the make, the mountains, he refers to her dream of Europe as if it is a fantasy, far from the paradise she imagines.
For Gaby and Ana, Bujumbura is home, it is where they belong. Each day unfolds according to routine, as the domestics arrive, the gate is opened, thy prepare for school, are driven there, there is a little change as Gaby begins college and new friendships develop. His close friends live in the same alleyway, the twins, Gino, Armand. And Francis who they conflict with. They hang out in an abandoned Combi, talking, laughing, planning things.
Slowly unsettling news penetrates their utopia, Yvonne is worried for her Aunt and four children who never left Rwanda and for her nephew Pacifique who decides to return there to fight. They begin to listen to the radio for news, adults make telephone calls behind closed doors.
Despite the unsettled times, they plan a visit to Rwanda for a family marriage, excitement and tension mount and while they make the event, the changing atmosphere forces them to return in haste.
The book continues to follow the daily life revolving around Gaby, the highs of the adventures with his friends, despite the unease that pervades their township, the lows of news from Rwanda and a fear that the divisions that have become violent will trickle across to Burundi.
The news of a coup d'etat arrives when the radio plays classic music nonstop, it is a sign, one that has happened before, in November 1966 it was a Shubert piano sonata, in 1987 Chopin.
Attitudes change and begin to take effect in the playground and in the neighbourhood. Gaby befriends an elderly neighbour, a widow with large bookshelves, he seeks respite between the pages of a newfound love, literature.
The story is told through scenes viewed from the perspective of Gaby, we slowly understand the beauty and stability of his life and how that is slowly dismantled and it is no wonder, miles away and many years in the future, something in him yearns for that lost youth.
It is beautifully told, a simple story to follow, with many beautifully descriptive passages, even though we know that this time will be short-lived. It opens our eyes to the tensions that escalate into hatred and violence with little sense, the many victims and the many wounded by loss, destroyed by it.
The ending is not really an ending, and it could be said there is more than one. I found it incredibly moving and was amazed to be so moved in a language that is not my own. An incredible feat of writing, a wonderful talent. Highly Recommended.
Winner for five French literary prizes including the sought after Prix Goncourt des lycéens, it is due to be translated into English in June 2018 under the title Small Country by Hogarth Press.
The book starts with Gaby reflecting on a conversation with his father, a turning point in his understanding of the ethnic origin of his people, of the difference between the Hutu, and the Tutsi. He is trying to understand the motivation for the ethnic violence that caused his mother to flee her country of origin.
His father is French, his mother Tutsi from Rwanda, they live in the small country bordering Rwanda, Tanzania called Burundi. It boasts the second deepest lake in the world.
An italicised chapter depicts him in France, on his 33rd birthday, unable to reach his sister Ana, falling into what has become an annual melancholy, thinking about his 11th birthday, his parents and friends. And thus begins the novel, back in Burundi when he is 10 years old, remembering those last days of his parents marriage, replaying the scenes that may have contributed to the demise of their relationship.
The conversations that highlight the cultural differences, the disputes that provoke them to raise those issues, two people, neither of whom are really at home where they are, whose references are from elsewhere, who yearn for different things, Yvonne dreams of Paris, Michel is content with his piece of paradise, his business, his beautiful home, domestic servants, the climate, the make, the mountains, he refers to her dream of Europe as if it is a fantasy, far from the paradise she imagines.
For Gaby and Ana, Bujumbura is home, it is where they belong. Each day unfolds according to routine, as the domestics arrive, the gate is opened, thy prepare for school, are driven there, there is a little change as Gaby begins college and new friendships develop. His close friends live in the same alleyway, the twins, Gino, Armand. And Francis who they conflict with. They hang out in an abandoned Combi, talking, laughing, planning things.
On connaissait tous les recoins de l'impasse et on voulait y rester pour la vie entière, tous les cinq, ensemble.
J'ai beau chercher, je ne me souviens pas du moment ou l'on s'est mis à penser différemment. A considérer que, dorévenant il y aurait nous d'un côté et, de l'autre, des ennemis, comme Francis.
Slowly unsettling news penetrates their utopia, Yvonne is worried for her Aunt and four children who never left Rwanda and for her nephew Pacifique who decides to return there to fight. They begin to listen to the radio for news, adults make telephone calls behind closed doors.
Despite the unsettled times, they plan a visit to Rwanda for a family marriage, excitement and tension mount and while they make the event, the changing atmosphere forces them to return in haste.
The book continues to follow the daily life revolving around Gaby, the highs of the adventures with his friends, despite the unease that pervades their township, the lows of news from Rwanda and a fear that the divisions that have become violent will trickle across to Burundi.
The news of a coup d'etat arrives when the radio plays classic music nonstop, it is a sign, one that has happened before, in November 1966 it was a Shubert piano sonata, in 1987 Chopin.
Ce jour-là, le 21 October 1993, nous avons eu droit au Crépsucule des dieux de Wagner.
Attitudes change and begin to take effect in the playground and in the neighbourhood. Gaby befriends an elderly neighbour, a widow with large bookshelves, he seeks respite between the pages of a newfound love, literature.
The story is told through scenes viewed from the perspective of Gaby, we slowly understand the beauty and stability of his life and how that is slowly dismantled and it is no wonder, miles away and many years in the future, something in him yearns for that lost youth.
It is beautifully told, a simple story to follow, with many beautifully descriptive passages, even though we know that this time will be short-lived. It opens our eyes to the tensions that escalate into hatred and violence with little sense, the many victims and the many wounded by loss, destroyed by it.
The ending is not really an ending, and it could be said there is more than one. I found it incredibly moving and was amazed to be so moved in a language that is not my own. An incredible feat of writing, a wonderful talent. Highly Recommended.
Winner for five French literary prizes including the sought after Prix Goncourt des lycéens, it is due to be translated into English in June 2018 under the title Small Country by Hogarth Press.
Read
May 1, 2018Why I Love it
by Liberty Hardy
I’ll be honest: This is a slim novel with very a serious subject. But! It is also the kind of book that will stay with you for a long time. Set amidst the beautiful scenery of Africa and based on a dark chapter in Burundi’s history, Small Country—which won France’s most prestigious literary award—is a powerful, important story about family, cultural differences, and war.
Gaby is a boy of ten living in Burundi with his French father and Rwandan mother. The novel begins with the lovely memories he has of his childhood—being a carefree kid, playing with friends, exploring the beautiful countryside—but gradually darkens as political upheaval and violence sweep through his life, forcing him to make terrible decisions that will haunt him for the rest of his days.
It was a terrifying time, but after having lived through it himself, the author knows how to expertly intertwine unspeakable horrors with the small moments of beauty and humor that characterize a boy just trying to live like everything is still normal. It’s not always an easy read, but I ask you to trust me when I say it’s a worthy one. Don’t forget, books that break your heart also strengthen your soul.
Read more at https://www.bookofthemonth.com/small-...
by Liberty Hardy
I’ll be honest: This is a slim novel with very a serious subject. But! It is also the kind of book that will stay with you for a long time. Set amidst the beautiful scenery of Africa and based on a dark chapter in Burundi’s history, Small Country—which won France’s most prestigious literary award—is a powerful, important story about family, cultural differences, and war.
Gaby is a boy of ten living in Burundi with his French father and Rwandan mother. The novel begins with the lovely memories he has of his childhood—being a carefree kid, playing with friends, exploring the beautiful countryside—but gradually darkens as political upheaval and violence sweep through his life, forcing him to make terrible decisions that will haunt him for the rest of his days.
It was a terrifying time, but after having lived through it himself, the author knows how to expertly intertwine unspeakable horrors with the small moments of beauty and humor that characterize a boy just trying to live like everything is still normal. It’s not always an easy read, but I ask you to trust me when I say it’s a worthy one. Don’t forget, books that break your heart also strengthen your soul.
Read more at https://www.bookofthemonth.com/small-...
September 16, 2016
17/20
Il m’a fallu m’accrocher au départ, à cette période de la vie où rien ne se passe si ce n’est l’enfance, et puis la guerre arrive, la violence, la mort. Ce livre est très fort, marquant aussi. Il m’a peut-être manqué un peu d’émotion dans l’écriture mais c’est définitivement une lecture dont on ressort un peu différent. Qui nous fait prendre conscience de la réalité de la guerre et d’un pays oublié.
Ma chronique : https://myprettybooks.wordpress.com/2...
Il m’a fallu m’accrocher au départ, à cette période de la vie où rien ne se passe si ce n’est l’enfance, et puis la guerre arrive, la violence, la mort. Ce livre est très fort, marquant aussi. Il m’a peut-être manqué un peu d’émotion dans l’écriture mais c’est définitivement une lecture dont on ressort un peu différent. Qui nous fait prendre conscience de la réalité de la guerre et d’un pays oublié.
Ma chronique : https://myprettybooks.wordpress.com/2...
July 5, 2018
“I used to think I was exiled from my country. But, in retracing the steps of my past, I have understood that I was exiled from my childhood. Which seems so much crueler.”
This book made an impression on me, and it certainly educated me. Admittedly, I had Wikipedia at the ready to search on certain of topics as I was reading, so as to have a better background on the political climate during the civil war and genocides in Burundi and Rwanda (yes, I was woefully uninformed).
Gabriel’s struggle is to remain apart from the conflict, not take a side, to continue on in exuberant youth with his band of friends… which he does as long as he can, until there can be no more avoidance, just fear and the terrible choices to be made. The reality that confronts this ten year old boy and his family – his whole country for that matter – is the stuff of nightmares. These are horrors the likes of which we here in America can’t possibly conceive, and glimpse only in movies and books from the comfort of our cushy sofas. Speaking at least for myself, that is.
I’ve heard that Gaël Faye’s writing is utterly beautiful if read in the original French version, but I don’t think it quite carries over with the English translation. The dialogue, most of which is among young boys, feels a little too polished, too “adult” for authenticity. Perhaps this is what kept me from really connecting with Gabriel and therefore not feeling the emotional punch that a lot of other readers seem to have experienced. I felt the impact of what was happening to the people of Burundi and Rwanda, but wasn’t as invested in Gabriel as I should have been.
Please don’t mistake three stars for a criticism. This is weighty subject matter written by the hand of personal experience. I’ll recommend it to other readers.
This book made an impression on me, and it certainly educated me. Admittedly, I had Wikipedia at the ready to search on certain of topics as I was reading, so as to have a better background on the political climate during the civil war and genocides in Burundi and Rwanda (yes, I was woefully uninformed).
Gabriel’s struggle is to remain apart from the conflict, not take a side, to continue on in exuberant youth with his band of friends… which he does as long as he can, until there can be no more avoidance, just fear and the terrible choices to be made. The reality that confronts this ten year old boy and his family – his whole country for that matter – is the stuff of nightmares. These are horrors the likes of which we here in America can’t possibly conceive, and glimpse only in movies and books from the comfort of our cushy sofas. Speaking at least for myself, that is.
I’ve heard that Gaël Faye’s writing is utterly beautiful if read in the original French version, but I don’t think it quite carries over with the English translation. The dialogue, most of which is among young boys, feels a little too polished, too “adult” for authenticity. Perhaps this is what kept me from really connecting with Gabriel and therefore not feeling the emotional punch that a lot of other readers seem to have experienced. I felt the impact of what was happening to the people of Burundi and Rwanda, but wasn’t as invested in Gabriel as I should have been.
Please don’t mistake three stars for a criticism. This is weighty subject matter written by the hand of personal experience. I’ll recommend it to other readers.
March 5, 2021
Fault lines
Musical recommendations:
Petit Pays - Gaël Faye
A-France - Gaël Faye
---------
The author and his text:
Gaël Faye is a Franco-Burundi singer-songwriter and writer; Petit Pays (= Small Country) deals with the author's own chilhood memories, inextricably mixed with the events of the civil war in Burundi (October 21, 1993) and the Tutsi genocide in neigbouring Rwanda (1994). This text offers variations on Gaël Faye's cultural ties with both countries and with France, introducing us to his complex and problematic heritage.
What strikes me the most in this uncommon life story is how the narration is riddled with comical collages, stunningly underlying the all too relative gap between Burundi and Western countries when it comes to their respective shortcomings. I find also found it most reminiscent of Apollinaire's poetry, so obviously betraying uncommon curiosity about what would maybe pass for many as unsignificant details.
----------------
I listened to Gaël Faye's own reading mixed with a collection of his songs, while working the night shift : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoaSk...
Futher reading:
Histoire de la décolonisation au XXème siècle
L'histoire De La Réunion, Volume 1: Des Origines à 1848
Capital et idéologie
Alcools
Musical recommendations:
Petit Pays - Gaël Faye
A-France - Gaël Faye
---------
The author and his text:
Gaël Faye is a Franco-Burundi singer-songwriter and writer; Petit Pays (= Small Country) deals with the author's own chilhood memories, inextricably mixed with the events of the civil war in Burundi (October 21, 1993) and the Tutsi genocide in neigbouring Rwanda (1994). This text offers variations on Gaël Faye's cultural ties with both countries and with France, introducing us to his complex and problematic heritage.
What strikes me the most in this uncommon life story is how the narration is riddled with comical collages, stunningly underlying the all too relative gap between Burundi and Western countries when it comes to their respective shortcomings. I find also found it most reminiscent of Apollinaire's poetry, so obviously betraying uncommon curiosity about what would maybe pass for many as unsignificant details.
----------------
I listened to Gaël Faye's own reading mixed with a collection of his songs, while working the night shift : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoaSk...
Futher reading:
Histoire de la décolonisation au XXème siècle
L'histoire De La Réunion, Volume 1: Des Origines à 1848
Capital et idéologie
Alcools
February 20, 2022
A very quick read despite the gruesome subject matter. The writing is very simple, written from the perspective of a child; Gaby, a half French half Rwandan boy, who grew up in Burundi in the 80s and early 90s. It's clearly stated at the beginning of the book that this is a work of fiction, but you can tell that the author was heavily inspired by his own expatriate childhood (he's what some would call a Third Culture Kid).
Some readers complained that they couldn't connect to the protagonist and that he was somewhat distant and cold. I didn't have such an experience. I thought that the author presented a very real childhood with nostalgia and the fear of losing it too soon, but at the same time the protagonist himself grows up very quickly. And he is obviously extremely traumatized by the events that happened. The Rwandan genocide doesn't happen directly in his surrounding, but it is around him and he is powerless against it. It destroys the people around him and things can never be the same again. It's forever lost.
Some descriptions were very beautiful, but as you reach the second half of the book, it just gets very heart-breaking. I thought the ending was a form of redemption, but can you ever heal from war?
"The people of this region mirrored the land. Beneath the calm appearance, behind the facade of smiles and optimistic speeches, dark underground forces were continuously at work, fomenting violence and destruction that returned for successive periods, like bad winds: 1965, 1972, 1988. A glowering, uninvited ghost showing up at regular intervals to remind us that peace is merely a brief interlude between two wars. This poisonous lava, the thick flow of blood, was ready to rise to the surface once more. We didn't know it yet, but the hour of the inferno had come, and the night was about to unleash its cackle of hyenas and wild dogs."
"And I felt sorry for them and also for myself, for the purity that is ruined by all-consuming fear, which transforms everything into wickedness, hatred, and death. Into lava."
Some readers complained that they couldn't connect to the protagonist and that he was somewhat distant and cold. I didn't have such an experience. I thought that the author presented a very real childhood with nostalgia and the fear of losing it too soon, but at the same time the protagonist himself grows up very quickly. And he is obviously extremely traumatized by the events that happened. The Rwandan genocide doesn't happen directly in his surrounding, but it is around him and he is powerless against it. It destroys the people around him and things can never be the same again. It's forever lost.
Some descriptions were very beautiful, but as you reach the second half of the book, it just gets very heart-breaking. I thought the ending was a form of redemption, but can you ever heal from war?
"The people of this region mirrored the land. Beneath the calm appearance, behind the facade of smiles and optimistic speeches, dark underground forces were continuously at work, fomenting violence and destruction that returned for successive periods, like bad winds: 1965, 1972, 1988. A glowering, uninvited ghost showing up at regular intervals to remind us that peace is merely a brief interlude between two wars. This poisonous lava, the thick flow of blood, was ready to rise to the surface once more. We didn't know it yet, but the hour of the inferno had come, and the night was about to unleash its cackle of hyenas and wild dogs."
"And I felt sorry for them and also for myself, for the purity that is ruined by all-consuming fear, which transforms everything into wickedness, hatred, and death. Into lava."
July 3, 2018
**I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.**
Another one of those I just glimpsed the cover and didn’t read the synopsis books. I like to mix up my reading list with this kind of random and most of the time it pays off. It’s the spur of the moment decisions that can make life more interesting and worth living. They add a little extra spice and can keep the monotonous every day BS at bay.
This was a fan-damn-tastic read. Not at all in my norm but I am so happy I went for it. It was a gorgeous story with amazing detail and it absolutely broke my heart. It brought back memories of my childhood and how hanging out with the neighborhood kids doing whatever random came to mind was the only way to live. It reminded me that things we think we can keep forever at that age usually don’t last past the summer and it enlightened me to conditions/situations that others have gone through.
While I was riding my bike down a sidewalk a child elsewhere was wishing he could do the same. While I was enjoying store bought fruit, a child elsewhere was plucking it fresh off of a tree. While I was sleeping without a care in the world, a child elsewhere was up all night listening to the sounds of a war raging on around him. We are alike but so different, thankful and afraid for contrasting reasons.
Five stars to an eye-opening book.
Another one of those I just glimpsed the cover and didn’t read the synopsis books. I like to mix up my reading list with this kind of random and most of the time it pays off. It’s the spur of the moment decisions that can make life more interesting and worth living. They add a little extra spice and can keep the monotonous every day BS at bay.
This was a fan-damn-tastic read. Not at all in my norm but I am so happy I went for it. It was a gorgeous story with amazing detail and it absolutely broke my heart. It brought back memories of my childhood and how hanging out with the neighborhood kids doing whatever random came to mind was the only way to live. It reminded me that things we think we can keep forever at that age usually don’t last past the summer and it enlightened me to conditions/situations that others have gone through.
While I was riding my bike down a sidewalk a child elsewhere was wishing he could do the same. While I was enjoying store bought fruit, a child elsewhere was plucking it fresh off of a tree. While I was sleeping without a care in the world, a child elsewhere was up all night listening to the sounds of a war raging on around him. We are alike but so different, thankful and afraid for contrasting reasons.
Five stars to an eye-opening book.
June 16, 2018
Small Country is a beautiful book that is filled with perfectly drawn anecdotes that tie Gaby's young life together. It is a powerful story that tells of a world that can be raw and bleak yet full of innocence. I can see why this novel is so popular in France and can predict it will have many fans here in the US. Highly recommended.
Btw I wrote this review while streaming Faye’s music. I really like his songs too.
Thank you to NetGalley, Crown Publishing, and Gaël Faye for the advanced copy for review.
Full review can be found here: https://paulspicks.blog/2018/05/23/sm...
Please check out all my reviews: https://paulspicks.blog
Btw I wrote this review while streaming Faye’s music. I really like his songs too.
Thank you to NetGalley, Crown Publishing, and Gaël Faye for the advanced copy for review.
Full review can be found here: https://paulspicks.blog/2018/05/23/sm...
Please check out all my reviews: https://paulspicks.blog
February 10, 2018
No huh.
Tämä oli mieletön, vahva ja voimakas kuvaus pienestä pojasta, joka elää pienessä maassa suurten ja kammottavien tapahtumien keskellä. Burundin ja Ruandan verinen lähihistoria tulee iholle, ja vaikka paikoin toivoin tältä kirjalta hieman syvällisempää käsittelytapaa, toi se lopulta omalla vähäeleisyydellään koko tarinan iholle.
Mieletön kirja, jolle toivoisin suurta ja vahvaa näkyvyyttä myös Suomessa.
Tämä oli mieletön, vahva ja voimakas kuvaus pienestä pojasta, joka elää pienessä maassa suurten ja kammottavien tapahtumien keskellä. Burundin ja Ruandan verinen lähihistoria tulee iholle, ja vaikka paikoin toivoin tältä kirjalta hieman syvällisempää käsittelytapaa, toi se lopulta omalla vähäeleisyydellään koko tarinan iholle.
Mieletön kirja, jolle toivoisin suurta ja vahvaa näkyvyyttä myös Suomessa.
February 25, 2019
Nostalgia. Dolor. Realidad. Poesía.
Mucho por conocer. Mucho por aprender.
«El genocidio es una marea negra: quienes no se ahogan van cubiertos de petróleo durante toda la vida».
«Cuando se abandona un lugar, se dedica un tiempo a decirle adiós a la gente, a las cosas, a los sitios que uno ama. Pero yo no abandoné el país, huí de él. Dejé la puerta abierta de par en par detrás de mí y partí sin mirar atrás».
Mucho por conocer. Mucho por aprender.
«El genocidio es una marea negra: quienes no se ahogan van cubiertos de petróleo durante toda la vida».
«Cuando se abandona un lugar, se dedica un tiempo a decirle adiós a la gente, a las cosas, a los sitios que uno ama. Pero yo no abandoné el país, huí de él. Dejé la puerta abierta de par en par detrás de mí y partí sin mirar atrás».
August 9, 2019
Wow...
Just plain wow. If this book does not make you think or feel then you're dead inside. And to think I almost passed on this book. The description did not interest me. The cover certainly did not! I do not understand it at all. I used to believe I was above judging a book by its cover, but this is proof that I am not immune. The only reason I even looked twice at this book was the fact it was a BOTM selection. I have found that those books that make the cut are usually pretty vibrant stories. Sure there have still been a few clunkers but not this time.
I do not think this book is a literary masterpiece, but it ticked all of the marks I needed from a book when I picked it up. I was in a mild slump. Not really from bad books but because everything I was reading was "just words", something to pass time. This book though, it woke me up and made me FEEL! Like I said this book was not by any means perfect. In fact, it contained one of my biggest pet peeves in writing ....a narrator written to understand, speak, or act much older than what a normal person of that age could do. The age range of the boy in this story is from 10-13 but he thinks, acts, and especially speaks in a manner way beyond those years. . But, it was supposed to have been told in flashback. Therefore, that is the only reason what would have been a straight up 5 only loses a half star and becomes 4.5 stars recorded.
Ignore the ugly cover and read this book!!
4.5*(5*)/4.24*
Just plain wow. If this book does not make you think or feel then you're dead inside. And to think I almost passed on this book. The description did not interest me. The cover certainly did not! I do not understand it at all. I used to believe I was above judging a book by its cover, but this is proof that I am not immune. The only reason I even looked twice at this book was the fact it was a BOTM selection. I have found that those books that make the cut are usually pretty vibrant stories. Sure there have still been a few clunkers but not this time.
I do not think this book is a literary masterpiece, but it ticked all of the marks I needed from a book when I picked it up. I was in a mild slump. Not really from bad books but because everything I was reading was "just words", something to pass time. This book though, it woke me up and made me FEEL! Like I said this book was not by any means perfect. In fact, it contained one of my biggest pet peeves in writing ....a narrator written to understand, speak, or act much older than what a normal person of that age could do. The age range of the boy in this story is from 10-13 but he thinks, acts, and especially speaks in a manner way beyond those years. . But, it was supposed to have been told in flashback. Therefore, that is the only reason what would have been a straight up 5 only loses a half star and becomes 4.5 stars recorded.
Ignore the ugly cover and read this book!!
4.5*(5*)/4.24*
April 15, 2024
Au travers de l'écriture de Gaël Faye, j'ai retrouvé l'Afrique de mon enfance : l'odeur annonciatrice de l'orage, la texture de sa terre rouge sur la plante des pieds et tellement d'autres sensations. Mais aussi l'angoisse chevillée au corps des lendemains incertains, qu'on pouvait basculer dans l'horreur à tout moment.
J'ai quelques réserves sur le dernier quart du livre que j'explique dans mon billet ici : https://readingbibliophile.com/2017/0...
Néanmoins une belle réussite ! Un joli 3,75/5 :-)
J'ai quelques réserves sur le dernier quart du livre que j'explique dans mon billet ici : https://readingbibliophile.com/2017/0...
Néanmoins une belle réussite ! Un joli 3,75/5 :-)
May 27, 2018
The first part of the book was a bit of a slog for me. There were rough patches in the prose throughout. And yet there were also moments of such grace in this book. By the end I was completely under its spell. A searing coming-of-age story about a country in chaos, loss of innocence, and the horrors of war.
March 10, 2019
This is a small book but it punches well above its weight. Very moving.
It's 1993 and Gabriel is a 10yo mixed-race boy living in Bujumbura, which at the time was the capital of Burundi, a small central African nation bordered by Rwanda and Zaire. His isn't an idyllic childhood, but it is certainly privileged; marred only by the disintegrating marriage of his French father Michel and his Rwandan Tutsi refugee mother Yvonne. He spends his free time playing, going on adventures and generally having fun with the other boys in his street - boys just like him. At home, once his mother leaves, he is cared for by his father and a small handful of men, including a domestic servant and some key personnel from his father's construction business.
Gabriel has a fairly solid idea of who he is and where he fits in the world. While he loves his mother, he finds it difficult to understand her feelings for the country of her birth, and for her people. It's the same with the rest of her family living in exile in Burundi - his grandmother, great-mother and uncles. When Yvonne leaves Michel, she takes the opportunity to return to Kigali for the first time since she left as a 4yo, to visit relatives who had stayed in Rwanda. This coincides with a hopeful election in Burundi, but the worsening of tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi races in Rwanda. The shadow of war begins to darken Gabriel's world.
In terms of the war, I still remember it being in the news frequently during the mid-90s. I knew the basics. But I didn't know that it spilled over into Burundi, a neighbouring country. I'm not sure that I'd even heard of Burundi at that point. The author has given me a glimpse of what it might have been like, through the eyes of a child. There's only a touch of the political, but a strong focus on the family and the neighbourhood; the things that matter to a small boy. But even so, some of the images of conflict become quite graphic at times. As the story's climax approached I was willing Gabriel to follow his instincts, and to hold onto his innocence a little longer. But that's the problem with being a child, particularly during a time of war - what little agency they have is difficult to hold on to.
Gaël Faye is a gifted writer, but he's also an accomplished recording artist. Thanks to a GR friend who first brought this book to my attention, I was also able to enjoy a YouTube video of Faye performing his track Petit Pays (same as the original French title of the book), with a backdrop of the Burundi countryside and its people.
It's 1993 and Gabriel is a 10yo mixed-race boy living in Bujumbura, which at the time was the capital of Burundi, a small central African nation bordered by Rwanda and Zaire. His isn't an idyllic childhood, but it is certainly privileged; marred only by the disintegrating marriage of his French father Michel and his Rwandan Tutsi refugee mother Yvonne. He spends his free time playing, going on adventures and generally having fun with the other boys in his street - boys just like him. At home, once his mother leaves, he is cared for by his father and a small handful of men, including a domestic servant and some key personnel from his father's construction business.
Gabriel has a fairly solid idea of who he is and where he fits in the world. While he loves his mother, he finds it difficult to understand her feelings for the country of her birth, and for her people. It's the same with the rest of her family living in exile in Burundi - his grandmother, great-mother and uncles. When Yvonne leaves Michel, she takes the opportunity to return to Kigali for the first time since she left as a 4yo, to visit relatives who had stayed in Rwanda. This coincides with a hopeful election in Burundi, but the worsening of tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi races in Rwanda. The shadow of war begins to darken Gabriel's world.
In terms of the war, I still remember it being in the news frequently during the mid-90s. I knew the basics. But I didn't know that it spilled over into Burundi, a neighbouring country. I'm not sure that I'd even heard of Burundi at that point. The author has given me a glimpse of what it might have been like, through the eyes of a child. There's only a touch of the political, but a strong focus on the family and the neighbourhood; the things that matter to a small boy. But even so, some of the images of conflict become quite graphic at times. As the story's climax approached I was willing Gabriel to follow his instincts, and to hold onto his innocence a little longer. But that's the problem with being a child, particularly during a time of war - what little agency they have is difficult to hold on to.
Gaël Faye is a gifted writer, but he's also an accomplished recording artist. Thanks to a GR friend who first brought this book to my attention, I was also able to enjoy a YouTube video of Faye performing his track Petit Pays (same as the original French title of the book), with a backdrop of the Burundi countryside and its people.
July 2, 2018
Genocide is an oil slick; those who don't drown in it are polluted for life
This is such a heavy but necessary read. Short in pages but packs a huge punch. Haunting and so beautiful.
The book is told from ten year old Gabriel's POV, who lives with his French father, Rwandan mother and sister in Burundi. We are thrust into Gabriel's idyllic world with his group of expat friends enjoying a sheltered life. There world is rocked when Burundi and Rwanda is hit by a war and genocide.
Small Country is about what happens when a country goes to war, the effects of genocide and how these things ravages a family and their world. My heart broke to pieces seeing how Gabriel's family life was ripped to pieces and how it basically followed him all his adult life. Every day you turn on the TV all you can hear about is war, genocide, immigrants and people being displaced. Reading this book gave such a powerful insight on exactly what is it like and what people go through.
A necessary read.
This is such a heavy but necessary read. Short in pages but packs a huge punch. Haunting and so beautiful.
The book is told from ten year old Gabriel's POV, who lives with his French father, Rwandan mother and sister in Burundi. We are thrust into Gabriel's idyllic world with his group of expat friends enjoying a sheltered life. There world is rocked when Burundi and Rwanda is hit by a war and genocide.
Small Country is about what happens when a country goes to war, the effects of genocide and how these things ravages a family and their world. My heart broke to pieces seeing how Gabriel's family life was ripped to pieces and how it basically followed him all his adult life. Every day you turn on the TV all you can hear about is war, genocide, immigrants and people being displaced. Reading this book gave such a powerful insight on exactly what is it like and what people go through.
A necessary read.
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