Books I Read May 25th, 2025

Reading sometimes helps.

This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga – The third in Dangarembga's exploration of the failed promise of post-colonial Zimbabwe as experienced by an ever-suffering everywoman.

The Festival of the Greasy Pole by René Depestre – A middle-aged ex-Senator becomes the face of revolt against the Duvalier regime when he attempts a feat of strength during a national festival. An cri de couer to the embittered Haitian people from an exiled dissident.

The Knight and His Shadow by Boubacar Boris Diop – A man journeys to save his ex-lover, who has become lost in the threads of her own story, only to become entangled in the same. The loose plot quickly gives way to a stream of nested stories reflecting on love, loss, madness, and the Rwandan genocide. More of an experience than a conventional novel but I enjoyed it and will seek out something else by Diop.

The Snares by Rav Grewal-Kök – A Punjabi lawyer enters the intelligence service at the start of the Obama administration, loses his soul in a bid for power. High literature with a genre bent, a paranoid thriller made real as much by its attention to practical detail as by the life and depth it breathes into its characters. Shades of Patrick Manchette and Leonard Sciascia. Excellent, strong rec.

Butterfly of Dinard by Eugenio Montale – Tiny, cheery stories by a mid-century Italian poet. Slight but lovely.