Comrade Papa

Description

AFinancial TimesBest Book of 2024: Fiction in TranslationInternational Booker-nominated satirist GauZ returns with a panoramic journey into the colonization of the African interior.Mourning the recent deaths of his parents, a young white man in nineteenth-century France joins a colonial expedition attempting to establish trading routes on the Ivory Coast and finds himself caught between factions who disagree on everythingexcept their shared loathing of the British.A century later, a young Black boy born in Amsterdam gives his account, complete with youthful malapropisms, of his own voyage to the Ivory Coast, and his upbringing by his father, Comrade Papa, who teaches him to always fight the yolk of capitalism.In exuberant, ingenious prose, GauZ superimposes their intertwined stories, looking across centuries and continents to reveal the long arc of African colonization.Praise forComrade PapaIn Wynnes nimble, playful translation . . . GauZ satirizes the historical record by intertwining fact and folk tale . . .Comrade Papaincorporates many small shards of history and storytelling into an overall gleaming mosaicNadifa Mohamed,New York TimesGauZ avoids moralizing and is always alive to the humor and peculiarity of his stories. There are very funny scenes of the young Marxist speechifying to his unimpressed elders about the class struggle and the retching of the earth. (Frank Wynnes translation from the French shows a deft touch with Anoumans malapropisms.)Sam Sacks,Wall Street JournalA century-hopping, continent-spanning tale of colonialism and family ties.Financial TimesA funny, ebullient, often chaotic tale of French colonial exploitation of Ivory Coast . . . author GauZ was shortlisted for the International Booker prize for his [first] novelStanding Heavy.Comrade Papais even better.John Self,The GuardianOnly a bold writer in command of their talent could take on such a perilous and vast subject and come out, with laughter and love, on top . . . If you are foolish enough to open this book with a set of assumptions about where it will go, prepare to be wrong-footed . . . Expect to see GauZ back on the shortlists with this superlative work of fiction.Lara Pawson,Times Literary SupplementComrade Papais a fine, lively novel. GauZ writes well, in both the voices of the more adult and insightful Dabilly as well as that of the confident indoctrinated youngster (who nevertheless proves adaptable) . . . [T]he stories are very engaging, and engagingly told, with translator Wynne doing well in matching GauZ creative word- and language-play.M.A. Orthofer,The Complete ReviewThis is a postcolonial novel that questions the dominant narrative with humour and heart.Winnipeg Free Press[GauZ] is reinventing himself, never growing stagnant but instead boldly trying new things. His subjects change, but so does his style. And Id go further, even, and argue GauZ is also trying to reinvent the modern novel. He is one to watch, an author for this century who continues that age-old push against the boundaries that define a novel and what it can do.Matt Martinson,Heavy Feather ReviewA funhouse mirror version of the colonial adventure story,Comrade Papapokes, prods, & mocks a whole suite of ideologies & assumptions. GauZ has an exuberant, nimble style & an off-center imagination that will keep readers on their toes.Josh Cook, Porter Square Books,Electric LitMainly, the plot is a vehicle for the characters distinct voices . . . The result is a fresh and witty portrait of colonial and postcolonial Africa.Publishers WeeklyThis is a beautifully written and translated book, incredibly unique in how it tackles colonialism and capitalism, and truly a fun book to read.Alison Manley,The Seaboard ReviewGauZ breaks down the language of colonization . . . with marvelous linguistic invention. This book made me laugh and smile.Gladys Marivat,Le Monde(Paris)The point of view transcends racial essentialisms to instead tell the story of people . . . An expansive novel that is political without being self-righteous.Laurence Houot, France TlvisionA novel about the clash between cultures and languages . . . GauZs prose is intoxicating.Sean J. Rose,Livres HebdoAudacious and inventive.Baptiste Liger,LirePraise forStanding HeavyThis book is about the anti-flneurs: not the rich white men who roam the boulevards of Paris but poorly paid Black men whose jobs require them to stand still. As a security guard, the protagonist ofStanding Heavyis invisible but sees everything. Told in a fragmentary styleas if from different camera anglesthis is the story of colonialism and consumerism, of the specifics of power, and of the hope of the sixties diminishing as society turns cynical and corrupt.International Booker Prize Judges citationThis shrewd, episodic novel stars the security guards of Paris . . . undocumented Ivoirian immigrants whose watchful eyes examine Parisian turmoil over two generations.New York TimesA spry volume of 167 pages . . . that manages to trade heavily in politics while also sneaking up on your sympathy. I wont spoil the end, but it startled me in its poignancy.The WalrusA cunning observer and a disenchanted protestor, GauZ makes shopping an ethnological mine, a priceless sketch and a combat sport.ElleThis compact, humane satire, deftly translated by Frank Wynne, entertains as much as it informs.Lucy Popescu,Financial Times