title: Afterlives by: Gurnah, Abdulrazak published: 2021-09-02 read: 2023-12 preview

East Africa, partly during but mostly just after world war I. Ilyas, who is kidnapped as a child by German colonial troops; Afiya, who is rescued from a life of servitude; and Hamza, a young man who joins the German army. Gurnah’s portrayal of these characters is both tender and honest, offering a lively and relatable depiction of their struggles, resilience, and building up their lives in the mess Europeans made.

Hamza comes back after the war, to the area in Ethiopia or Kenya where he grew up. The war is lost by the Germans, but he is far away enough from his service in that war that it does not affect him.

But he does speak German, and can read and write it well. And that makes him stand out, and allows him to grow from the simple job as carpenter assistant to a prominent one, even being allowed to live in his boss’ home where he then also courts and marries the girl living there, who is a distant relative of the boss.

Gurnah mixes personal with historical fiction. Lots of detail, and that gives a picture of a changing world, still suffering from colonialism yet also going towards a more humane future.

Afterlives is notable for its discussing the impact of German colonialism in Africa. Gurnah sheds light on this period with, as far as I could reconstruct, historical accuracy, making this part of African history discussable.

A beautiful book, and hard to retell as it is a complex one.