Passage of Tears

by Abdourahman A. Waberi, David Ball (Translator), Nicole Ball (Translator)

Overview

Djibouti, a hot, impoverished little country on the Horn of Africa, is a place of great strategic importance, for off its coast lies a crucial passage for the world’s oil. In this novel by Abdourahman A. Waberi, Djibril, a young Djiboutian voluntarily exiled in Montreal, returns to his native land to prepare a report for an American economic intelligence firm. Meanwhile, a shadowy, threatening figure imprisoned in an island cell seems to know Djibril’s every move. He takes dictation from his preaching cellmate known as his “Venerable Master,” but as the words are put on the page, a completely different text appears—the life of Walter Benjamin, Djibril’s favorite author.
 
Passage of Tears cleverly mixes many genres and forms of writing—spy novel, political thriller, diary (replete with childhood memories), travel notebook, legends, parables, incantations, and prayers. Djibril’s reminiscences provide a sense of Djibouti’s past and its people, while a satire of Muslim fundamentalism is unwittingly delivered through the other Djiboutian voice. Waberi’s inventive parody is a lesson in tolerance, while his poetic observations reveal his love and concern for his homeland.
 
Praise for the French Edition
 
“Disguised as a political thriller, Passage of Tears is above all a great novel of childhood, murderous identities, and exile.”—Le Monde des Livres
 
“A gripping book, burning with urgency and tension.”—Télérama.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857425317
Publisher:	Seagull Books
Publication date:	02/15/2018
Series:	Africa List Series
Edition description:	1
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	4.75(w) x 7.75(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

The French-Djiboutian novelist, poet, and essayist Abdourahman A. Waberi is one of the leading francophone writers of his generation. His other books include The Land Without Shadow, Harvest of Skulls, and Rifts, Roads and Rails. Together or separately, David and Nicole Ball have published nine book-length translations, most recently Waberi’s In the United States of Africa.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Part I: Devil’s Islets
Part II: Bab-el-Mandeb or the Gate of Tears

Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

 “With Waberi, the juxtapositions—surprising, provocative, and original—form a good part of the thrill themselves.

Words Without Borders - Anderson Tepper

“Waberi has concocted with his magical alchemy a tale that blends political thriller, legends, spy novel, and the diary of a man tailor-made for the know-it-all.”

 

Salonica World Lit - Monica Carter

“Passage of Tears is a cerebral modern thriller (of sorts) that defies easy categorization…. Equally at ease in both First and Third Worlds (and all their trappings), Waberi manages the rare feat of handling and integrating Western intellectual and political thought as comfortably and convincingly as he does the ideologies and culture of the Horn of Africa (and that without overwhelming the actual fiction).”

 

Complete Review - M.A. Orthofer

“If Waberi’s books are any indication, the novel of ideas, long regarded with indifference if not suspicion, may be set for a renaissance. Waberi is unabashed and unusually adept in creating heart-wrenching stories that test general assumptions, politically correct and incorrect, about exile, tolerance, métissage, the hypocritical cynicism of postcolonial Western foreign policies and development, the pragmatic cynicism of aspiring political and religious factions in the developing world, and the ruthless machinery of a global economy.

Hudson Review - Tess Lewis

“[A] palpable illustration of life in Djibouti. In supple flowing prose, Waberi layers image upon image of life in that arid, rocky land where the Arabian and Red Sea meet in the Gulf of Tadjoura. . . . Ultimately Passage of Tears is a story about rejection, estrangement, and exile. Waberi delivers a satisfying end that readers will consider many more times after the pages are tucked into the bookcase. Set at a strategic geographic crossroads, the novel brings together the primary branches of Abrahamic tradition in their modern and ongoing struggle for dominance and restoration.

Colorado Review

The eponymous passage (“the strait that separates the Arabian peninsula from Africa”) lies near Djibouti, the former homeland of Djibril, a 29-year-old man returned, post-9/11, to make “sure the country is secure, the situation stable, and the terrorists under control.” In the employ of an “economic intelligence company,” Djibril is determined “not to feast at the table of nostalgia.” But as he navigates a country on the verge of transformation into a “showpiece,” he increasingly loses himself in recollection, most often of his twin brother Djamal, who Djibril hasn’t seen in 15 years. The records Djibril keeps, his new observations, and his old memories are interspersed with letters from an unknown prisoner who seems to observe Djibril’s every move. These menacing missives—filled with encomiums to Allah, condemnations of Djibouti’s government, and accusations against Djibril—mysteriously give way to excerpts from a book about the life of German writer Walter Benjamin. As the two strands of narrative converge, Waberi (In the United States of Africa) illustrates how “shadow reveals light, silence reveals words, an instant reveals history.” An inventive and compelling experiment, the novel never loses sight of human feeling even as it grapples with the heaviest of socioglobal matters. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

 “With Waberi, the juxtapositions—surprising, provocative, and original—form a good part of the thrill themselves.”

— Anderson Tepper

Words Without Borders

“Waberi has concocted with his magical alchemy a tale that blends political thriller, legends, spy novel, and the diary of a man tailor-made for the know-it-all.”

— Monica Carter

Salonica World Lit

 

“Passage of Tears is a cerebral modern thriller (of sorts) that defies easy categorization…. Equally at ease in both First and Third Worlds (and all their trappings), Waberi manages the rare feat of handling and integrating Western intellectual and political thought as comfortably and convincingly as he does the ideologies and culture of the Horn of Africa (and that without overwhelming the actual fiction).”

 

— M.A. Orthofer

Complete Review