Life And A Half

Listed as one of the 100 best books on Africa, Life and a Half was SonyLabou Tansi's response to the death of close friends during a bloody military andpolitical crackdown in Congo. The novel takes place in an imaginary African countryrun by the latest in a series of cannibalistic dictators who has captured Martial, the leader of the opposition, and his family. Though shot, knifed, butchered, andbled, Martial's spirit lives on to guide his followers in their fight against thedictators. Facing censorship, Tansi insisted that his book was a fable and that ifhe were ever given the opportunity to write about real events, he would be much moredirect rather than follow the torturous paths of a novel. This crisp translation byAlison Dundy maintains the fast-paced action and bitingly satiric tone of theoriginal.