Great African Reads discussion
This topic is about
What the Day Owes the Night
Archived | Contemp Lit | Books
>
Khadra: What the Day Owes the Night | (CL) first read: Oct 2012
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Marieke
(new)
-
added it
Oct 04, 2012 12:19PM
I have not begun reading this yet, but anyone who has begun or has read it, please feel free to start sharing your thoughts. Please use spoiler tags where appropriate for a couple of weeks, though, just in case...thanks!
reply
|
flag
I just received by copy yesterday. But probably will not be able to start reading for a couple of days. But peeking at a couple of pages it looks interesting.
Beverly wrote: "I just received by copy yesterday. But probably will not be able to start reading for a couple of days. But peeking at a couple of pages it looks interesting."i also have mine in hand now, too...but i need to get started on something else before i start this one. My experience with this writer, though, is that things move swiftly. it should be an "easy" read in terms of how fast it reads but should have plenty of meat to discuss. :)
Will have to pass on this month - unable to get a copy at library. Plan to keep on my TBR list tho. :)
i'm still planning to read this even though it's already November...i'm going to leave this thread marked important. maybe someone has been reading it? i can't believe October just disappeared. wth just happened??
I read this last week while overseas. Hopefully someone else has read it, as it would be great to chat about it. But I can wait until November Marieke ;)
Rusalka wrote: "I read this last week while overseas. Hopefully someone else has read it, as it would be great to chat about it. But I can wait until November Marieke ;)"aww thanks, Rusalka! i really fell behind in October. i don't know what happened. :(
It's that time of year. Next thing I know it will be January. Sept through Dec is a write-off for me.
Rusalka wrote: "It's that time of year. Next thing I know it will be January. Sept through Dec is a write-off for me."it's terrible! October simply disappeared. and i think i have family stuff every weekend in November. i'm just going to have to do a better job getting up in the morning if i want to get caught up with my reading. :/
I finally got an opportunity to pick up the book earlier this week and was hoping to finish before Oct 31st. But stuff happened again but will read and provide my comments.
I was able to start this book last night and I am enjoying. As mentioned earlier it is an easy read. Interesting that the three books listed under Currently Reading are all set in northen Africa and the narrator/main character is a young boy.
I have finally finished and here are a couple of my thoughts:• Younes was not a likeable character to me as he is seen more as a pawn that unlike others in the book does not really show emotions (or if he does too late) and comes across too wishy-washy as it seems that others make decisions for him. But if you are old and reflecting back on your life you might want to examine the critical points in your life and not necessarily want to take the “blame” for the decisions you made but want to rationalize them.
• This is a far less political book than I thought but book does do a good job of the landscape description, especially of the colonial town mostly peopled by those of European descent, and of the social/cultural mores of the time.
• I did like that the book discussed the pov of the European Algerians – how many generations does someone have to live in the country before being considered “native” – but you also understand why this group did not want to change the power struggle as they were on top.
• The author did a good job of showing the buildup and tension between the cultures and the leading to the revolt for Independence.
• Good job in showing the dire poverty that the poor Muslims lived under. Showed the difference in being female based on class status and religion.
• This was an easy read – learned a little more about the day-to-day life in Algeria before Independence. The secondary characters were more interesting than the main character.
Thanks for this Beverly...i still have this on loan, along with some others. i fell so far behind, but i still want to squeeze this one in!
i finally started this morning....
Marieke wrote: "i finally started this morning...."I understand - It seems of lists of books tbr and then sub-lists of those lists.
And a lot is dependent on when the library gets the book for me.
I've read this author before so I know it will be a fast read for me so I don't want to return it unread. But dang! The due date snuck up on me!
Beverly wrote: "I have finally finished and here are a couple of my thoughts:• Younes was not a likeable character to me as he is seen more as a pawn that unlike others in the book does not really show emotions ..."
Hi Beverly,
I agree with you that the main character was too passive. But I think that the author made him like that for a reason. Younes/Jonas was lost between two worlds: Arab "indigenes" and European colons. He spent all the first part of his life trying to understand who he was. The author took advantage of this, to show the contrast between the lives of the owners of the country and the ones who came and took it by force.
After all, the book was about neither Younes nor Jonas, but about what they were in between.
i have bad news...i will have to return this book tomorrow afterall. i got it from my work library and we only have one copy. i don't get fined for returning things late, but my borrowing privileges get suspended. i have several books i need to pick up tomorrow. :/strangely, my public library doesn't have it. but i will definitely come back to this...
Abderrahmane wrote: "Beverly wrote: "I have finally finished and here are a couple of my thoughts:• Younes was not a likeable character to me as he is seen more as a pawn that unlike others in the book does not reall..."
I have finished now as well, and I tend to agree with the comments above- I really wanted to like Younes/Jonas, but didn't really have any emotion about him at all, except I suppose a sense of melancholy, that he, himself, portrayed.
I did feel that I learned a bit about Algeria, but that I have so much more to learn- in fact, I was rather amazed at my overall ignorance of Algerian history.
And I was confused about the relationship between the Arabs and the Europeans. I am quite familiar with much of black African colonial history and found that it seemed to me quite incongruent to have some Arabs to readily absorbed into the colonial communities, while others still so relegated to poverty.
It is interesting to contemplate how some of the colonial Europeans who had been in Algeria for several generations found themselves utterly kicked out, while in other places, there seems to be a place for the former colonists in the new country. It would be interesting to see which countries welcomed former colonists to stay, which ejected them and which seemed indifferent- I wonder if there is a pattern.
Overall, I found the book very enjoyable to read, despite not relating to any character in particular- the writing style was easy. But I am not sure how he got away with a female pseudonym when it is book so obviously written by a male.
He initially started writing with the pseudonym (which is his wife's name) because he was an officer, I think, in the Algerian military. He needed to keep his identity under wraps for awhile, but that is no longer the case. Maybe Abderrahmane can correct me if I'm wrong about that...
Marieke wrote: "He initially started writing with the pseudonym (which is his wife's name) because he was an officer, I think, in the Algerian military. He needed to keep his identity under wraps for awhile, but t..."You are right Marieke. Mohamed Moulessehoul (Yasmina Khadra)was an officer in the Algerian Army. He served during a very difficult time for Algeria because of terrorism, the nineties: The black decade.
The liberties of an officer that time were a bit narrow in Algerian Army and ... they still are.
That's why he used his wife's name I guess.
He left the army in the year 2000 after 26 years of service as "Commandant" (in french, I think in English it is "Major").
You can find more about that in his website (http://www.yasmina-khadra.com). It is in French though.
What a great title "What the Day Owes the Night"
