For the history of the book, for the research, writing and editing, I would rate this book as a 5, for the enjoyability of the book, I would rate it as a 3, so will average as a 4.
This was my first read by Blaise Ndala, and before this read, I knew very little of Belgian Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the colonizers or the rape of so many villages and Kingdoms including the Kuba dynasty in the Congo. The story spans from the World's Fair of 1958 up to the early 2000's, while giving history from the earlier past. There is a lot intergenerational history, there is sadness, there is love, there is shame - lives lost, cultures destroyeed, history and artifacts stolen - domination by people who knew better and who should have done better.

It's a difficult book, but it's a book that needs to be read for history to be understood. My criticism would be that too much was trying to be accomplished in the story, which meant the readers could become exhausted with so many names, so many places, so many events. Well-done, Blaise Ndale, on all your research and putting this story together.

I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley, and want to thank them and the publisher, Simon & Schuster for the priviledge of reading it, and for an opportunity to give my honest opinion.

I welcome books that encourage me to read further and to learn more. That’s why, when I saw that In the Belly of the Congo by Congolese-Canadian writer Blaise Ndala was being translated into English, and discussed issues about the Belgian occupation of Congo, I wanted to read it immediately. It was published in French in 2021, won the won the Prix Kourouma (Switzerland) and the Prix Ivoire for African Literature, and has been a finalist for several other prizes.He’s written two feted previous French language novels, but this is his first translated into English, by Amy B. Reid.

It follows two generations of Congolese women. First, the princess Tshala in the 1950s, culminating in her forced exhibition in Belgium's 1958 World’s Fair pavilion; and the second her niece Nyota in 2003 who comes to Belgium to research the disappearance of her aunt to bring closure to her Congolese royal family. It’s such a violent colonial history, and the scope of the book wisely used the Fair in 1958 as the focal point, giving the reader a focus.

I liked the educational aspect, and one of the nice things Ndala did was to tell the story from the female perspective. Despite these positives, I have to be honest and say that the book largely fell flat for me. After a promising beginning, I got a bit bored. The writing was technically good, but it suffered from far too much telling and not enough showing. There were lengthy digressive stories that didn’t serve the main plot, with heavy use of non-essential names, places and events that I knew nothing about. I felt the lack of character depth acutely; I desperately wanted to know more about the inner lives of these women.

It’s too bad that the writing style for me didn't amplify the messages the book held, because the subject is so worthy and important. As usual, I’m sure this is a matter of fit between reader and novel. Clearly many people have loved and appreciated this book, and that’s wonderful. It simply isn’t the type of writing that fits my taste.

I did like that the book ended on a somewhat positive note with hope of forgiveness and change with a new generation. The elder Congolese grandfather says near the end: “It’s not the wounds they inflict upon each other that matter the most once time finally lifts the veil from our illusions. What matters, son, is that the children who come after learn to build a less repugnant world than the one they inherited.”

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received this book as a Netgalley ARC.

Congolese-Canadian writer Blaise Ndala is well known and highly regarded in the francophone literary scene, and has received multiple international and national awards for his writing. I am new to his work, and confess to little beyond superficial knowledge of the histories that he discusses here. I am very grateful to have had my eyes opened to both with this book.

Ndala ´provides a historical background to the colonialism and subjugation of the Congo in its various names and various forms going back centuries in a novel that examines the generational impact of racist oppression. The story focuses on the post-Second World War years, especially during the height of decolonization and the unrest and violence it brought about as various political factions tried to convince followers to embrace their particular versions of democracy. Although much of the anticolonial fight came from left-wing youth, the main characters here are a Congolese princess of the Bakuba royal family, Tshala, and her niece, Nyota. The women belong to one of the many royal families of regions united by little more than their white conquerors’ determination to exploit them. The real historical characters in the fight to create the Democratic Republic of the Congo, such as Lumumba, Kolosoy and Mobutu, were at once allied in the causes of liberation and democracy and yet involved in in-fighting and intrigue that undermined their own progress, a perspective that is likely new to most readers.

Through her involvement with a Belgian state administrator and his friend who deals in African art and artifacts, both romantically , in the case of the former, and professionally with the latter, Princess Tshala travels to Brussels and becomes immersed in the diaspora of highly politicized Congolese youth. When her lover is charged with arrangements for Belgium’s Expo 58, she agrees to participate as a cultural emissary, though unwittingly serving as a cultural specimen. It is her disappearance during that event that brings her niece into Tshala’s history, and the wider intersecting histories of Africa, the Western European colonizers, and especially that of Belgium and the Congo.

Ndala’s fluid narrative style allows readers to follow what is often a complicated history intertwining with an equally complicated family history. Much of the discussion on the workings and impacts of racism are deep and philosophical, enriching the story. If there is one issue that could be clarified, it is in the blurring of voices and times—I found it difficult to stay on top of who was narrating, in which period, and about which period. This is minor, however, and there is much here to recommend.