Ravi Singh's book is a splendid mix of prose and poetry. It also cleverly weaves fact inside its fiction. Its frame is a poignant bildungsroman of Patrice, born into poverty and the violence that has rocked the Congo seemingly since independence. But above all it is a story that becries war and abhors conflict. It is a polemic for peace.
From our assumed stronghold in a normally civilised western country we only see what we want to see of the wars in the Congo. For too long we have turned a blind eye to poverty and starvation, lack of sanitation, rape and murder, and child slavery. The message in this book is simple: we must do more. We cannot let more children go through what Patrice, Marcel and Dalia have in this extraordinary book.