Oh my goodness, this book really impacted me. I feel almost haunted by it.

It tells the story of Toumani and Iman, two friends growing up in an unnamed country in sub-Saharan Africa. Toumani was sold by his father when he was six years old, abused and crippled, and saved by the outstretched arm of Iman, a young biracial boy being raised by his grandmother. We see their existence through their eyes, and that of the people around them: Iman's mother and half brother, his grandmother, Toumani's crush Alissa.

The youth of this country, growing up on the streets, have the weight of the world on their shoulders. Injustice reigns. The book explores faith and loss of it, forsakenness, misery, despair. Choices, and whether or not they are ours to make, whether we are washing our hands of responsibility by saying we have none. Children are forced to grow up too soon. They are turned into empty shells, unable to dream of a better future. Some turn to gangs, some to prostitution, to destitution, and Iman turns to escape: he decides he is going to get to Europe.

This book is dark, it is tense, it is intense. Lots of content warnings for lots of kinds of violence.

If you can stomach it, this is an incredibly impactful read. The characters are intricately crafted, and seeing the same unfolding events through their different eyes, the descent into madness, creates a level of suspense that I would expect to find in a thriller.

4.5 stars

This was an ARC of an English translation, and the original was published in French in 2011. thank you to NetGalley and House of Anansi Press for this ARC to read and review.

I’m incredibly grateful for the content warnings, as this book is very dark and intense but is a story I want on my shelf.

The cover is quite cool.

The book starts off extremely dark and slurs are thrown in so I need to put this one down for the time being and pick it back up once published. This is going to be one of the stories I read that leaves a rather large impact on me so I want to make sure I go in with the right mentality.

Thank you so much for allowing me to read this ARC! I appreciate the opportunity to leave honest feedback voluntarily.