fascinating, effective, and unique book about congolese culture with some very effective magical realism and some very big hearts. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

I thought this was an interesting concept and I enjoyed reading about another culture and country, I found this a little too confusing to follow. I'm not sure if it was lost in translation but it was difficult to follow the MC's train of thought. I'm not familiar with the town they live in so it all kind of went over my head. I think others would enjoy this but it didn't click with me.

I don't normally enjoy second person but the Mabanckou and Stevenson presented it well and I barely noticed it after a few pages. I have not ready any other Mabanckou so I cannot compare this to any of his other works but I anticipate that readers who are not familiar with literary fiction will find this book slow and somewhat difficult to follow. However, readers who already enjoy literary and philosophical fiction will appreciate the cultural immersion and vivid imagery.

Thank you to NetGalley and The New Press for providing the ARC of Dealing with the Dead by Alain Mabanckou.

Cultural and spiritual explorations of death and the afterlife are always fascinating to me, and I have been interested in finding more works and upcoming fiction by African authors. Dealing with the Dead is the first novel that I have read set in the Republic of the Congo.

What I enjoyed most about this book is that there is no over-explaining or hand-holding in regards to the political history, geography, and cultural setting of Pointe-Noire. I felt drawn in by the descriptions of the city, the food, and the tight familial bond between Liwa and his grandmother as the central two characters of this story.

The drawback of the novel is that I found the narrative structure quite difficult to follow - with large interruptions of back-tracking in plot, or pages-long monologues of characters. In addition, despite the novel being written in second-person, I often did not feel pulled into the perspective or shoes of Liwa due to the disorientation of the structure and these monologues. There was also not so much of a mystery or climax element building up to the truth of Liwa’s death, which was quite disappointing for me.

Overall, I think that I was going into this novel anticipating the pomp and style along the lines of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, with the mention of Liwa’s outfit. It would have been wiser on my end to have first further educated myself on the history of the Congo and Central Africa before delving into this novel.

It was tough for me to get through this due to the way the narrative is set up. However, once to stick with it it begins to flow and become a bit easier, although still slightly confusing. I enjoyed it and would recommended it to those who I know enjoy literary fiction and stories set in a different culture.

Dealing with the Dead by Alain Mabanckou is the story of Liwa as he literally wakes up dead. We follow him as he journeys around the cemetery and back to Ponte Noire for revenge for his death.

This novel is well written, with occasional funny bits, and is clearly steeped in the history and culture of Congo. As Liwa comes to each new person and scene, we can see the setting so clearly, taste the food, learn about the political situation, discover biases toward other areas of Congo or neighboring countries, experience death and burial customs, and more. There is a lot here for a relatively short novel.

Unfortunately, this just wasn’t for me, although I do typically like stories about cultures other than my own. I just couldn’t stay interested in Liwa, and couldn’t find much purpose to his roaming around. The changing narrative structure made it confusing, which did not help my interest level.

Thank you to NetGalley and The New Press for the eARC.

2.5 rounded to 3 stars

This was such a fascinating perspective of Congolese life, especially in regards to death and the traditions/superstitions surrounding it. The narration, which was often a series of storytelling which is told in the second-person "you" perspective, was entertaining and at times impactful. Most of the characters were memorable, especially major figures like Ma Lembe, and the descriptions of the characters and the setting were always beautiful. It was interesting hearing from the perspective of the dead, and what their worries were prior to death as well as the legacy that they left behind or their regrets.

The depiction of the Congolese cultural and political workings, which I had very minimal knowledge of prior to reading this novel, was also very interesting to learn about, and it impacts the story in ways that I was not expecting. The only drawback to this novel is that the middle felt slow in comparison to the beginning and the end, both in a narration sense as well as some of the stories told not feeling as impactful (to me at least), but it definitely picked up towards the end. Overall I enjoyed this novel and I was satisfied with the ending! I recommend this if you are interested in magical realism, Congolese culture, politics, or reading from the perspective of the deceased.

This book is a tough read. It reminds me of Pedro Páramo in it's almost surrealist manner. It is hard to follow at first but if you just let it flow over you, it makes sense. I did enjoy it and will recommend it to readers that enjoy this type of literture. For me it is a 3.5 stars but this could easily be much higher for any one else.