Cuba - Biography of a Runaway Slave

 Book 40: Biography of a Runaway Slave - Miguel Barnet

"...a written history of the life of Esteban Montejo, who lived as a slave, as a fugitive in the wilderness, and as a soldier fighting against Spain in the Cuban War of Independence."

_____

Estaban Montejo was 103 years old when Barnet interviewed him in the late 1960s. All 3 stages of Esteban's life offer amazing insight into the Afro-Hispanic Cuban experience. There's a lot to pull out of the story - a young man's experience on a sugar plantation, living for years as a fugitive, rejoining society, war...the man's life is full of lessons. But there was one section I found particularly striking. After all of his experiences, many of which were far from pleasant, some of the most negative feelings he had were for the American soldiers (and the white Cubans who supported them) during the Cuban War of Independence. 

"When the war ended, the talk started about whether the blacks had fought or not. I know that 95% of the blacks fought in the war. Then the Americans began to say that it was only 75%. Well, no one criticized those statements. The blacks ended up out on the street as a result. Brave men thrown like savages onto the streets. That was wrong, but that's what happened. 

Not even 1% of the police force were blacks because, the Americans claimed, when a black gets power, when he's educated, it hurts the white race. So then they separated the blacks completely. White Cubans kept quiet, they didn't do a thing, and that's how it was until nowadays. 

...

Later everyone said the Americans were the most rotten of all. And I agree, they were the rottenest. But you have to remember that the white Cubans were just as much to blame as the Americans, because they let themselves be ordered around in their own country. All of them, from the colonels to the janitors. Why didn't the people rebel after the Maine incident? Don't believe any cock-and-bull stories, either. Even the littlest kid knew the Americans blew the Maine up themselves to get into the war. If the people had gotten riled up then, everything would have been different. A lot of things wouldn't have happened. But when the hour of truth came, no one said one word or did a single thing. Máximo Gómez, who I thought knew something, clammed up and died with the secret. I believe this with all my heart, and may I drop dead if I'm lying."

One of the reasons I wanted to do this challenge is to see the world from other perspectives - to see myself and my country from other perspectives. This book certainly offered that. Wow, did we ever fuck up. But then again, is it fucking up when the racism is a feature, not a bug?

Croatia - The Ministry of Pain

 Book 39: The Ministry of Pain - Dubravka Ugrešić

"Having fled the violent breakup of Yugoslavia, Tanja Lucić is now a professor of literature at the University of Amsterdam, where she teaches a class filled with other young Yugoslav exiles, most of whom earn meager wages assembling leather and rubber S&M clothing at a sweatshop they call the "Ministry." Abandoning literature, Tanja encourages her students to indulge their "Yugonostalgia" in essays about their personal experiences during their homeland's cultural and physical disintegration. But Tanja's act of academic rebellion incites the rage of one renegade member of her class—and pulls her dangerously close to another—which, in turn, exacerbates the tensions of a life in exile that has now begun to spiral seriously out of control."

____

The book takes place almost entirely in Amsterdam, but the former Yugoslavia, and the war that tore it apart, is always present. Tanja Lucić is a professor of Slavic literature...and a refugee. Most of her students are also refugees, and she struggles to figure out how to read the material of their home country without causing further harm. She takes on the role of psychiatrist - while battling her own demons. 

What results is an in-depth look at how people adapt to life in a new country (or how they don't). Each character brings their own experiences of the war and subsequent fight to rebuild their lives. 

Côte d'Ivoire - Love-across-a-Hundred-Lives

Book 38: Love-across-a-Hundred-Lives - Werewere Liking

"In 'Love-across-a-Hundred-Lives," the narrator tells the story of Lem, her brother, who is preparing to hang himself when his grandmother Madjo appears. He secretly expects her to dissuade him from suicide, but instead she encourages him, urging him to make his final action a success that will make up for all his earlier failures. As he continues to knot the rope that will be his noose, Madjo tells Lem stories of their ancestors, of legendary and historical African figures; interwoven are the voices of Lem himself, of the narrator, and of her sister Go. When Lem is finally ready to conclude his act, he no longer wants to die. Madjo has accomplished her mission to make Lem a man in the most complete and noble sense of the word, whole and strong enough not only to survive but to give of himself to others." 

___

The description pretty much says it all. I found the stories of legendary and historical African figures to be quite interesting and engaging, but wasn't drawn into the story of the narrator and Lem. In fact, I found that strand rather confusing. I ended up skipping over their parts and reading the sections where Madjo spoke to him. Overall, not really my favorite book, but certainly worth it for the African legends. 

Costa Rica - Unica Looking at the Sea

 Book 37: Única Looking at the Sea - Fernando Contreras Castro

"Inside the great landfill at Rio Azul, Única and her friends, her family, society's cast-offs, struggle to survive on what those in the city throw away."

There are surprisingly few books from Costa Rican authors translated into English, but this one was a great find. There's a lot in this really short book. Única is a "diver" - a woman who lives in a landfill and survives off of other people's trash. She used to be a teacher, but ended up on the streets after being laid off. She lives with Bacan, a troubled young man whom she raised after finding him years before, a child alone in the dump. Each inhabitant of the landfill has a story - both a life before and a life made at the landfill. And then, of course, there's politics. The townspeople decide they no longer want to live near the divers...or the landfill. But what happens when the landfill is someone's home?  

Republic of the Congo - Johnny Mad Dog

 Book 36: Johnny Mad Dog - Emmanuel Dongala

"Johnny Mad Dog, age 16, is a member of a rebel faction bent on seizing control of war-torn Congo. Laokolé, at the same age, simply wants to finish high school. Together, they narrate a crossing of paths that has explosive results. Set amid the chaos of West Africa's civil wars...Emmanuel Dongala's powerful, exuberant, and terrifying new work is a coming-of-age story like no other."

          

           This book took me a while to get into because I wasn't really in a great headspace for a war novel. And this is. But it's a well-written war novel. It's hard. It's disturbing. But hang in there for Laokolé. She'll make the read worth your time... 

 

Colombia - One Hundred Years of Solitude

 Book 35: One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez  

                   

China - The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices

Book 34: The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices - Xinran

In the late 1980s, Xinran hosted the first call-in show on state run radio. Her program, called "Words on the Night Breeze," focused on the lives of Chinese women - a topic rarely spoken of publicly before. The program was hugely popular, and Xinran received thousands of letters and hours of answering machine messages from women across China. This book contains the stories of some of those women. The stories are heartbreaking. These women tell their stories - arranged marriages, lovers lost to "the Party," children lost to war and natural disaster, and of their fight to carry on. Xinran left China in the late 1990s so that she could tell their stories to the world. Very much worth the read.