Little Boys Come from the Stars

Emmanuel Dongala

Mei 2007 · Verkoop deur Farrar, Straus and Giroux

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The peculiar and moving story of a Congolese boy's coming-of-age amid the political strife of postcolonial Congo

His nickname is Matapari, which means "trouble." He is an African child of the '90s--brilliant, mischievous, postcolonial, postmodern-caught in the crossfire of a chaotically liberated African country. Matapari grows up in a world of talking drums, the Internet, and satellite TV, a world of dictators who remake themselves as democrats overnight.

His uncle is a stooge for the dictator; his father is a scholarly recluse obsessed with proving that blacks played key roles in Western history. Matapari is a young man in the middle--but the shrewdness and wit with which he tells his often riotously funny story set him apart from his relatives and countrymen.

Emmanuel Dongala uses the ingenious viewpoint of a child to show up the telltale world of adults--and to show how one preserves one's independence in a corrupt and violent society.

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Emmanuel Dongala, a novelist and scientist, was a lifelong resident of Brazzaville, capital of the Congo Republic (formerly French Congo), until leaving the country during its civil war in 1997. He teaches at Simon's Rock of Bard College and lives in Western Massachusetts.