#7. Broken Glass
I’ve strayed from this blog for quite a while, and for that, I apologize, I’ve been busy, getting ready to graduate, watching much more TV than I should have, and quite honestly, picking up too few books, but I have returned, dear reader, with a very good reason, this book by Alain Mabanckou, you must read it
it’s written in a distinct style, poetic, and like a song, with no regard for periods, or question marks, or exclamation marks, it tells the stories of regulars at a bar called Credit Gone West, shocking, lewd, tragic, and sometimes comic stories, it tells also the stories of Broken Glass, the man who writes the regulars’ stories, his own stories are largely broken, and sad, but his musings are high brow, there are many philosophical, historical, and literary references in the book, Broken Glass is no ordinary narrator, through his eyes, the Republic of the Congo comes alive, and the characters he describes tug at separate nerve centers, this is a book that is honest, intelligent, and wonderfully refreshing, in many ways, it is a commentary on writing and storytelling, and life and love and lust, I wish only that I could have read it in French, still, this translation is very good, it preserves some of the power that I believe the original exudes
finally, I’ll acknowledge that this book was weak in parts, but it was very much inspired in others, and the inspiring bits were so thoroughly wonderful that the weak points faded and completely disappeared, I would read this book again and again and again, this is the highest form of praise of which I can conceive
