At Night All Blood Is Black

AT NIGHT ALL BLOOD IS BLACK

by David Diop

 

Nominations: Booker International Winner 2021, Dublin Finalist 2022, LA Times Winner 2020

 

Date Read: July 6, 2022

 

Alfa, a rifleman in the Senegalese army fighting in WWI, lets down his best friend and practical brother by failing to kill him. Mademba Diop has been Alfa’s friend since childhood and Alfa followed Mademba into war so that they could remain together. But when Mademba is shot and his intestines are outside his body, Alfa cannot bring himself to kill Mademba, although he begs repeatedly for Alfa to put him out of his misery.

 

Losing his grip on reality a little, Alfa attempts to atone for failing his friend by killing the enemy, gutting them like Mademba was and chopping off their hands as a remembrance. At first, those in Alfa’s camp find the hands brave, then strange, then crazy. At Alfa’s 7th hand brought back to camp, he is sent to the rear for rest and, hopefully, recovery of his sanity.

 

Having barely experienced life, these young men are sent into war with little preparation. I am once again stunned at humanity’s brutality and the futility of war. Regardless of time or place, war is an abominable experience foisted on humans who should never have to experience the trauma of killing and witnessing death repeatedly. If only humans could stop greed and naked aggression, perhaps we could rise above. I’m looking at you, Russia.

 

With a repetitive voice indicative of oral traditions, the story that unfolds here shows Alfa’s life as a growing man, the loss of his mother, the growing of his friendship with Mademba and Alfa’s embracing of young, forbidden love. I never quite understood why Alfa was forbidden to be involved with Fary. 

 

Diop’s novella is the perfect encapsulation of pointless suffering.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Gentleman In Moscow

Image
A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Towles   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2018, Goodreads Finalist 2016, Kirkus Finalist 2016   Date Read: February 24, 2017   From Kirkus Reviews:   “Sentenced to house arrest in Moscow's Metropol Hotel by a Bolshevik tribunal for writing a poem deemed to encourage revolt, Count Alexander Rostov nonetheless lives the fullest of lives, discovering the depths of his humanity.   Inside the elegant Metropol, located near the Kremlin and the Bolshoi, the Count slowly adjusts to circumstances as a "Former Person." He makes do with the attic room, to which he is banished after residing for years in a posh third-floor suite. A man of refined taste in wine, food, and literature, he strives to maintain a daily routine, exploring the nooks and crannies of the hotel, bonding with staff, accepting the advances of attractive women, and forming what proves to be a deeply meaningful relationship with a spirited young girl, Nina. "We are bound to find comfo
Read more

An Island

Image
AN ISLAND by Karen Jennings   Nomination: Booker Longlist 2021   Date Read: December 10, 2022   A short but mighty novel, An Island explores the concept of home, family, identity, the impact of political upheaval and the immigrant experience, when one’s suffering is so intense they move from one shitty country to the next. Samuel has finally found a peaceful home on an island somewhere off the coast of Africa. He was hired as a lighthouse keeper and after a tumultuous life, most of which was spent in prison as a political prisoner, he has carved out a life for himself on this island, enjoying a tranquil existence that basks in the quiet tasks of daily living.   Only after exploring Samuel’s life does the reader understand why such an isolated, spare and lonely existence satisfy him, with no desire to escape but only to grow deeper roots. His life witnessed the end of the British occupation, the installation of a brutal dictator and yet another dictator after the first was poisoned. Sam
Read more

The Changeling

Image
THE CHANGELING by Victor LaValle   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2019, LA Times Finalist 2017, PEN/Jean Stein Finalist 2018   Date Read: July 21, 2024   From Kirkus Reviews: “A  tragedy thrusts a mourning father into peculiar, otherworldly corners of New York City. When Apollo and Emma have their baby, Brian, it feels like both reward and challenge for the new dad. Apollo, the son of a single mother, had been scraping by as a bookseller who hunts estate and garage sales for rare first editions, so even the unusual circumstance of Brian's birth (in a stalled subway train) seems like a blessing, as does the way Apollo stumbles across a first edition of  To Kill a Mockingbird  (inscribed by Harper Lee to Truman Capote, no less) shortly after. But after some young-parent squabbles and inexplicable images on their smartphones foreshadow trouble, the story turns nightmarish: Apollo finds himself tied up and beaten by Emma, then forced to listen to the sounds of Brian’s murder. LaValle has
Read more