Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah

 Friday, May 5, 2023--San Antonio

Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah tells the story of multiple characters who are connected by work and/or family relationships in East Africa from the early 1900s through the 1950s.  It was a period when East Africa was colonized by the Germans and then later by the British, and it covers both WWI and WWII.  Two of the main characters were local East African men who went to war with the Germans during WWI.  One disappeared and a major part of the book is about the concern for what happened to him and the the search for information about that.  The other man eventually marries the sister of the one who had never returned.  Both men came from illiterate families, yet learned to read and write German before and during WWI through unique circumstances--an accomplishment which was still unusual for native Africans to have accomplished by the time WWII began.  But the book has a broader sweep of storytelling.  It covers the caravan trading that existed in the area before WWI, the "pirate" trading (smuggling) by these same traders, he adjustment that had to take place as time passed with shipping rather than land caravans becoming the predominant form of transporting trade goods, the conflict of religious and native superstition beliefs for how to heal medical and mental illness problems, the racial discrimination that existed against local natives by the colonial settlers, and examples of how some colonial personnel were not racist and went far beyond what was expected in assisting the local citizens.  Overall, it is a fascinating story and is told well.  But for some reason, it seemed that during the last 15% or so of the book the author started rushing the story so that it would quickly come to an end; it became a tale of tying up all the loose ends.  That caused me to drop my proposed rating of 4 stars down to 3 1/2 stars out of 5 when considering the book as a whole.