Book Review - African Psycho
A Startling, Original Work by Alain Mabanckou
"I have decided to kill Germaine on December 29." So begins this frank, disturbing, yet eloquent solioquy called "African Psycho."
African Psycho, due out February 28 (2007), is a tightly written tale about a young African man. Told in the first person, the man -- Gregoire Nakobomayo -- relates his neglected childhood as a "picked-up" child, as an ugly child abandoned by his parents. Raised in anonymity, the adult Gregoire vows to escape his hum-drum existence by executing a spectacular murder. The possibility obsesses him.
Angoualima
Gregoire identifies as his role model a local serial killer named Angoualima, now dead by his own hand. Gregoire visits his grave and even hallucinates that his idol sits atop his grave conversing with him. As he tries to be worthy of his idol, he sinks further into introspection and madness. But does he have what it takes to kill?
Mabanckou's Africa is one of corrupt officials, racial tension, open sewers, and a thriving criminal element. The author uses made-up place names, such as Gregoire's town, "He-Who-Drinks-Water-Is-an-Idiot," to describe the anonymous nature of the character's life. The exact setting is never identified, but similarities exist between it and the author's native Congo.
A Startling, Original Novel
African Psycho is an original work, one that breaks out of the standard mold of mystery fiction. Its voice is unique and carries the lilting rhythms and anger of Sub-Saharan Africa. The novel is disturbing in its frank portrayal of Central Africa and the duplicity, anger, and poverty still found there. Still, the well-written prose is compelling, forcing the reader to look, much as a passerby cannot resist looking at a car accident on the highway. I recommend seeking out this first American offering from a very talented writer.
About Alain Mabanckou
Alain Mabanckou was born in 1966 in the French Congo. Today, he teaches literature at UCLA in Los Angeles. For the 2007-2008 academic year, M. Mabanckou will be a Fellow in the Humanities Council at Princeton University. He is the author of six volumes of poetry and six novels. He was recently selected by the French magazine, Lire, as one of fifty writers to watch for in the coming century. African Psycho is M. Mabanckou's first novel to be marketed in the United States.
