Specify Based On Books Sleepwalking Land
| Title | : | Sleepwalking Land |
| Author | : | Mia Couto |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 256 pages |
| Published | : | February 21st 2006 by Serpent's Tail (first published 1992) |
| Categories | : | Cultural. Africa. Fiction. Eastern Africa. Mozambique. Magical Realism. Literature |
Mia Couto
Paperback | Pages: 256 pages Rating: 4.05 | 2752 Users | 205 Reviews
Description Toward Books Sleepwalking Land
As the civil war rages in 1980s Mozambique, an old man and a young boy, refugees from the war, seek shelter in a burnt-out bus. Among the effects of a dead passenger, they come across a set of notebooks that tell of his life. As the boy reads the story to his elderly companion, this story and their own develop in tandem. Written in 1992, Mia Couto’s first novel is a powerful indictment of the suffering war brings.
Declare Books Concering Sleepwalking Land
| Original Title: | Terra Sonâmbula |
| ISBN: | 185242897X (ISBN13: 9781852428976) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Prémio Camões (2013) |
Rating Based On Books Sleepwalking Land
Ratings: 4.05 From 2752 Users | 205 ReviewsWrite-Up Based On Books Sleepwalking Land
This is a powerful novel set in war-torn Mozambique. The dream-like narrative goes from a boy reading an account of fantastic adventures from a manuscript he finds in an abandoned bus full of corpses where he is hiding out with an old man.Some of the images are violent and troubling. The drifting between a reality that is so awful that it is like an hallucination and stories like darker fairy tales is achieved very well. It remains clear throughout the book, even though at times you do not knowIn Terra Sonambula (Sleepwalking Land), set during the Civil War in Mozambique, the earth bleeds. Two characters wander aimlessly among wrecks of a land that was once at peace. There is a road but no destination, the road ceased to offer hope and now offers only the promise of criminals passing by, of attacks, of death. An unforgettable set of characters sleepwalks the same earth, some having given up hope, others trying to mend what seems well beyond mending. A man tries to dig a river with his
Mia Couto's Sleepwalking Land is set during Mozambique's civil war, but it is not a novel specifically about Mozambique, it's about the entire post-colonial continent. This is a land where the past and present war for control of the future. Or perhaps it's not as grand as all that. Maybe it's just cruel and greedy people killing each other, or desperate people fighting in any way they can to survive. In the end it doesn't matter what the war is about; all that matters is that there is war.An old
"It was said that place was a sleepwalking land. For while men slept, it moved yonder across space and time." Mia Couto's debut novel, published in 1992 and in its excellent translation by David Brookshaw, is an exquisite and beautiful imagined portrait of a country and its people in turmoil of war and upheaval of early independence. more to come...
Mia Coutos writing amazes me because even when reading his novels it feels like reading poetry. It is so reach, sensitive, figurative and beautiful that it just gets you think and mixing up reality with his story. I read it in Portuguese which probably makes the word mixes even richer. This is the first book I recall reading in where there are several stories in parallel, all crossing each other. Highly recommend it.
2.5 stars.Magical realism is really not my favorite genre, but I thought reading this would be broadening for me and thats a good thing. Plus, when do you really get a chance to read a book out of mozambique? (Really rarely, for the record) So, while it wasnt my favorite because of the genre, there were parts I really liked.I liked the characters (except for the weird molester scene towards the end that made no sense), and I thought a lot of the prose was really beautiful with some really
Mia Couto is one of the reasons why being able to speak (or in this case, read) Portuguese is a gift. He has a way of putting together words that convey not only a story, but very strong emotions; he does this radically, yet comfortably, through narration that shifts between the incredibly human and the intensely violent, in a literary land that is very much his own, and perfectly mirrors the "land" in his novels -- in this particular case, 'uma terra sonâmbula' (a sleepwalking land).I find the
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