Afterthoughts: Song for Night by Chris Abani

In a Nutshell: Song for Night offers a vivid and powerful impression of what it may be like to wander a veritable ‘Hell on Earth’, in an African civil war that’s left little for salvation. The main character’s ‘visionary interludes’ can make things slightly confusing at times, but putting this aside Abani presents a truly praiseworthy piece of literature. Read it and you’ll remember it for many years to come. Just be prepared for the shocks.

I’ve spoken about this novella to some length in my forethoughts, but to recap, Song for Night follows the journey of Nigerian boy soldier My Luck as he endeavours to re-attach himself to his platoon, following the unexpected detonation of a mine. The platoon is a special one, one whose job is focused on reconnaissance and mine clearance, and My Luck’s particular role is in the diffusing of mines, a job for which his small stature is particularly suited. My Luck has also been ’adapted’ for mine clearance, having his voice cords severed so he is unable to scream should he be blown up and severely wounded.

Chris Abani presents Song for Night in the ‘voice’ of his main character as he narrates a ‘real time’ account of his journey through the war-torn landscape; a landscape which is full of many dangers and unimaginable horrors. During the course of his journey My Luck also reminisces on his last three years as a soldier, and on the unbearable acts which he has bore witness to, which all leads to the reader gaining a full picture of how My Luck’s life has evolved up to this day, and why at only fifteen year’s old he is serving in a rebel army, in a brutal war.

The war in which My Luck does find himself embroiled in is never named, but it can be assumed to be the Nigerian-Biafran War, a three year civil war that raged between 1967 and 1970, and left Nigeria with a reputed 3 million dead. The novel’s author Chris Abani apparently wasn’t born until 1968, too young to remember the conflict perhaps, but the vividness of Abani’s narrative would certainly suggest that his childhood was heavily coloured by those around him who were more directly involved in the conflict. As a consequence the author brings a real sense of ‘knowing’ to the story which only helps to deepen the empathy and compassion that one feels for My Luck, and the horrendous situation he finds himself in.

And make no mistake about it, during the course of this story My Luck finds himself in some pretty horrendous situations. From forced rape to summary execution, cannibalism to psychological torture, Song for Night is definitely not a story for the faint of heart. Yet there is something about Song for Night that is also utterly compelling, and this in part has to be attributed to the author’s profound ability to recognise beauty in the macabre and to so eloquently paint it with words. Take this description of killing as an example. Gruesome yes, but it has a certain poetic resonance to it which juxtaposes the repulsiveness of the subject, and makes reading so captivating:

It doesn’t matter how the death is dealt – a bullet tearing through a body, the juicy suck of flesh around a bayonet, the grainy globular disintegration brought on by clubs – the joy is the same and requires only the complete focus on the moment, on the act.

Although Song for Night is predominately grim, there thankfully exists tiny strands of hope which weave their way through the story, and these offer a minuscule, yet welcome respite to the ceaseless horror. They stem from My Luck’s relationship with his comrades, his love for a fellow female soldier, the people who offer him help as he navigates his way through the apocalyptic landscape, and the reminiscing of his time before the war. Most welcome nuggets of salvation indeed, not least because they help to keep the reader on the right side of abject despair.

If there is any criticism to be raised against Song for Night then it would be that the narrative can get somewhat confusing at times, especially when My Luck enters a visionary dream-scape. This happens more towards the second half of the book when events take a turn towards the more mystical. But in all fairness it doesn’t really detract too much from the flow of the story. If anything these enigmatic ‘asides’ augment the story, and present an opposing vision to the horror that surrounds, with the only ‘penalty’ being that the reader has to slow down and re-read the odd paragraph or two.

I mentioned in my forethoughts that Song of Night was probably going to be one of these stories that one would come out the other end of completely touched, and after reading it I can conclude that this definitely is one of those stories. Song for Night is as truly harrowing as I envisaged it would be, but it’s also something else. It’s a story that’s tinged with hope and salvation; a story in which one boy soldier does manage to find a grain of good amongst all the horror.

Rating:

Telegram | September 2008 (UK) | £7.99 | PAPERBACK | 160 PP | ISBN 9781846590573

:: What others have said about Song for Night::

• “Song for Night” is a devastating portrait of a boy holding onto the shreds of his innocence during a war that deliberately, remorselessly works to yank it away. – Irena Reyn, LA Times
• “..with a daring blend of horror and beauty, Abani takes his chilling theme and turns it into something rich and strange.” – Daniel Trilling, The Guardian
• “Attuned to all that is evil and sublime, open to life’s full spectrum of pain and pleasure, Chris Abani is a writer of mesmerizing powers, embracing warmth, and transcendent compassion.” – Donna Seaman, Bookslut