Forethoughts: Song for Night by Chris Abani

I try to be disciplined in my book reviewing and read books as I receive them. But every now and then a book glints at me from my pile like a fishing lure in a murky pond, and it begs for me to take a bite.

One novel that’s been doing that a lot lately is Song for Night by Chris Abani. Ever since I received the book, the ‘siren call’ of its cover blurb has been intensely hard to resist. I thought I was managing, but alas, earlier today I relented and steered myself towards Song for Night’s luring seductiveness, setting myself off on a literary journey that wasn’t scheduled to begin until next month.

I know the job of a cover blurb is to be enticing, but the one for Song for Night is a bit more special than most, and I defy it not to tempt anyone towards its alluring pages:

Trained as a human mine detector, My Luck, a boy soldier in West Africa, witnesses and takes part in unspeakable brutality. At twelve his vocal cords are cut to prevent him from screaming and giving away his platoon’s presence should he be blown up.

Awaking after an explosion to find that’s he’s lost his platoon, he traces his steps back through abandoned villages and rotting corpses – and through his own memories – in search of his comrades. The horrors of past events lead My Luck to find some glimmer of hope and beauty in this nightmarish place.

Now I’m the first to admit that Song for Night is probably going to make for rather harrowing reading; I mean how can one comprehend having one’s vocal cords cut at twelve? And that’s only the start of it (yes I know this is a fictional work but I also know these things sadly happen in real life). However I also think that Song for Night is going to make for compelling reading, the kind of reading from which one emerges from the other side of, completely touched. Thankfully the author gives some indication that the story is not all as grim as the synopsis may suggest. giving hope that the reader won’t be leaving this novel in a state of total dejection:

“Even though it is a difficult book about a boy soldier in a West African war, it is really a book about hope, about love and the possibility for true transformation. I hope readers see that. That happiness is learning to live with difficulty and grace.”

[source: University of California Newsroom]

Now that I’ve brought the author into the proceedings it’s probably a good time to briefly speak about him. I’ve never read anything from Chris Abani before, but he’s a writer of good reputation. Born in Nigeria but now working as a professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Abani has won significant literary acclaim for his gathering of published titles (three novels, two novellas, and a quartet of poetry titles), including the PEN Beyond the Margins Award for this very novel.

According to the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre of Creative Arts website, Abani’s earlier work has landed him in real trouble, and resulted in him being branded a threat to national security in his homeland Nigeria. As a consequence he found himself not only jailed as a political prisoner in the notorious Kirikiri prison, but also held for a time on the prison’s death row.

So Abani has certainly lived a colourful life so far, and clearly he’s a strong writer who isn’t afraid to voice his opinion. I look forward to reading Song for Night with great relish.

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

__________________

A note about Forethoughts

‘Forethoughts’ offer an insight into what my initial thoughts and impressions of a book are, before I begin reading it. Informal, and largely written as a stream-of-consciousness exercise in a single sitting, my ‘forethoughts’ capture an important stage of the reading experience for me – the anticipatory period before the book is first opened, when my excitement is piqued for the reading experience which lies ahead.

Blissfully ignorant my ‘forethoughts’ may be, but when they’re combined with my eventual ‘afterthoughts’, the result is a unique and comprehensive record of a very personal literary ‘journey’ through a particular book; a literary journey which will hopefully be of some value to other readers.