Waiting For The Wild Beasts To Vote

Start by marking “Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote” as Want to Read: Ahmadou Kourouma's remarkable novel is narrated by Bingo, a West African sora - storyteller and king's fool. Over the course of five nights he tells the life story of Koyaga, President and Dictator of the.
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Throughout the free world, hands are being wrung over the misdeeds of unelected dictators. Blair claims that "ridding the world of Saddam Hussein would be an act of humanity" because of his mistreatment of the Iraqi people; Bush justifies North Korea's place on his axis of evil on the grounds that Kim Jong-il is starving his own "folks".

Not since Milosevic threatened to rip apart Europe have the rich democracies taken such an interest in their repressed neighbours. Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote, the third novel from the Ivorian writer Ahmadou Kourouma, reminds us of the other side of the coin: And nowhere has this been more true than in Africa, first pillaged for slaves and minerals, then transformed into a safely remote battlefield in the war on communism, and finally abandoned as a profitless irrelevancy. Orphaned at the age of seven, Koyaga serves his country's French rulers in Vietnam and Algeria, then returns to his newly independent home, only to find himself rejected as a symbol of the old regime.

Proud and ambitious, he soon takes power, first as part of a four-man junta, then - "in a herd there can only be one male hippopotamus" - as sole ruler.

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Kourouma chronicles the cynical retreat of the French armies, but not their influence; and how the emerging dictators ruthlessly exploited Cold War tensions to achieve validation for their reigns from western powers terrified by the spread of communism - the one-time puppet-masters turned to puppets. Inevitably, as with almost all dictatorships, Koyaga's brutal, lavish rule is finally threatened. With civil war about to erupt, he must conjure ever more deft political manoeuvrings to maintain order. In doing so, he reveals the sharp mind that lies at the heart of all long-term dictators, challenging the commonly held western assumption that these men are simply sociopathic buffoons whose habits are ripe for mocking.

Not only does it lift Kourouma among the superstars of what is broadly known as magical realism, but it surely also secures his place among the truly great African novelists of the 20th century. No especially exhaustive knowledge of the continent's fiction is required to make such a statement: Une seule conclusion possible: May 22, Darryl rated it it was ok.

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This is a satirical novel about a fictitious African dictator, which interweaves myth with colonial and postcolonial history and a brutal sense of humor. I thought it was about pages too long and overly repetitive, particularly in its weaker second half. A much better satirical novel about dictatorship in Africa is "Wizard of the Crow" by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Mar 12, Deepak rated it it was amazing. Oct 16, Gautam Bhatia rated it really liked it.

BOOK REVIEWS : Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote by A. Kourouma

It would mean that Africa is a sham, a lie; that talismans and sacrifices are worthless. It is unthinkable, impossible. It cannot be true. Waiting for the Wild Beasts is a story of that sham. In Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote, there are not two, but three voices that complicate the narrative. Nov 17, Garry rated it liked it.

This is the story of Koyaga, fictional African dictator. It's a larger-than-life biography, told in the form of an oral history by his minstrels. Their tale panders to him - he is elevated beyond humanity, and is celebrated as a god. His powers, we are told, are mystical. Never mind that he was a murdering tyrant. I was totally enamored with the voice of Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote for the first couple of hundred pages.

It was incredibly lyrical and expressive. I loved the author's commitm This is the story of Koyaga, fictional African dictator. I loved the author's commitment to this book's unique style This novel had a tinge of 'Emperor's New Clothes' to it: The plot seemed incredibly uneven, and I felt that the author did himself a disservice by stretching the novel beyond its natural length. This is the kind of book that is incredibly difficult to rate - it's brilliant and boring in equal measure.

I will remember Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote for the proverbs that are sprinkled liberally throughout the text: Proverbs are the thoroughbreds of language; it is when words fail, it is through proverbs that we find them again. It is with the end of the old rope that we begin to weave the new. Charity comes from the heart, but giving is simply a duty in order to rid oneself of a persistent beggar.

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Adding too many spices often spoils the finest sauce. If someone has bitten you, he has reminded you that you have teeth. You will never be acclaimed a great healer of lepers if your mother is covered with pustules. One should never pour the juices of the meat into the mouth of the hyena and ask the beast to spit it out. Even on a hyena's anus there are clean patches. This novel is not a hyena's anus, and there are definitely a few clean patches.

For this reason I give it 3 stars. Dec 07, Corvinus Maximilus rated it it was amazing Shelves: A book infused with so much African spirit I am steeped in it. The sayings, the flow of the story. The narrator is an African storyteller, I felt like I was sitting by the fire listening to this man weave this beautiful story. He speaks the truth, he understands the dictators of Africa. Aug 07, Gabriela rated it liked it.

Koyaga's adventure unfolds across 6 sumus ritual gathering , each with its own theme, while he sits in a circle surrounded by master hunters all listening to the sere, Bingo, as he recites the purificatory epic, the donsomana.

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In this way Kourouma brings us into the story telling tradition, brings us into the circle of truth, a circle encompassing the years of French colon Koyaga: In this way Kourouma brings us into the story telling tradition, brings us into the circle of truth, a circle encompassing the years of French colonization and neo-colonization and post-colonization, the operative term here being colonization. Only the prefixes change. I highly recommend Waiting for the Vote of the Wild Animals to those who enjoy an adventurous tale with roots nourished by the waters of truth.

Oct 04, Harry Rutherford rated it really liked it Shelves: Bingo is in some ways the ultimate unreliable narrator, portraying Koyaga as a heroic, semi-mythical figure protected by powerful magic, but he is accompanied by an apprentice whose role is to speak truth to power. Through violence and magical shape-shifting, he seizes political power, retaining it for 30 years with an invulnerability linked to the sorcery of his mother and a favoured marabout.

Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote (Ahmadou Kourouma)

You conclude your oration with more false promises; promises to restore power to the people to whom it belongs through free elections. Kourouma draws vividly on the logic, imagery and speech rhythms of the Malinke people. All in all, this is a tour de force — original, irreverent, brutal, funny, poetic — in which history and myth are brilliantly evoked.


  • Handbook of Research on Catholic Education (The Greenwood Educators Reference Collection).
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It offers no overt solution for corruption and misuse of power, other than the proverb: View the discussion thread. Have Your Say Leave a comment. The Dutch ought to be ashamed of spreading denial. Senators undertake nationwide consultations on democracy.

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