African Equation
Yasmina Khadra; Howard Curtis (translator)
Gallic Books, Mar 17 2015, $15.95
ISBN: 9781908313706
In Frankfurt, Dr. Kurt and Jessica Krausmann share
a loving relationship. Thus when she
unexpectedly commits suicide, Kurt mourns fiercely while also paralyzed by
guilt compounded by being an MD for failing to see the signs. He is further shocked when he learns his
beloved killed herself over a promotion that Jessica felt she earned, but
someone with less credentials received.
Kurt’s friend Hans Makkenroth persuades the
grieving widower to join him on a humanitarian mission to the Union of Comoros
archipelago off East Africa. Sailing the
Mediterranean for several weeks proves healing for Kurt. However in the Gulf of Aden, pirates
violently take their vessel and incarcerate the two men and others as
hostages. Over the next few weeks the
guards abuse their prisoners with Joma personally targeting Kurt until Chief Moussa
intervenes saving the German’s life.
Depressed from feeling helpless Kurt struggles to keep Hans from dying from
a saber wound. Kurt’s giving up on life
until he meets Bruno from Bordeaux who gives him hope while explaining the
anger of Africans towards their so-called White Man’s burden benefactors.
African Equation is an intriguing look at the continent from the
perspectives of the pirates whose overall attitude is the hostages are flies trapped in a spider’s web while their leaders sees a
cash crop, and stunned Europeans re their harsh mistreatment except enlightened
Bruno. The storyline starts leisurely
but allows the reader to understand Kurt before hyper-accelerating once the
pirates capture the good sanitarians.
Although the pirates change dramatically from feral warriors to
intellectual philosophers over the course of the plot, readers will relish
this profound look at how different Africans and
Europeans perceive their dysfunctional relationship.
Harriet Klausner
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