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Paradise
by Abdulrazak Gurnah | Literature & Fiction
Registered by abitstormyout of Ely, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Sunday, October 21, 2007
This book has not been rated. 

status (set by starchilli): to be read


5 journalers for this copy...

Journal Entry 1 by abitstormyout from Ely, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Sunday, October 21, 2007

This book has not been rated.

The story of Yusuf, a twelve-year-old boy in rural East Africa whose father sells him to a trader to settle a debt. 

Journal Entry 2 by abitstormyout at Caffe Nero IP1 book-crossing zone in Ipswich, Suffolk United Kingdom on Friday, December 07, 2007

This book has not been rated.

Released 4 yrs ago (12/8/2007 UTC) at Caffe Nero IP1 book-crossing zone in Ipswich, Suffolk United Kingdom

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

To go to the Ipswich Meet tomorrow! 

Journal Entry 3 by wingcandy-is-dandywing from Braintree, Essex United Kingdom on Sunday, December 09, 2007

This book has not been rated.

Picked up at the Ipswich meet. To be sent to another bookcrosser to whose taste I hope it is. 

Journal Entry 4 by galexy on Sunday, December 09, 2007

This book has not been rated.

Off this goes to France as a Not So Secret Santa present. Hope you ike it. 

Journal Entry 5 by Iojima from Nyons, Rhône-Alpes France on Tuesday, December 25, 2007

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Received as part of NSSFC. Thank you very much. 

Journal Entry 6 by Iojima from Nyons, Rhône-Alpes France on Friday, January 04, 2008

This book has not been rated.

My first read of the year arrived as part of the Not So Secret Father Christmas BookCrossing Exchange. I'm not sure what I've said that would indicate that this would be a good book for me -- most of the fiction I read is crime fiction -- but it was an outstanding choice.

Paradise is a story of Africa, subtly told as a coming of age novel. Yusuf is sent away from home to live with his "Uncle" Aziz near the sea and to tend his shop along with Khalil, another boy pawned to Uncle Aziz for his father's debts. As the book follows Yusuf from age 12 to late teens, he learns about the complicated relations between master and servant, trader and villager, Islam and animist religion, learns the landscape during trading journeys, sees the effects of colonisation on the Africans, watches the coming of war.

This novel is a good companion piece to Alan Moorhead's histories of early African exploration and colonisation, all of which I also loved. Here's the African side of the story.

I think I'll see if it will fly as a ring. 

Journal Entry 7 by Iojima from Nyons, Rhône-Alpes France on Tuesday, January 15, 2008

This book has not been rated.

Sent as RABCK to oceanripples. 

Journal Entry 8 by starchilli on Wednesday, January 30, 2008

This book has not been rated.

not yet read but looks good, thank you for sending it to me. 



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