Afterlives
Afterlives provides a view of the culture and world of early-20th-century Eastern Africa. Abdulrazak Gurnah, a Tanzanian author, won the 2021 Nobel Prize for his body of work. He writes of a world of displacement, colonialism, and war in his native Africa. At the end of the 19th century, Germany established their foothold in East Africa with their colony, the Deutsch-Ostafrika. To contain the ongoing uprisings, the Germans relied on the schutztruppe, an African army of native mercenaries, also called askari. The schutztruppe was so brutal and sadistic that their own people feared them more than they feared the Germans. This unrest continued through WWI until the Germans were defeated. Life during this time is told through the lives of four main characters: Khalifa, Hamza, Ilyas, and Afiya.
In Mombasa, Khalifa is Indian-African and works as a clerk for an opportunistic money lender and merchant of shady character. Hamza joins the schutztruppe where he and the troop are subjected to abuse and humiliation by their German officers, then he becomes an Oberleutnant’s servant. As a youth, Ilyas runs away from home and is kidnapped by the schutztruppe to be their carrier; he is taken in by a coffee farmer and educated. Afiya is Ilyas’s sister, abused and living under cruel conditions when Ilyas rescues her after returning home; but when he rejoins the askari Afiya is taken in by Khalifa.
These characters are likeable and sympathetic. Initially their connections aren’t clear, but as the story develops, their storylines merge and blend nicely. The narrative is told with a sense of detachment, but its episodic nature remains gripping as it transitions between the characters. This novel brings so much to light of the evil taking place in Africa, not only under colonialism but the cruelty of Africans against their own.
