Dealing with the Dead
A Congolese cemetery memoir, narrated from a vantage that makes the phrase less strange than it sounds.
Alain Mabanckou, the Congolese novelist who teaches at UCLA, writes about death, burial and the people the living refuse to let go of. The mode sits closer to memoir than to conventional fiction, and the comedy runs alongside the grief rather than relieving it. Mabanckou is among the most widely translated francophone African writers now working, and this is one of his most personal books.
Recommended by 1 Person
Tyler Cowen
Alain Mabanckou, Dealing with the Dead. Most African fiction does not connect with me, and there is a tendency for the reviews to be untrustworthy. This “cemetery memoir,” from the Congo (via UCLA), connected with me and held my interest throughout.
Source · February 2025
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