Word: matapari
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...Matapari is a likable narrator, however, and the antics of Uncle Boula Boula steal the show. If you can ignore the political flag-waving, the book makes for light and lively reading. But those looking for an insightful look at contemporary Africa will likely be disappointed: Little Boys Come from the Stars is more a charming story of boyhood interspersed with political satire, than vice versa...
Early in Emmanuel Dongala’s Little Boys Come from the Stars, Matapari, the young Congolese protagonist, confides, “Honestly, I was almost never born. Maman left the hospital with me still in her womb.” As the youngest of triplets, baby Matapari, whose name means “trouble,” is an anomaly in his village. The midwife and local amateur mystic suspects he is a vengeful ancestor reincarnate, while the town priest stages an exorcism on the baby...
...comes as no surprise, then, that Dongala’s Little Boys Come from the Stars (translated from the French Les Petits Garcons Naissent Aussi des Etoiles), his first book out of exile, reads as a political satire. Through the eyes of 15-year-old Matapari, we get a naïve, Candide-like account of Congolese politics, especially from Matapari’s impressions of his Uncle Boula Boula, the lapdog extraordinaire of the regime-of-the-moment. During a visit from the “President” (actually a Communist dictator) and his officials, Matapari remarks...
...democracy and education. Uncle Boula Boula eventually finds himself on the wrong side of the political carousel and is imprisoned after a mock court case. After leading a revolt for democracy, Matapari’s father is also thrown in jail. During a rally to free his father, Matapari asks, “Why were men making other men suffer? These people who only wanted to express themselves and who were merely asking for Papa’s release? But actually, weren’t these people really asking for democracy?…And suddenly I had a revelation...
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