Paradise

By: Abdulrazak Gurnah

Narrated by: Chukwudi Iwuji

From the Nobel Prize winner, a coming-of-age story that illuminates the harshness and beauty of an Africa on the brink of colonization

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Award, Paradise was characterized by the Nobel Prize committee as Abdulrazak Gurnah’s “breakthrough” work. It is at once the chronicle of an African boy’s coming-of-age, a tragic love story, and a tale of the corruption of African tradition by European colonialism.

Sold by his father in repayment of a debt, twelve-year-old Yusuf is thrown from his simple rural life into complexities of pre-colonial urban East Africa. Through Yusuf’s eyes, Gurnah depicts communities at war, trading safaris gone awry, and the universal trials of adolescence. The result is what Publishers Weekly calls a “vibrant” and “powerful” work that “evokes the Edenic natural beauty of a continent on the verge of full-scale imperialist takeover.”

beautifully narrated

A vivid story seeking an anchor but so well told. I enjoyed this immensely.

Interesting

I’m part of a book club and this book was suggested to me. I really like it. The detail story takes you all the way to Tanzania and let you explore and live there showing you that culture and history. Excellent sound and voice.

East African pre-colonual history from the inside out

Several European countries plus Greek, Indian & Arabs traders all plot to steal the riches of the country that becomes Tranzania. Gurnah is a skillful writer who when he describes a terrible oder, you smell it. When he describes a beautiful scenic settings, you can see it. Paradise is both paradise and hell simultaneously. This is one beautiful and distribing read, will worth your time and effort.

Beautiful book

Gurnah’s writing is superb. His description of the caravan and where it went was so realistic I felt I was on the journey. The end was sad and hopeful at the same time.