196 Books: Equatorial Guinea

By Night the Mountain Burns by Juan Tomas Avila Laurel

Equatorial Guinea is on the west African coast:

The summary:
By Night the Mountain Burns recounts the narrator's childhood on a remote island off the West African coast, living with his mysterious grandfather, several mothers and no fathers. We learn of a dark chapter in the island's history: a bush fire destroys the crops, then hundreds perish in a cholera outbreak. Superstition dominates, and the islanders must sacrifice their possessions to the enraged ocean god. What of their lives will they manage to save? Whitmanesque in its lyrical evocation of the island, Ávila Laurel’s writing builds quietly, through the oral rhythms of traditional storytelling, into gripping drama worthy of an Achebe or a García Márquez.

I also want to include the information about the author because I found it really interesting:
"Juan Tomas Avila Laurel was born in 1966 in Equatorial Guinea, Africa's only Spanish-speaking country. His parents were from the remote Annobon Island, off the West African coast. 
...Avila Laurel has been a constant thorn in the side of his country's long-standing dictatorial government. A nurse by profession, he was for many years one of the best known Equatorial Guinean writers not to have opted to live in exile. But in 2011, after a week-long hunger strike in protest against Obiang's regime, which he timed to coincide with the president of Spain's visit to Equatorial Guinea, Avila Laurel moved to Barcelona. He writes across all media, and is particularly active as a blogger, essayist, and novelist." 

This guy sounds like such a badass. 

This book totally messed with my mind because, for the majority of it, it sounds like it's set in the 1800s or something, but then there would be mention of a radio or an air purifier. And then when you find out Avila Laurel was born in 1966, it had to have taken place in the 70s. But he would talk about ships coming from other countries and I still imagined wooden pirate-looking ships.

One thing I found very interesting was that the author attributed all the bad things stemming from one incident. It was an incident involving a woman being violated with an object. Granted, she was being beaten to death by a mob, but the violation struck him so much that he blamed all of the other bad things on this. Interesting how this kid can understand how horrific something like that is, and yet grown men keep doing it.

I would have liked to hear more of his older life and how he left the island. (I'm assuming he left the island and went to live on mainland Equatorial Guinea. Btw, Equatorial Guinea is really hard to spell/type.) There's also one point that didn't make sense to me-he says he's not a writer and that the stories came from an outsider wanting to capture their folk tales. I guess it could have started that way, but he obviously is a writer so...shrug.

Anyway, this was another example of why it's so cool to do this "challenge" and learn about so many different places and cultures. I feel like my mind broadens with every book...even the ones I don't like.