Allah Is Not Obliged

by Ahmadou Kourouma (Author), Frank Wynne (Translator)

• New

  Paperback
  2007

  $20.66

• Used

  Hardcover
  2006

  $14.25

  Birahima is ten years old. He is from the Ivory Coast. He is a soldier. When Birahima's mother dies, he leaves his native village - accompanied by the sorcerer Yacouba - to search for his aunt, Mahan. Crossing the border into Liberia, they are seized by a rebel force and press-ganged into military service. Birahima is given a Kalashnikov, scant rations of food, and plenty of dope. Fighting in a totally chaotic civil war, and alongside many other child soldiers, he sees death, torture, amputation and madness, but somehow manages to retain his own sanity...Told in the remarkably realised voice of a ten-year-old boy, Birahima's story is tinged with both humour and disdain. As Birahima takes us through the bloody battlefields of horrific warfare, he makes no attempt to explain the inexplicable. Yet, by making us both sick with despair and filled with laughter at the incredible and the ridiculous, his story brings us closer to comprehending the rivalries, power structures and customs that fuel Africa's bitter wars. Both shattering and heartbreaking, Allah Is Not Obliged is a remarkable masterpiece.

• New

  Paperback
  2007

  $12.41

  'The full, final and completely complete title of my bullshit story is: Allah is not obliged to be fair about all things he does here on earth' Birahima's story is one of horror and laughter. After his mother's death he travels to Liberia to find his aunt but on the way gets caught up in rebel fighting and ends up with a Kalashnikov in his hands. He tells of the chaotic and terrible adventures that follow in his career as a small soldier with heartbreaking bravado and wisdom.