"Memoirs of a Porcupine" by Alain Mabanckou ****

• Summer Read with Beth
• Congolese author
• Originally published in 2012
• Setting: Village of Sekepembe, the Congo
• Characters:
• Kibandi:  master, starting at initiation at age 11
• Ngoumba:  a porcupine, Kibandi's harmful other, narrator of the tale
• Baobab:  The tree to which porcupine tells his tale
• The Governor:  Head Porcupine
• Vocabulary:
• sinecure:  a job or position in which someone is paid to do little or no work
• Fun Expressions:
• ...p.15"When the ears are cut off it is time for the neck to worry" - the governor
• p.31..."When the wise man points to the moon, the fool looks at his finger"
• p.38..."the cake wasn't worth the candle"
• p.41..."away with feast, however great, that may be spoiled by fear"
• p.42..."we only believe fear when it is upon us"
• p.47..."a vagabond's shelter is his dignity"
• Quotes:
• p.4..."...I was stuck with my role as a double, as a turtle is stuck with his shell, I was my master's third eye, his third nostril, his third ear, which means that whatever he din't see, or smell, or hear, I transmitted to him in dreams..."
• p.14..."I know no that thought is of the essence, it's thought that gives rise to human grief, pity, remorse, even wickedness or goodness..."
• p.21..."...and yet the spoken word, it seems to me, delivers us from the fear of death, and if it could also help me stave it off for a little while, or escape it, that would make me the happiest porcupine in all the word."
• p.56..." with age Papa Kibandi returned to his animal state"....like his double, a rat
• Appendix:  Letter to publishers from Stubborn Snail, Literary executor of "Broken Glass", owner of the bar, credit gone west.....?
• "The books we really remember are those which reinvent the world, revisit our childhood, pose questions about the origin of all things, examine our obsessions and question our beliefs."
• "As he sees it, the world is just an approximate version of a fable wc we will never understand as long as we continue to take account only of the material representation of things."
• Notes:
• People could have "other" and peaceful or harmful "doubles, raising the front right paw ans waving it three times
• The first question animals would ask if they could speak to humans would be whether humans believe animals capable of thought
• Governor ruled by fear...not unlike colonial occupiers?
• Kibandi's other self had no mouth or nose...?
• Review:  Despite the fact that I am not a huge fan of fables, I really enjoyed this tale.  This is the  stream of consciousness memoir of a porcupine , narrated by himself. If that doesn't grab your attention, how about the fact that the porcupine is the "harmful double" of a Congolese boy/man.  Yep.  Now you must be just a bit curious, right? The prose is witty, dark, thought provoking,  and engaging.  The ultimate question appears to be whether man or beast are more beastly? Given the dark history of the Congo, the author's native country it is not surprising that he believes the question merits some serious consideration.