![]() ![]() ![]() He disobeys his captain's orders and, armed with a rifle in one hand and a machete in the other, starts making solo sorties: going over the top, under barbed wire, across no man's land, and into enemy lines. Wracked with survivor's guilt and remorse for his inaction, he carries his fallen comrade-in-arms back to his trench and surrenders to the "voice of vengeance" in his head.įrom this moment on, Alfa is a changed person. Mademba had begged Alfa to put him out of his misery and slit his throat. Alfa Ndiaye, one of many Senegalese troops fighting under the French flag, has just watched his fellow countryman, childhood friend and "more-than-brother" Mademba Diop die an agonizing death on the battlefield. The book begins with an anguished confession. Though short, it is an immersive, propulsive read, one that searingly evokes the terrors of trench warfare, the relentless loss of life, and the irreparable damage inflicted on the human soul. "At Night All Blood Is Black" is his first novel to appear in English (ably translated by Anna Moschovakis). David Diop was born in France and raised in Senegal. ![]() Contemporary novelists have dramatized the conflict to critical acclaim, most notably Pat Barker in her "Regeneration" trilogy and Sebastian Faulks in his masterpiece "Birdsong."Ī stunning new novel about the plight of two Senegalese soldiers in the Great War offers a fresh perspective. ![]()
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