Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Afterlives (2020)

By Abdulrazak Gurnah (Nobel Prize Winner for Fiction)

Genre : Historical Fiction, Drama, Colonization, Germany,  Africa.

Rating : 5/5 

This is my first book from this author and also covering the demography of Africa under German Colonization followed by British rule. Had some difficulty navigating through the terms initially but a little research eased the matters greatly. 

Overall, Loved reading this book. :) Got to learn a lot of stuff about the schutztruppe of the Germans, askari of Africa and their practices, ruthlessness and unexposed/unfamiliar kindness of some of those Germans in control/power. This book has showed the positive side to the colonial occupation of German and British to Africa. Yes,the wars have resulted in lot of blood shed but here and there, there were kids,young boys who could vouch for the kindness of some german officers and lay their lives on line to pay back for it. :) 

We see a couple of generations of Africans marrying and setting up themselves in householdership in the 20th century Africa. We see several customs that are unfamiliar to a non-African like drinking holy water to cure diseases or employing an exorcist for issues of mental health and schizophrenia - and what more, they actually worked sometimes. 

 There were many deaths from malaria and other diseases when there were no vaccinations available in Africa and that orphaned many children. Khalifa and Bi Asha are two such orphans who are married by Asha's uncle who is also the employer of Khalifa. She has a caustic mouth and a bitter temperament which he eventually gets used to. They later take a young girl Afiya under their care whose brother Ilyas owes some loyalty to Germans and goes to join the African askari supporting Germany's fight against British. She grows up and falls in love with Hamza - an other African Muslim like Ilyas who had tasted the kindness of Germans. They are married and set up their residence in the Khalifa house. Germans lose to British and are sent back to their country. Time goes on, Afiya and Hamza have a boy whom they name after his uncle, Ilyas. They try to get through to Germany to find the whereabouts of the elder Ilyas but to no avail. The British interrupt and block all their communication back and forth. 

The young Ilyas grows up and after British lose their hold on Africa through Independence in 1950s,  goes to Germany on scholarship to learn broadcasting. He traces the life of uncle Ilyas and his fate through the wilderness of too much war on African soil, newly forming laws in Germany and British.