*** : Enfants soldats

Poco più che un bambino, poco meno di un soldato – ma spietato miliziano – Johnny è ubriaco di violenza e di parole goffamente idealiste. “Lao”, sua coetanea, ama lo studio e la pace, ma allo scoppio della guerra “tribale” si ritrova, con il fratellino e la madre disabile, vittima di Mad Dog (con finale a sorpresa). Le stesse vicende sono raccontate dai due punti di vista, con effetti talora agghiaccianti. È un momento felice per lo scrittore congolese professore di chimica negli Usa, che vede alcune sue opere venire portate sul palcoscenico (A Love Supreme) o sul grande schermo ("Johnny Mad Dog", prodotto da Mathieu Kassovitz). ( )

A graphic and thoroughly cynical account of African warfare, told from the POVs of Mad Dog, a sixteen-year-old soldier, and Laokole, a sixteen-year-old refugee fleeing with her family from Mad Dog and his ilk. The two teens have more in common than they will ever know, but they're on opposite sides of a cruel conflict. Characters appear in full detail, then disappear just as quickly as they are killed. The affect is to leave the reader off balance. The selfishness and ineptitude of Western "humanitarian relief" efforts are portrayed as well -- they care more about rescuing wild animals than human refugees. The days pass by, the tension rises, and Mad Dog and Laokole come closer and closer to each other. The explosive, ambiguous ending leaves you wondering.

I think this book makes African war more real to me than any non-fiction account I have read thus far, and the author is good at characterization and foreshadowing too. However, the wooden dialogue kept me from giving it a five-star rating. ( )