Book Club Meetup: Dealing with the Dead by Alain Mabanckou

For July we’ll be reading Dealing with the Dead by Alain Mabanckou; Translated from the French by Helen Stevenson.

Available at Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/dealing-with-the-dead/alain-mabanckou/helen-stevenson/9781800817708 | 224 pages |

Abruptly deceased at the age of twenty-four and trapped forever in flared purple trousers, Liwa Ekimakingaï encounters the other residents of Frère Lachaise cemetery, all of whom have their own complex stories of life and death.

Unwilling to relinquish their tender bond, Liwa makes his way back home to Pointe-Noire to see his devoted grandmother one last time, against all spectral advice. But disturbing rumours swirl together with Liwa's jumbled memories of his last night on earth, leading him to pursue the riddle of his own untimely demise. A phantasmagorical tale of ambition, community and forces beyond human control, Dealing with the Dead is a scathing satire on corruption and political violence by one of the foremost chroniclers of modern Central Africa.

From one of Africa's most celebrated novelists: a ghostly reckoning with Congolese history for readers of Lincoln in the Bardo

'One of Africa's greatest living writers' Guardian

'Sharp and entertaining' Times Literary Supplement

'Exuberant ... Dealing with the Dead is often damning, frequently hilarious and always compassionate' Financial Times

As spaces are limited please only RSVP if you are able to make the event, newcomers are of course welcome!