Song for Night
Chris Abani
‘Chris Abani’s Song For Night is a novel that demands to be read. A compressed fable of an African child soldier in a nameless country, it should and will win a wide audience for the importance of its subject matter and the lyricism of its writing.’
Malcolm Knox, Sydney Morning Herald
Part Inferno, part Paradise Lost, and part Sunjiata epic, Song for Night is the story of a West African boy soldier’s lyrical, terrifying, yet beautiful journey through the nightmare landscape of a brutal war in search of his lost platoon. The reader is led by the voiceless protagonist who, as part of a land mine-clearing platoon, had his vocal chords cut, a move to keep these children from screaming when blown up, and thereby distracting the other minesweepers. The book is written in a ghostly voice, with each chapter headed by a line of the unique sign language these children invented. This book is unlike anything else ever written about an African war.
Reviews
‘It is one of the most powerful stories I have read in a long time.’
Wendy Noble, Good Reading
‘This is a powerful piece of writing, haunting and bleak, but with an uncanny glimmer of hope for the human spirit.’
Michelle Calligaro, Assistant Manager of Readings Carlton, Readings
» All reviews for this title‘Song for Night is an important work … [it] has genuine literary value, written in a voice that is intrinsically beautiful in its lilting simplicity – the voice of a character who remains, essentially, a child, despite all that he has seen and done …, I’ll definitely seek out the earlier contributions of this immensely powerful, original author.’
Sophie Mallam, First Tuesday Book Club, ABC TV
