Smaller Country by Gael Faye

Small Country - Gael Faye

Small Country is a  harrowing

 tale of coming-of-age in the face of civil war, race relations, expansionism, class institutional rights' , colonialism. 

French-Rwandan Gael Fayeis  influences- rap laced with soul and jazz, semba, Congolese rumba... 

Small Countryis his first novel. It was a huge bestseller in France, winning the Prix Goncourt des Lyceens 2016, and is being published in thirty territories worldwide.
'A luminous debut novel...Faye dramatises the terrible nostalgia of having lost not only a childhood but also a whole world to war' Guardian

Burundi, 1992.For ten-year-old Gabriel, life in his comfortable expat neighborhood French father, Rwandan mother and little sister, Ana, is something close to paradise. These are happy, carefree days spent with his friends.

'Unforgettable... Gael Faye's talent is breathtaking

A happy childhood combusts when confronted with a world gone hey wire . Their country, and soon their peaceful idyll will shatter when Burundi and neighbouring Rwanda are brutally hit by war. Words such as Hutu, Tutsis, indentured servant ,slave, not as part of my common nomenclature gave me a new lens to examine the world. The simple becoming complex, and kindness and mercy being lost for evil and revenge. We need to live well so Christ will come, not the apocalypse to get rid of evil. 

"French-Rwandan Gael Faye-is an author, composer and hip hop artist. He was born in 1982 has a Rwandan mother and French father. In 1995, after the outbreak of the civil war and the Rwandan genocide, the family moved to France. Gael studied finance and worked in London for two years for an investment fund, then he left London to embark on a career of writing and music."

"He is as influenced by Creole literature as he is by hip hop culture, and released an album in 2010 with the group Milk Coffee & Sugar. In 2013, his first solo album, Pili Pili sur un Croissant au Beurre, appeared. It was recorded between Bujumbura and Paris, and is filled with a plethora of musical influences- rap laced with soul and jazz, semba, Congolese rumba... In 2018 he received the prestigious Victoires de la Musique Award.

Small Countryis his first novel. It was a huge  bestseller in France, winning the Prix Goncourt des Lyceens 2016, and is being published in thirty territories worldwide."

I've avoided most genocide books because reality is a little tough to swallow . Though just the other day I recommended The Rent Collector , which only changes the country not the impact or desolateness,of genocide.