Allah Is Not Obliged - Tapa dura

"It is a powerful, shocking and deeply moving novel; an African Lord of the Flies. Through Kourouma's skilful telling, the characters live on the page."-"Guardian" "Melding fiction and fact with the humility of childhood, Ahmadou Kourouma deftly exposes the desperate nature of the civil wars -- and the relentless poverty -- that have ravaged Africa...." -"New Statesman" "From the Trade Paperback edition."

Birahima is ten years old. He is from the Ivory Coast. He is a soldier. When Birahima's mother dies, he leaves his native village - accompanied by the sorcerer Yacouba - to search for his aunt, Mahan. Crossing the border into Liberia, they are seized by a rebel force and press-ganged into military service. Birahima is given a Kalashnikov, scant rations of food, and plenty of dope. Fighting in a totally chaotic civil war, and alongside many other child soldiers, he sees death, torture, amputation and madness, but somehow manages to retain his own sanity...Told in the remarkably realised voice of a ten-year-old boy, Birahima's story is tinged with both humour and disdain. As Birahima takes us through the bloody battlefields of horrific warfare, he makes no attempt to explain the inexplicable. Yet, by making us both sick with despair and filled with laughter at the incredible and the ridiculous, his story brings us closer to comprehending the rivalries, power structures and customs that fuel Africa's bitter wars. Both shattering and heartbreaking, "Allah Is Not Obliged" is a remarkable masterpiece.