Alphabetical Africa (New Directions Book) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The reviewer below has given a fine summary of the book, and is, for the most part, correct on all accounts.This is precisely the kind of novel that can revitalize fiction again, save it from simply providing subjectmatter, "interesting" or"meaningful" stories (whichmost ofter turn out to be neither).Alphabetical Africa is a commendablenovel simply for what its form is, for the composition that makes it Artrather than mass-marketable fiction.It deserves applause and meritsreading.However, it could've been better.Maybe it needed more planning,maybe it needed to be even more radical.Despite being so overtlyexperimental, it remains burdened by highly conventional narrativeexpectations.Given the constraints of the form, the narrative, thoughit's certainly full of surprises, isn't that fulfilling.Also worth notingin the "could've been better" category:I agree with thereviewer below that one "error" serves as a pleasure to thereader, like a insider's wink from the author.However, once I found afourth "error" in Alphabetical Africa, I began to feel that theauthor wasn't winking, his eye was twitching involuntarily.Great pioneeringwork, but not quite a great novel.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Alphabetical Africa (New Directions Book)

Product Description:
Abish, Alphbetical Africa. A continent forms and crumbles through a linguistic tour de force.