Allah Is Not Obliged

ALLAH IS NOT OBLIGED TO BE FAIR ABOUT ALL THE THINGS HE DOES HERE ON EARTH.These are the words of the boy soldier Birahima in the final masterpiece by one of Africa's most celebrated writers, Ahmadou Kourouma. When ten-year-old Birahima's mother dies, he leaves his native village in the Ivory Coast, accompanied by the sorcerer and cook Yacouba, to search for his aunt Mahan. Crossing the border into Liberia, they are seized by rebels and forced into military service. Birahima is given a Kalashnikov, minimal rations of food, a small supply of dope and a tiny wage. Fighting in a chaotic civil war alongside many other boys, Birahima sees death, torture, dismemberment and madness but somehow manages to retain his own sanity. Raw and unforgettable, despairing yet filled with laughter, Allah Is Not Obliged reveals the ways in which children's innocence and youth are compromised by war.

Author: Ahmadou Kourouma
Publisher: Anchor Books
Published: 05/08/2007
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 7.92h x 5.28w x 0.61d
ISBN: 9780307279576

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 02/12/2007 pg. 60
Kirkus Reviews 03/15/2007 pg. 246
Booklist 04/15/2007 pg. 22
Multicultural Review 06/01/2008 pg. 52

About the Author
Ahmadou Kourouma was born in the Ivory Coast in 1927. He was the author of the novels The Suns of Independence, Monnew, and Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote. Hailed as one of the leading African writers in French, he died in 2003.