Theft (Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature)

A Novel

De: Abdulrazak Gurnah

Narrado por: Ashley Zhangazha

In his first new novel since winning the 2021 Nobel Prize, a master storyteller captures a time of dizzying global change.

At the turn of the twenty-first century, three young people come of age in Tanzania. Karim returns to his sleepy hometown after university with new swagger and ambition. Fauzia glimpses in him a chance at escape from a smothering upbringing. The two of them offer a haven to Badar, a poor boy still unsure if the future holds anything for him at all. As tourism, technology, and unexpected opportunities and perils reach their quiet corner of the world, bringing, each arrives at a different understanding of what it means to take your fate into your own hands.

Great slice of life

The first two-thirds were an interesting look at the lives of a handful of residents of modern Tanzania. It was nice, but it wasn’t until the final one-third that we get any serious drama - a doomed and destructive romance on Zanzibar. It’s worth the slow start to get to that last riveting section.

Bader

This novel does not present a traditional story but instead offers a compilation of biographies of individuals whose lives intersect. It reads almost like an autobiography of Karim, richly detailing his encounters with various people. While the narrative style is distinctive, this work does not quite reach the heights of Gurnah's other acclaimed novels, including Paradise and Afterlives.

Storytelling at it’s best.

Transformed the reader to a new world where honor, tradition and respect intersect with passion and individual freedom

Potting more than a slice of life

Didn’t love this book. I usually love books that take place in areas of the world that I am ignorant of. I love learning about different ways of thinking and living. Not this one. I was often bored. Nothing remarkable at all.

Nicely told tale set in Zanzibar

This story was engaging for its development of character among the cast, but it simply evolves as a story of how a small event can turn the course of a life. For example, how being accused of a theft can lead to a house servant to becoming a worker in a small hotel. Low on my list of recommendations.