Sleepwalking Land
by Mia Couto
"She had only one remedy to make her recover: that was to tell her story. I told her I would listen to her , no matter how long it took." - Mia Couto
For me as a reader who was not familiar with Mozambican history or life during a civil war, Sleepwalking Land's nonlinear feeling was ideal because it gave me a surreal introduction to living in a violent and confusing political environment.
An emotional tale about war and its aftermath emerges from the travelogue of an elderly man and a young boy in Mozambique. Does it inspire hope or just a sense of emptiness? A picture of humanity in harsh circumstances is produced by the characters' sincerity and their predicament. It is a book that I would recommend to all readers interested in the story of Africa and its many denizens.
