The Chair Carrier

The Chair Carrier, by Yusuf Idris, is an Arabic short story about a man who encounters another man on the street carrying an extremely large, heavy chair. The man refuses to stop carrying the chair because nobody of any importance has authorized him to do so. This causes a great deal of frustration and confusion for the main character/narrator. I felt this story was well written and that the author did a good job of keeping the reader in suspense. For the first part of the story the narrator made a big deal about the chair which kept me interested because I actually wanted to find out what the deal was with the chair. I found this story to be interesting and more entertaining than the African short stories.



Papa, Snake & I

Papa, Snake & I, by BL Honwana, is a south African story about a family who lives on what seems to be a farm of some type. They are losing chickens to a hungry snake and the father decides to kill it. Before it is killed, the snake bites and kills their neighbor's dog. This incident causes a feud between the father and the neighbor. I thought this story was more entertaining and more well-written than most of the stories in the book. It was a little long but it kept my attention which was a refreshing change from the other stories.

The Betrayal

The Betrayal, by Ahmed Essop, is a south African story about a political figure named Dr. Kamal. He is the head of a political organization that is threatened by the emergence of a new organization. One evening Dr. Kamal and his supporters show up at a meeting held by the rival political organization and begin to argue with them. Shortly thereafter violence erupts and Dr. Kamal flees the scene rather than help support the people that supported him. It is quite obvious why the author named this story "The Betrayal." It took Dr. Kamal no time at all to abandon and betray those that helped him for so long. The story never told what happened to Dr. Kamal after he fled the scene but I personally hope that it all caught back up to him.



Protista

Protista, by Dambudzo Marechera, is an African story about a man who has gone insane. He has strange dreams and claims to be tormented by things called "Menfish." The story goes on to tell about his experiences with insanity. I felt this story made no sense and ended up doing nothing for the reader. Protista was well written but I felt it had no entertainment value whatsoever.

The Bridegroom

The Bridegroom, by Nadine Gordimer, is a south African story about a man. The title of this story leads the reader to believe it will be about a wedding, but it is not at all like that. The story mentions a wedding in the beginning but soon transitions to his son's cooking skills. Later it changes settings again to talk about being in a camp of some type. A few people play music with kaffir leaves and soon others join in. This was an interesting story and a bit of a challange to read because there were so many transitions with no explanations as to why.