Not since Jerzy Kosinski's The Painted Bird or Agota Kristof's
Notebook Trilogy has there been such a harrowing novel about what it's
like to be a young person in a war. That Chris Abani is able to find
humanity, mercy, and even, yes, forgiveness, amid such devastation is
something of a miracle."--Rebecca Brown, author of The End of Youth
The moment you enter these pages, you step into a beautiful and
terrifying dream. You are in the hands of a master, a literary shaman.
Abani casts his spell so completely--so devastatingly--you emerge
cleansed, redeemed, and utterly haunted.--Brad Kessler, author of Birds
in Fall
Part Inferno, part Paradise Lost, and part Sunjiata epic, Song for
Night is the story of a West African boy soldier's lyrical, terrifying,
yet beautiful journey through the nightmare landscape of a brutal war in
search of his lost platoon. The reader is led by the voiceless
protagonist who, as part of a land mine-clearing platoon, had his vocal
chords cut, a move to keep these children from screaming when blown up,
and thereby distracting the other minesweepers. The book is written in a
ghostly voice, with each chapter headed by a line of the unique sign
language these children invented. This book is unlike anything else ever
written about an African war.
Chris Abani is a Nigerian poet and novelist and the author of The
Virgin of Flames, Becoming Abigail (a New York Times Editor's
Choice), and GraceLand (a selection of the Today Show Book Club and
winner of the 2005 PEN/Hemingway Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy
Award). His other prizes include a PEN Freedom to Write Award, a Prince
Claus Award, and a Lannan Literary Fellowship. He lives and teaches in
California.
