The Lights of Pointe-Noire by Alain Mabanckou
In The Lights of Pointe Noire, Alain Mabanckou attempts to reconnect with his home, his family, and his own sense of place in the world—and his readers are along for the ride.
The Lights of Pointe Noire, the latest offering from Congolese writer Alain Mabanckou, is an account of Mabanckou’s return to his hometown after twenty-three years abroad. The memoir, originally published in French, has recently been translated into a fluid and beautiful English by Helen Stevenson. In Pointe Noire, Mabanckou attempts to reconnect with his home, his family, and his own sense of place in the world—and his readers are along for the ride. The book moves along fitfully, pausing here and there, bringing the reader into an intimate understanding of Mabanckou’s experience and the nature of homecoming.
