See, until then, all I know about Madagascar is that it's an African country located in the Indian Ocean, and that it is very different from the rest of the continent. From a linguistic perspective, Malagasy is more similar to languages found in Asia, as it belongs to the Austronesian language family, and not to the Niger-Congo family, as most of the Sub-Saharan languages are. I know that France was the colonial power, but beyond these tidbits, I don't really know much. This book provided some more insights about the country.
This novel is set in the 19th century, where there were still slaves, and there was a Malagasy monarchy. I don't really know much about the history of Madagascar, and so this novel provided very rich information about it. The story centres on two Malagasy characters, Fara, as well as her father's slave, Tsito. The story goes over the years, and follows these two characters. They grow together, and eventually life happens and these two people eventually become a couple. There are various challenges that these two characters face, one of them most prominently being the fact that the reign of the current monarch is very tyrannical, and results in the general decline of the local population. The book gives very detailed historical portrayals of Malagasy society in the 19th century, which is something that I have been until recently clueless about.
I think what I appreciate the best is the fact that it's a historical novel. I have learned a lot about historical events in Madagascar, its monarchy, its system of trial by ordeal, and many other things. If not for this novel, I probably would not know about these issues. I found myself very engaged in reading about it, less because the story of Fara and Tsito is gripping, but more simply because life in Madagascar in the 19th century is rather suspenseful and so it kept my interest rather high.
I am told that this is the first novel from Madagascar ever to be translated into English. I actually had a little bit of difficulty procuring this book: my go-to bookstore took awhile before they were able to find this tome for me. But I must say it was definitely worth it. I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to read something different, or to people who wants to read something from a different part of the world. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.
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