International Literature Book Club -- Crossing the Mangrove

International Literature Book Club -- Crossing the Mangrove

Thursday, Aug 25, 2016 7:00 PM

Location:
Underground Books
102 Alabama St.
Carrollton, GA 30117

Our partnership with the UWG Foreign Languages Department and School of the Arts continues this fall with four more installments of the International Literature Book Club. The first 10 people to sign up each month get a free copy of the selected book, with a commitment to attend the book club meeting. Additional copies will be for sale for those that miss the free sign-up.

August's selection is Mary Conde's Crossing the Mangrove. Lisa Connel, Associate Professor of French at UWG will guide a discussion of the novel at Underground Books on August 25th at 7pm. Light refreshments will be provided. 

About the book:

In this beautifully crafted, Rashomon-like novel, Maryse Conde has written a gripping story imbued with all the nuances and traditions of Caribbean culture. Francis Sancher–a handsome outsider, loved by some and reviled by others–is found dead, face down in the mud on a path outside Riviere au Sel, a small village in Guadeloupe.  None of the villagers are particularly surprised, since Sancher, a secretive and melancholy man, had often predicted an unnatural death for himself.  As the villagers come to pay their respects they each–either in a speech to the mourners, or in an internal monologue–reveal another piece of the mystery behind Sancher’s life and death.  Like pieces of an elaborate puzzle, their memories interlock to create a rich and intriguing portrait of a man and a community. In the lush and vivid prose for which she has become famous, Conde has constructed a Guadeloupean wake for Francis Sancher.  Retaining the full color and vibrance of Conde’s homeland, Crossing the Mangrove pays homage to Guadeloupe in both subject and structure.