Naivo
Autor(a) de Beyond the Rice Fields
About the Author
Obras por Naivo
Associated Works
And We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again: Writers from Around the World on the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020) — Contribuidor — 12 exemplares
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Nome legal
- Ramamonjisoa, Naivoharisoa Patrick
- Sexo
- male
- Nacionalidade
- Madagascar
- Local de nascimento
- Madagascar
Membros
Críticas
Listas
Madagascar (1)
Prémios
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Associated Authors
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 1
- Also by
- 1
- Membros
- 66
- Popularidade
- #259,059
- Avaliação
- 3.1
- Críticas
- 2
- ISBN
- 3
"Love is like rice, when you transplant it, it grows, but never in the same way. It retains a bittersweet memory of its first soils. Every time it’s uprooted it dies a little; every time it’s replanted, it loses a piece of its soil. But it also bears fruit"
Beyond the Rice Fields is the first book from Madagascar to be translated into English, although this is from French, not the native Malagasy, so I’m not sure why this took so long. The story is set in the village of Sahasoa and the City of Thousands (Antananarivo), in Madagascar, in the early to mid 19th century before French colonization, during the reign of Queen Ranavalona I (1828-1861). The Queen defended her empire against foreign influence and protected the traditional ways. She also persecuted those of the Malagasy that had converted to Christianity with widespread trials by poisoning, the “tangena ordeal,” in which the accused had to swallow three pieces of bird skin and the tangena poison, if they did not vomit up the three pieces or died, they were considered guilty. During her reign, due to the mass purges and killings, warfare and disease, the population of Madagascar was reduced from 5 million in 1833 to 2.5 million in 1839.
The story is about Tsito whose village is destroyed and becomes a slave to a zebu hunter Rama. Tsito falls in love with Fara, Rama’s only daughter, but she believes she is above him as he is a slave. The story takes us through tales of colonialism, the battles between Christianity and the old religion, witchcraft, drama and romance. My favourite character was Fara’s feisty grandmother Bebe.
Despite the interesting cultural and historical background, it was not an easy read. Much of the first two thirds of the book seem to drag along and lack direction. The last third became much more gripping and intense. 3 stars for me.… (mais)