He punctures the skin on his arm with each new important and personal death, raising bumps that Abani’s work is so shot through with pain that the blessing, when it comes, also sears us. That was stolen from me and I will never be a man-not this way.” Separated from his platoon, he wanders, searching for them while avoiding enemies. This novella, published in 2007, tells the story of a boy soldier called My Luck. He lives and teaches in California.Ībani’s work is so shot through with pain that the blessing, when it comes, also sears us. His other prizes include a PEN Freedom to Write Award, a Prince Claus Award, and a Lannan Literary Fellowship. This book is unlike anything else ever written about an African war.Ĭhris 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).
The book is written in a ghostly voice, with each chapter headed by a line of the unique sign language these children invented. 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. 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. Abani casts his spell so completely-so devastatingly-you emerge cleansed, redeemed, and utterly haunted."-Brad Kessler, author of Birds in Fall You are in the hands of a master, a literary shaman. "The moment you enter these pages, you step into a beautiful and terrifying dream. 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 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, "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. "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.
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