Afterlives
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Afterlives
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Narrated by:
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Damian Lynch
About this listen
Bloomsbury presents Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah, read by Damian Lynch.
BY THE WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE 2021
'One of Africa's greatest living writers' Giles Foden
'Exquisite' Telegraph
‘A remarkable novel, by a wondrous writer’ Philippe Sands
'To read Afterlives is to be returned to the joy of storytelling' Aminatta Forna
'Effortlessly compelling storytelling ... You forget that you are reading fiction, it feels so real' Leila Aboulela
Restless, ambitious Ilyas was stolen from his parents by the Schutzruppe askari, the German colonial troops; after years away, he returns to his village to find his parents gone, and his sister Afiya given away.
Hamza was not stolen, but was sold; he has come of age in the army, at the right hand of an officer whose control has ensured his protection but marked him for life. Hamza does not have words for how the war ended for him. Returning to the town of his childhood, all he wants is work, however humble, and security – and the beautiful Afiya.
The century is young. The Germans and the British and the French and the Belgians and whoever else have drawn their maps and signed their treaties and divided up Africa. As they seek complete dominion they are forced to extinguish revolt after revolt by the colonised. The conflict in Europe opens another arena in east Africa where a brutal war devastates the landscape.
As these interlinked friends and survivors come and go, live and work and fall in love, the shadow of a new war lengthens and darkens, ready to snatch them up and carry them away.
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What listeners say about Afterlives
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 22-12-22
A beautiful thread through wounded lives
Gurnah beautifully weaves the wounded lives of three generations together as they live and love through the pains of wars and colonialism. Their relationships both created and destroyed by the wars. As the title says this story is not about the great conflicts of the 20th century but rather about the lives after them. So rather than a bitter story on suffering the story is mostly a sweet one on family and friendship throughout it all
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 10-07-22
Great new learning and a great story
I learnt so much new about German colonial activities in East Africa. This was delivered by a captivating story about the lives of those living through those realities. The characters were well described and easy to identify with. I found myself really eager to discover what happened to Elyas. The descriptions of the towns, buildings, streets and food made the environment easy to visualise.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Andrew
- 09-12-21
Left me wanting more, literally
I enjoyed this book, I'm looking forward to coming back to it when the author writes the ending.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- S.K
- 17-01-23
Captivating story
Abdulrazak is a great story teller, and for someone who is passionate about world history, I enjoyed the background events occurring in this part of the world during the first half of the 20th century.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Leena Istanbuli
- 08-01-22
Interesting mix between reality and fiction
Couldn't stop listening to it. Well written and a really interesting story/stories. I wish it didn't finish so quickly
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 02-01-24
it added so much to my knowledge of a remote corner of colonial history.
Shocked and a bit incredulous to find the elder Elias embracing nazism. I thought the ending was a little weak but it did not detract from the overall strength of the narrative.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Miss M. Maheshwari
- 08-08-24
Left me wanting more
This is a fascinating tale set against the backdrop of the colonial ravaging of East African through the very intimate lens of a small group of individuals whose lives become entwined.
It is in the hauntings of the aftermath of war and changes in colonial administrations, that these lives are lived- the reality of everyday life that is never seen nor considered by European colonisers.
We’re introduced to Ilyas and his unexpected and seemingly misguided loyalty to the German occupiers of Tanzania, which leads him to be a ghostly absence for the remainder of the book as we follow the lives of his friend Khalifa, his sister Afiya, and Hamza.
My only criticism of the story is that the ending felt a little rushed and I would have loved to have had more of Ilyas’ namesake nephew’s story as we entered the final part of the story. There were parts of his narrative that I would have loved to know more about, and how the final revelations of the book reverberated in his life.
Narration was exquisite.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- EEL
- 06-11-21
Lynch a great reader of this book
The actor here, Damian Lynch, has performed Shakespeare in German in Germany, so is well able to handle the short passages of German that give an authentic flavour to the setting in German East Africa in the book. He is a perfect choice for the novel.
A great introduction to the work of the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- wormwood
- 01-01-23
Interesting subject, unremarkably told.
Gurnah described a moment and place in history i knew nothing about, which held my interest sufficiently to the end . But i found it tough- going. His style here is very matter- fact and rather pedestrian. This was not helped by the narrator who, though he did a reasonable job at giving voice to the characters, told the story in a repetitive, monotonous report- giving manner, which drained the drama from the narrative and failed to hold my attention for long. I am not inclined to read any other books by this author.
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