A Better Life Imagined in his Eyes

The Belly of the Atlantic
Fatou Diome, trans. Lulu Norman and Ros Schwartz
Serpent's Tail
2006

the_belly_of_the_atlanticFatou Diome’s The Belly of the Atlantic is a passionate story about the dream of migration and its harsh reality.  Told from the point of view of Strasbourg resident Salie, the novel nonetheless focuses mostly on her brother Madické.  Madické lives on  the Senegalese island Niodior and dreams of being headhunted to join a big European soccer team.  This dream is shared by many of his friends, persisting despite the warnings of Salie and the teacher Ndétare that neither the road to nor the life in Europe is as good as they believe. Continue reading

Baby Mugging

MUGGING AS A SOCIAL PROBLEMmug

Pratt, Michael (Routledge, November 1980, ISBN 9780710005649)

While waiting in a queue last year, I saw a baby mug another baby for a foam football.

The mark clung to the football for comfort as it wandered around the floor. The mugger rushed up, pushed it over and scooped the football off the ground before running away in that wobbling stagger that looks like the baby has tumbled over with each step and just caught itself each time.

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