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At Night All Blood Is Black: A Novel Hardcover – November 10, 2020
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*WINNER OF THE 2021 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE*
*ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2021*
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for fiction
Shortlisted for the 2022 DUBLIN Literary Award
"Astonishingly good." ―Lily Meyer, NPR
"So incantatory and visceral I don’t think I’ll ever forget it." ―Ali Smith, The Guardian | Best Books of 2020
One of TheWall Street Journal's 11 best books of the fall | One of The A.V. Club's fifteen best books of 2020 |A Sunday Times best book of the year
Selected by students across France to win the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, David Diop’s English-language, historical fiction debut At Night All Blood is Black is a “powerful, hypnotic, and dark novel” (Livres Hebdo) of terror and transformation in the trenches of the First World War.
Alfa Ndiaye is a Senegalese man who, never before having left his village, finds himself fighting as a so-called “Chocolat” soldier with the French army during World War I. When his friend Mademba Diop, in the same regiment, is seriously injured in battle, Diop begs Alfa to kill him and spare him the pain of a long and agonizing death in No Man’s Land.
Unable to commit this mercy killing, madness creeps into Alfa’s mind as he comes to see this refusal as a cruel moment of cowardice. Anxious to avenge the death of his friend and find forgiveness for himself, he begins a macabre ritual: every night he sneaks across enemy lines to find and murder a blue-eyed German soldier, and every night he returns to base, unharmed, with the German’s severed hand. At first his comrades look at Alfa’s deeds with admiration, but soon rumors begin to circulate that this super soldier isn’t a hero, but a sorcerer, a soul-eater. Plans are hatched to get Alfa away from the front, and to separate him from his growing collection of hands, but how does one reason with a demon, and how far will Alfa go to make amends to his dead friend?
Peppered with bullets and black magic, this remarkable novel fills in a forgotten chapter in the history of World War I. Blending oral storytelling traditions with the gritty, day-to-day, journalistic horror of life in the trenches, David Diop's At Night All Blood is Black is a dazzling tale of a man’s descent into madness.
- Print length160 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherFarrar, Straus and Giroux
- Publication dateNovember 10, 2020
- Dimensions5.25 x 0.75 x 7.75 inches
- ISBN-100374266972
- ISBN-13978-0374266974
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Beguiling . . . Diop realizes the full nature of war―that theater of macabre and violent drama―on the page. He takes his character into the depths of hell and lets him thrive there . . . As violent and disturbing as these encounters are, they are rendered with such artistic grace that one derives a strange pleasure in reading about even the bloodiest of nights." ―Chigozie Obioma, The New York Times Book Review
"Astonishingly good." ―Lily Meyer, NPR
"Harrowing . . . [At Night All Blood Is Black] confronts the historical image of Black soldiers by stretching barbarism to its ironic limits . . . What seems most pointed in Diop’s novel is its exploration of what it meant for West African men to fight side by side, and to grieve one another." ―Emmanuel Iduma, The New York Review of Books
"Powerfully original . . . Unflinching in its exploration of the madness war can induce, Diop’s novella is a remarkable piece of writing." ―Nick Rennison, The Times (London)
"The International Booker prize winner is a brilliant, shifting tale . . . [At Night All Blood Is Black] rewards rereading, which recasts the violent opening chapters in a new, even darker light . . . Quite unlike anything else." ―John Self, The Observer
"As in many of the best novels of active combat . . . Diop accentuates tragedy with bitter irony . . . There is great beauty here. Diop’s sentences have a tidal quality, carrying in phrases worn smooth with repetition." ―Jessi Jezewska Stevens, Foreign Policy
"[David Diop] conveys the overwhelming impact of wartime trauma on a bewildered young man in lyrical language, translated by [Anna] Moschovakis into rhythmic and dynamic English prose." ―The Economist
"A stunning new novel about the plight of two Senegalese soldiers in the Great War offers a fresh perspective. It also introduces a singular talent . . . An immersive, propulsive read, one that searingly evokes the terrors of trench warfare, the relentless loss of life, and the irreparable damage inflicted on the human soul . . . Employing language that is, by turn, visceral and lyrical, Diop tells a devastating story of loss and inhumanity while enlarging our understanding of the war to end all wars." ―Malcolm Forbes, Star Tribune
"Heartbreaking and poetic . . . [At Night All Blood Is Black] addresses a story woefully absent from French history books – the inner life of African troops who fought in the French trenches in the first world war." ―Angelique Chrisafis, The Guardian
“Spare and devastating, At Night All Blood Is Black by French Senegalese author David Diop is a bone-chilling anti-war treatise . . . Resonates far beyond the geographic, political, racial and historical details . . . Diop has an ideal translator in Anna Moschovakis, who renders his prose into a gorgeously disturbing devolution of humanity. Overlapping bildungsroman, fever dream, morality tale and historical record, Diop creates an outstandingly affecting, genre-defying nightmare.” ―Shelf Awareness (starred review)
"One could recommend this novella by its name alone. Fortunately, what its evocative and ominous title hints at―a dark story told in lyrical prose―is more than delivered on in David Diop’s rhythmic, enchanting fiction (expertly translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis) . . . More than anything [Diop] shows just how slippery the self can be when individuals are placed within extraordinary, violent circumstances." ―The A.V. Club
"With elegant brevity, Diop presents a world with no firm dividing line between courage and madness, murder and warfare; the most dedicated killers are awarded the Croix de Guerre. Alfa’s final transformation, as he attempts to atone for his guilt over the death of his friend, is unexpected, poetic ― and chilling." ―Suzi Feay, The Spectator
"Diop’s short but emotionally packed second novel illuminates an underreported chapter in French and Senegalese history. Part folklore, part existential howl, and part prose poem, it is a heartbreaking account of pointless suffering . . . A searing, eye-opening tale of innocence destroyed.” ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Musical . . . Harrowing . . . The novel veers toward a transcendent ending . . . Diop’s second novel is scalding, mesmerizing, and troubling in the best way. Highly recommended." ―Library Journal (starred review)
"[A] harrowing, nimbly translated English-language debut . . . Diop is sure to earn readers with this feverish exercise in psychological horror.” ―Publishers Weekly
"An extraordinary novel, full of sadness, rage and beauty." ―Sarah Waters, author of The Little Stranger
"David Diop’s All Blood is Black at Night is an unrelenting take on war, race, masculinity, and colonialism. Most of all, Diop’s short, sharp, and serrated novel is a visceral dramatization of how our humanity and inhumanity are forever intertwined." ―Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of The Sympathizer
"David Diop's At Night All Blood Is Black is a particularly pertinent reflection on the evils of war, as well as a profound exploration of the human soul." ―J.M.G. Le Clézio, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
"This novel is a wonder. Written in a simple, almost naive, yet astonishing style, it speaks of the tragedy of the trenches with a moving delicacy. This is no war novel, but a book on what Montaigne called 'the solder of brotherhood.'" ―Tahar Ben Jelloun, Le Point
"David Diop here erects a beautiful monument to the Senegalese riflemen, and seeks to restore their African dimension; to listen to them, to understand them." ―Mathias Énard, Le Monde
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First Edition (November 10, 2020)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 160 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0374266972
- ISBN-13 : 978-0374266974
- Item Weight : 8 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.25 x 0.75 x 7.75 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #472,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,170 in War Fiction (Books)
- #7,605 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
- #24,054 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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About the authors
Anna Moschovakis is the author most recently of the novel Eleanor, or, The Rejection of the Progress of Love (Coffee House Press, 2018). Her books of poetry include the James Laughlin award-winning You and Three Others Are Approaching a Lake and They and We Will Get Into Trouble for This, a "best of 2016" pick at BOMB, Entropy, and The New Yorker. Her translations from French include David Diop's At Night All Blood Is Black, Albert Cossery's The Jokers, Annie Ernaux's The Possession, and Bresson on Bresson, and experimental translations of and with the Algerian poet Samira Negrouche. A recipient of grants and fellowships from New York Foundation for the Arts, The Poetry Fund, the Howard Foundation, and apexart, she has taught in the graduate writing programs at Bard, Pratt, and Columbia. She is a longtime member of the publishing collective Ugly Duckling Presse and a co-founder of Bushel, an art and community space in Delhi, NY.
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Losing his more than best friend right in front of him on the battlefield pushed him completely out of the realm of physical war. Hell bent into raw emotional , psychological and spiritual combat with the enemy, he avenged his more than best friend's death, with episodes of hearing voices, out of body experiences, hallucinations, that were clearer signs of his deteriorating mental state. I wasn't surprised but had to reread chapters 21 to 24 because Alfa's double mindedness then, suicide(ation)almost didn't seem accomplished in the end. This reader understands, Alfa"reasoned" his life is in his own hands to appease himself. He probably says/thinks who should he have to beg? Very Well Written! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾🤗❤
It was a hypermasculine (the best word I can use to describe how the women in the story were often reduced to plot devices, and how many of the metaphors were women-centric, not in the greatest way) ride into the repetitive ramblings of a man changed by not only war but his friend’s slow, painful death.
I’m curious to read David Diop’s other novel, and hope I enjoy it more than AT NIGHT ALL BLOOD IS BLACK.
The background story of the protagonist is rich and affecting. It's a visceral experience to be put into the shoes of this protagonist - Never before have I appreciated first person narrative quite so much! The writing has its mesmerizing rhythm, marked by recurring phrases.
In a nutshell, I appreciate it most for its very effective use of first person narrative, strong (and again, effective) theme of duality / the double and a mesmerizing quality of writing featuring phrases recurring like in a religious litany.
It's a book to experience.
Top reviews from other countries
Wonderful written, I loved the imagery, the disconnect from his world and the changes that happen because of the war. Mostly l really enjoyed the repetition of words that act almost like the chorus of a Greek tragedy that highlight the repetitiveness of war, reinforce images and help desensitise the reader from the barbarity of war.
The book was also perfectly balanced in that the story feels truly complete and the reader truly satisfied.
I highly recommend and I will look out for more Diop.