2019 Folio Award: "Tropique de la violence" for the win!!!

Natacha Appanah wins the Folio Award 2019 with her incredible novel Tropique de la violence!

YES! This is well-deserved, even though it wasn't the only heavyweight on this year's shortlist.

I am in no way surprised by this result: it won the popular vote at most schools (including mine, and by far!).

This year's shortlist: I also highly recommend Vincent qu'on assassine about what really happened to Vincent Van Gogh (heartbreaking!) and Mémoire de fille by my girl Annie Ernaux (uncomfortable, heartbreaking and profound, in pure Ernaux fashion).

Here are two of the campaign posters that my brilliant Juniors made as visuals for their impassioned speeches.

Tropique Affiche2

Tropique Affiche

- - - WARNING - - -

This novel contains a rape scene that is extremely violent and graphic. Definitely not to be put in the hands of younger readers. This is definitely 16+.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now, what is this book about?

This book tells the tragic story of two poor orphans in Mayotte, a French département d’Outremer. Their lives are seen through the eyes of various characters: a “métro” nurse (= from "mainland" France), a humanitarian, a local cop, and the two orphans who become mortal enemies.

Hum, hum, but where is Mayotte? (Map by TUBS)

Why I love this novel:

• SHIFTS IN FOCALIZATION.

• A teenager’s quest to find his identity in two different cultures

Need I say more?

OK, here’s more:

• It is a topic that is rarely talked about, and this book is well-researched (the author lived there for several years and interviewed children from the “Gaza” slum). The portrayal of said-“Gaza”-slum is raw without being voyeuristic.

My students repeatedly praised the “tell-it-like-it-is”, “no-sugarcoating-no-nonsense” approach of this novel.

• This reads like a modern tragedy, as we witness the downfall of the protagonist whose hubris is to believe that he will be accepted by his peers and feel at home in “Gaza”, when they always see him as an outsider to be taken advantage of.

• It is a chilling rendition of the dark side of Humanitarianism and “voluntourism”. Here, the author questions the efficiency of unskilled and culturally-obstuse volunteers who might mean well but end up doing more harm than good, and she tackles this topic very intelligently.

Still need convincing? Here’s what one of my students had to say about it:

« Grâce au projet littéraire, j’ai lu des romans que je n’aurais pas lus de mon plein gré, et je suis contente de l’avoir fait : les histoires étaient très fortes, avec des sujets au cœur de l’adolescence. Ca m’a plu. »

I promise you won't regret reading this!

PS: Tropique de la violence is now available as a graphic novel!

#Mayotte #Tragedy #Humanitarianim #Orphan #Poverty