Customer Reviews

Cannibal

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Terese Svoboda's Cannibal can best be described as haunting.Its terse prose is well written. Cannibal tells the story of awoman's trek through Africa; following the man she loves. As their journey unravels she begins to suspect that he is not what he appears to be, and in fact he may be starving her. The story is told from inside the woman's head. It is all reflective dialogue; in this case it works, and keeps the reader's attention. If you are interested in Africa, and like dark psychological discourse in literature; then this book is for you.

As a reader who tries to find merit in every book I trouble myself to read, I believe my efforts were wasted with Cannibal. I spent more time on it than I probably should have, because the book was the winner of the Elmer Holmes Bobst Award for Emerging Writers (whatever that is). In the end, I was forced to conclude that the New York University Press published the work because it hints at feminism, has almost no plot, hints at sympathy for oppressed peoples, describes HIV in some parts of Africa and has many other traits post-Modern English departments of higher education insist have value for budding English scholars. As a reader with a degree in English Literature from a public New York University, I tip my hat to the sentiments. As a reader who prefers books with plot, characterization, some form of interest beyond the inane observations of the author and barely hidden shouts of `I have experience and saw stuff like this', I repudiate it.

On the other hand, I suspect feminists and the minions of social justice might love it. I recommend it without reservation for those.