Customer Reviews

The Poor Man's Son (CARAF Books: Caribbean and African Literature translated from the French)

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I would give this book a 5 star rating if it weren't for the translation.

Translation usually do not give justice to the original book. It is simply impossible. I read the book in its published French version and I happen to be from the same area as Feraoun himslef, so I am very familiar with the things that Feraoun talks about. Feraoun is one of the best Algerian writers . In this book which is almost autobiographical Feraoun tells the story of a young boy struggling to finish his studies in colonized Algeria, where there was not much room for the "indigents" (the autochtonous people, ie, the natives). Feraoun is drawn by the French culture that he admires only to discover that France is a brutal nation that is killing his people. I thank the Mr Le Sueur for bringing us the full text (original), because the early publisher (Le Seuil, France) removed parts that dealt with the war between France and Algeria.