The Beggars' Pursuit [Kindle Edition]

Christian Filostrat (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

The novel aptly captures the essence of the 'tugs and pulls' that characterized the patron-client relationship between the United States and the Mobutu autocracy in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Interestingly, the insights provided by Filostrat from the Zairean case (Congolese) have utility for an understanding of ... neo-colonial relationships between the United States and various regimes across the African continent. -- George Klay Kieh, Jr., Professor of Political Science and African and African-American Studies, Grand Valley State University, Michigan --Visions of Black Life Volume 3 (November 2007)

Product Description

Handsome, naive, and loyal, Ambassador Molu Sakeseba blames himself for the recent trouble, although he fiercely protected his country's interests. But Washington is angry with Dictator Motutu for his role in the Tutsi genocide, and the State Department's next ambassador to Democratic Republic of the Congo is proof. When Motutu summons Sakeseba home to replace the ailing foreign minister, he ignores warnings from America's diplomatic corps and Fatou-Anne Cerusu, the wise Senegalese foreign minister. He kisses his wife and daughters good-bye and flies to Abu Dhabi, his first stop to intrigue, danger, and romance, before heading home to Africa. In Kinshasa security chief Maka Mgonu and the Dictator's trap await his arrival. With the negritude proponents’ activities in Paris, circa 1936, and the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda woven into the story, this is a roman à clef novel.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 563 KB
• Print Length: 340 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0977090450
• Publisher: Africana Homestead Legacy Publishers (November 23, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B002YK451Y
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #578,272 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A STAND ALONE EXOTIC CHOICE, November 12, 2007

By 

Debra Stephens "exotic literature enthusiast" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beggars' Pursuit (Hardcover)

At the recent Calaloo conference at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, there was much buzz about this book. I heard that the author was an old Africa hand with a political background. I was intrigued; and when I finally got a copy, I was enthralled. The immediacy of the conspiracy and the complicated manner the dictator schemes against his envoy to his intended doom had me turn the pages to the redemptive end. It's well imagined (maybe it's not imagined; it unfolds like a newsreel) and well written. The myriad of colorful characters lead to twists and turns from Washington, DC to Abu Dhabi. Some of the scenes like the one in front of Paris's Notre Dame are priceless. (I have stood in front of Notre Dame a few times but never paid attention to the statues framing the cathedral's entrance.) The scene where the hero/villain head of security gets his comeuppance is gruesome yet fraught with tenderness and is thought provoking. With such a vivid scene, you are a fly on the wall. The husband catching his wife with her driver, shouting during her wild ride is another scene that had me riveted to the page. This is an unusual book, fast-paced yet literary. But I also have a couple of discordant notes: I would have preferred the Latin and Lingala phrases more amply translated or better still footnoted. And I am not sure priests even in the African colonial context were as vile as pictured here. Yet I applauded when they got what was coming to them. If you like exotic travel and can't afford a ticket, this is the book to read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A look at race inside of the State Department, February 8, 2009

By 

Nathan Prim - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Beggars' Pursuit (Hardcover)

After reading Filostrat's recent Négritude Agonistes, I looked for other things he might have written and found the Beggars's Pursuit. I wasn't disappointed. One of the chapters in this work includes the négritude proponents navigating Paris circa 1936. (see my review of Négritude Agonistes) If the State Department is still the way depicted in the Beggars's Pursuit, Hilary Clinton has her work cut out for her. Can the State Department continue to make Africa the assignment of choice for African Americans now that one is president of the United States? I wondered. But if they could do it under Colin Powell - which is when this story takes place - why not? The way one of the most venal dictators in Africa responds to getting an African-American ambassador is about as thought provoking as any account I have read in a long time. Multi-dimensional characters struggling to survive crumbling worlds give this work great velocity. I was particularly intrigued by the poetry-reading dictator's chief of security. A man who would frighten the devil himself. And the interrupted ritualistic scene of his castration is filled with details that put the reader among his executioners. It is a well written and multi-faceted book. And the much needed perspective on the State Department is refreshing and welcomed.