The Silence of the Choir
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A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2024
FROM THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD-LONGLISTED AUTHOR OF THE MOST SECRET MEMORY OF MEN
A polyphonic tale of immigration and community by "the most promising Senegalese writer of his generation" (Le Monde) and winner of the 2021 Prix Goncourt
Seventy-two men arrive in the middle of the Sicilian countryside. They are "immigrants," "refugees" or "migrants." But in Altino, they're called the ragazzi, the "guys" that the Santa Marta Association have taken responsibility for. In this small Sicilian town, their arrival changes life for everybody.
While they wait to know their fate, the ragazzi encounter all kinds of people: a strange vicar who rewrites their pasts, a woman committed to ensuring them asylum, a man determined to fight against it, an older ragazzo who has become an interpreter, and a reclusive poet who no longer writes.
Each character in this moving and important saga is forced to reflect on what it means to encounter people they know nothing about. They watch as a situation unfolds over which they have little control or insight. A story told through a growing symphony of voices that ends only when one final voice brings silence to the choir.
About this Author
Mohamed Mbougar Sarrwas born in Dakar in 1990. He studied literature and philosophy at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. Brotherhood, his first novel (Europa, 2021), won the Grand Prix du Roman Métis, the Prix Ahmadou Kourouma, and the French Voices Grand Prize. In 2018, he became the youngest writer to have been awarded the World Literature Prize, for his second novel, Silence of the Choir . His third novel, The Most Secret Memory of Men (Other Press, 2023), won the 2021 Goncourt Prize and was longlisted for the 2023 National Book Award.
Alison Anderson's translations for Europa Editions include novels by Sélim Nassib, Amélie Nothomb, and Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt. She is the translator of The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.
Reviews
WINNER OF THE METIS NOVEL PRIZE FOR READERS OF THE CITY OF SAINT-DENIS 2018 WINNER OF THE SOLIDARITY PRIZE 2018
WINNER OF THE WORLD LITERATURE PRIZE 2018
WINNER OF THE LA PORTE DOREE LITERARY PRIZE 2018
A NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR'S CHOICE
Praise for The Silence of the Choir and Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
? "An insightful overview of Europe's modern refugee crisis... This is a timely work, profoundly relevant to our understanding of population shifts not only in Africa and Europe but around the globe. Dramatic, compelling writing on the dimensions of cultural disruption and the possibilities of reintegration."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Sarr moves adroitly between the viewpoints of a wide cast of characters--refugees, politicians, advocacy workers, xenophobic vigilantes, a priest, an eminent poet--while probing the complexities of Europe's debate over asylum."--The New Yorker
"Sarr uses a range of third-person perspectives that vary in scope and style. Alison Anderson's deft translation is all the more impressive for the ease with which she manages these shifts. Characters aren't revealed so much as they are refracted through different narrative lenses, allowing us to consider how a story's form, perhaps more than the story itself, can determine how we understand a person."--Dinaw Mengestu, The New York Times Book Review
"A raucously polyphonic novel."--Julian Lucas, The New Yorker
"Sarr shines at dissecting the contradictory forces that coexist in the refugee crisis, a situation mirrored throughout the world."--Booklist
"Sarr delivers a moving, dynamic story, shedding light on the joys and consequences of contemporary immigration."--BookPage
"Breathtaking."--Virginie Brinker, Hybrida
"[The Silence of the Choir] is bathed in an optimistic light--that of the solidarity that resurfaces in the hardest times."--Jeune Afrique
"The Silence of the Choir manages to negotiate immigration and its various complexities into one cohesive and emotionally ravaging tale . . . The Silence of the Choir is nothing short of masterful."--Under The Radar
"Captivating, precise, sensual prose. A book that will stir your emotions and make you think. A love letter to literature, this novel is already a classic and it will haunt you."--Leïla Slimani, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Nanny on The Most Secret Memory of Men
"More than an engrossing investigation into the mysterious author of a cursed book, Sarr's magnificent novel also offers a profound reflection on the resonance of literature in our lives."--David Diop, International Booker Prize-winning author of At Night All Blood Is Black, on The Most Secret Memory of Men
"The revelation of the literary year."--L'Express on The Most Secret Memory of Men
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