 | |
| Author | Aminatta Forna |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Memoir, Sierra Leone history |
| Published | 2002 (HarperCollins) |
| Publication place | Scotland |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 223 |
| ISBN | 9780802140487 |
| OCLC | 829656576 |
The Devil That Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Quest is a 2002 book by Aminatta Forna about her childhood and an investigation into the execution of her father, Mohamed Forna. It was serialised as a Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 and was runner-up for the 2003 Samuel Johnson Prize.
Reviewing The Devil That Danced on the Water for The Guardian , Victoria Brittain wrote: "Aminatta Forna's story of her father's execution on trumped-up treason charges, 25 years before anyone had heard of the Revolutionary United Front, gives a more personal framework for understanding the horror of the 1990s in the linked wars of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea." [1]
Booklist called it "stunning" and "an important look at the sad state of politics in Sierra Leone", [2] and the Library Journal saw it as "More than a tale of vindication, this book is filled with powerful descriptions and moving details and if overly long is nevertheless an important work." [2]
Christopher Hope, writing in The Independent , stated: "Forna has written a book that is impossible to forget, or to confuse with any other memoir of tyrannical times." and found it "an obsessive, driven, refreshing book about Africa, despotism and exile." [3]
The Devil That Danced on the Water has also been reviewed by Publishers Weekly , [4] Kirkus Reviews , [5] People , [6] Metro , [7] The New Yorker , [8] Confrontation, [9] and Entertainment Weekly . [10]
The Devil That Danced on the Water was on the shortlist for the 2003 Samuel Johnson Prize. [11] It was also Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 and was serialised in the Sunday Times . [12] [13]
Comparisons have been drawn between this work and Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria (2012) by Noo-Saro-Wiwa. [14]
Reminiscent of Isabelle Allende's House of the Spirits, Forna's work is a powerfully and elegantly written mix of complex history, riveting memoir and damning exposé.
A searing indictment of African tyranny mingled with bittersweet childhood memories.