The Silence of the Choir

March 25, 2024
This uneven novel­—originally published in 2017—from Senegalese author Sarr, who later won the Prix Goncourt for The Most Secret Memory of Men, follows a group of 27 Libyan refugees who are waiting anxiously in the small Sicilian town of Altino for their asylum hearings and the locals who keep tabs on them. Among the Sicilians engaging with the ragazzi (the guys, as they call the refugees) are Sandro Calvino, a reactionary nationalist and cryptoracist running for president of the immigration commission, and Maurizio Mangialepre, the town mayor, whose shifting political allegiances may leave the ragazzi vulnerable. Bearing witness at the center of the narrative is Jogoy, a former refugee who now lives in Sicily securely, and who has the unenviable position of cultural mediator between the residents and the Libyans. Tensions build when nationalists in Altino move to force the ragazzi out, blaming them for a burst septic tank and the rape and murders of three local women. A climax involving a statue that comes to life and a volcanic eruption evoke the magical realism and natural disasters found in the works of Gabriel García Márquez and William Faulkner, although it ends without resolving the difficult questions posed by the story. Sarr’s admirers will be pleased, but his debut, Brotherhood, remains a better starting point for readers new to his work.

May 15, 2024
Sarr's (The Most Secret Memory of Men, 2023) blistering tale, brilliantly translated by Anderson, is set in Altino, a small Sicilian village at the foot of Mount Etna, which for several years has welcomed groups of migrants awaiting regularization. As the novel begins, 72 ""ragazzi"" have found refuge with the Santa Marta Association. Each of these men carries within him the wounds of exile, the horror of crossing the Mediterranean, the incalculable loss of what they've left behind, and the anxiety of what lies ahead. Villagers also struggle with their own miseries. Utilizing a variety of forms--drama, newspaper articles, and the reiterative use of the story-within-the-story--Sarr's narrative style is somewhat disjointed, yet it remains captivating. Unlike in Greek tragedies, the multitudinous characters comprising the chorus in this novel are either physically or emotionally unable to verbalize their internal torment and are collectively silent--to the detriment of the refugees and the entire village. Sarr shines at dissecting the contradictory forces that coexist in the refugee crisis, a situation mirrored throughout the world.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.