Kid Moses
A Novel
Mark R. Thornton
- 176 Pages
- November 14, 2017
- ISBN: 9781628728279
- Trim Size: 5.5in x 8.25in x 0in
Description
This lean, raw, and surprising debut is a deeply moving and powerful story of Moses, a nine-year-old survivor of the harsh streets of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Moses longs for something outside the grim existence he has known. He and his friend Kioso hitch a ride out of the city on the back of a truck only to find themselves in the wilderness, where their street wisdom no longer helps them as they encounter poisonous snakes, cruel jungle travelers, and a brutal shoot-out with elephant poachers. Separated from Kioso and on the verge of starvation, Moses is saved and sheltered by an unlikely cast of characters, including a prostitute, a crippled fruit vendor, and a hunter-gatherer.Unsentimental, honest, brutal, and lyrical, this hypnotically written book provides insight into the issues that affect modern Africa: the relationship between human beings and the wilderness, the needs of the displaced and the dispossessed, and the ties that bind us together. Mark Thornton uses the experiences of one unfortunate but resourceful child to juxtapose urban homelessness with societies found in the wild, showing that even in places of violence and indifference, human compassion can be found.
Authors
Reviews
"I like Kid Moses very much! The prose is wonderfully quiet and controlled . . . very good writing indeed." —Peter Matthiessen
“Thornton keeps an even tone with the kind of spare, austere language that reflects Moses’s stoic attitude and prevents the book from turning maudlin or crusading. . . . [Kid Moses] is a little boy with big contradictions, well worth following on his safari.” —The New York Times Book Review
"With the excitement of the archetypal perilous adventure, Thornton's stark, beautiful prose will hold readers in this story of a young boy's struggle to survive in Tanzania today. . . . It's the crisply evoked small moments in this tale of a homeless kid on the run that give the novel its remarkable power." —Booklist, starred review
"[Moses's] is a rough, tough life forthrightly told. . . . Highly recommended for all fiction readers." —Library Journal, starred review
“Thornton excels in showing a harrowing adult world through the eyes of a child who has been forced to grow up early. In the end, this is the rare work of fiction about childhood that refuses to admit any sentimentality into the narrative.” —Publishers Weekly
"Kid Moses is a lyrical, touching and profound book." —The Witness, Durban, South Africa
"An open-ended odyssey, as restless and contemplative as a traveler in the trackless veld. . . . This is a wonderfully honest, unsentimental and brutal look at issues that are affecting Africa today." —Cape Times, South Africa
"An exquisite narrative, harrowing, yet poignant." —Bookslive
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