Cockroach by Rawi Hage
Submitted by mpaul on July 29, 2009 - 9:16pm
Huse of Anansi Press, 2008
To read this book, you have to let loose preconceived ideas about how a plot is presented, and give yourself up to go along for a mad and exhilarating literary ride. The book opens with the main character, an immigrant to Canada from a war-torn homeland, attempting to commit suicide by hanging himself from a tree in a park. From there, he is ordered to undergo therapy sessions, and so begins the reader's entry into a life lived on the edge, a place of immense poverty, immense insanity. Fantastic writing, poetic prose, demented in a rich and lovely way.
Read more about Cockroach at the Anansi website.