Book review: Black Moses, by Alain Mabanckou

There are very few novels indeed of which I might think “this should have been longer”, but this work by Man Booker International longlisted author and Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur, Alain Mabanckou, is one of them. Its individual excellences are undermined by its structural failings. Translated by Helen Stevenson, its French title was Petit Piment – “Little Pepper”. The English language title is taken from the first page, which in itself is about translating: our protagonist is given the name “Tokumisa Nzambe po Mose yamoyindo abotami ya Bakako”; meaning “Thanks be to God, the black Moses is born on the earth of our ancestors”. A priest, who attends the local orphanage and school, baptises him thus. Later in the book he will wonder if the priest ever gave anyone a longer and more prestigious name. By the end, he is almost anonymous.