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Concrete Flowers

Wilfried N’Sondé author Karen Lindo translator

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Indiana University Press

Published:1st Aug '18

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Concrete Flowers cover

Behind the bars on her window, Rosa Maria dreams of sunshine, love, calm, and leaving the city where she lives with her family. She suffers her father's beatings, hides her femininity behind shapeless clothing, and pines for the beautiful Jason as she awaits her opportunity to flee. Meanwhile, her older brother is found dead in a nearby parking lot, and the neighborhood explodes in a riot against the police. Rosa Maria resolves to act before she is devoured by family intrigues and despair. Wilfried N'Sondé's powerful voice creates a palpable sense of the absence of hope and the social and racial isolation that pervade the Paris projects, even as he never abandons the expansive capacity of individuals to dream of better lives beyond a seemingly hopeless reality.

Wilfried N'Sondé is a musician. One can hear this. His writing captures the rhythm of a brutal reality of a society on the brink of collective disintegration while simultaneously providing a space for daydreaming.

* L'Humanité *

Wilfried N'Sondé wields a precise and poetic pen.

* Radio France Internationa

ISBN: 9780253035592

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

148 pages