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9780375718892: The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi (Vintage International)
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"The first ten years of my life I was not black." Thus begins this startlingly eloquent and beautiful tale based on the true story of Kwasi Boachi, a 19th- century African prince who was sent with his cousin, Kwame, to be raised in Holland as a guest of the royal family. Narrated by Kwasi himself, the story movingly portrays the perplexing dichotomy of the cousins' situation: black men of royal ancestry, they are subject to insidious bigotry even as they enjoy status among Europe's highest echelons. As their lives wind down different paths-Kwame back to Africa where he enlists in the Dutch army, Kwasi to an Indonesian coffee plantation where success remains mysteriously elusive-they become aware of a terrible truth that lies at the heart of their experiences. Vivid, subtle, poignant and profound, The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi is an exquisite masterpiece of story and craft, a heartrending work that places Arthur Japin on a shelf that includes Joseph Conrad, J.M. Coetzee, Kazuo Ishiguro and Nadine Gordimer.

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Arthur Japin's first novel The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi, ably translated by Ina Rilke, is based on the experiences of two Ashanti princes taken to Holland for their education in matters European in 1837. It is written in the first person by one of them--the eponymous Kwasi Boachi--who is the son of the king of the Ashanti, but not the heir to the throne because succession is matrilineal.

The novel provides a fascinating account of many developments in 19th-century European and colonial history from Kwasi's singular vantage point. Revered by the royalty in Holland because he too is royal, despised and feared by most of his schoolmates because he is black and exotic, unable to return home because he is now more Dutch than Ashanti, unable fully to become Dutch, Kwasi is perpetually out of place. This gives him fresh insight into many of the developments we associate with the 19th century--the invention of the photograph, ethnographic freak shows, phrenology, to name a few.

Kwasi's attempts to integrate are contrasted with those of his cousin, Kwame, who eschews things western and longs for home. Their diverging aspirations and destinies poignantly counterpoint each other. Japin has written a superb and sophisticated novel, refusing all the easy dichotomies--black/white, self/other, civilised/primitive--that structure so many imaginings of the colonial world. The novel carries its immense learning with remarkable lightness, never allowing its asides on Ashanti customs, colonial intrigue or Dutch dynastic squabbles to distract from a gripping and moving story.--Neville Hoad

Review:
"[F]ascinatingly ambitious . . . . [A] haunting and highly unusual historical novel." --The New York Times

"A classic tragedy . . . . This is a true story, fully and humanly imagined, and that is the measure of Japin's accomplishment." --San Francisco Chronicle

"A virtuoso recreation of an extraordinary life." --London Daily Telegraph

"A mesmerizing tale." --Time Out New York

"Deeply thought and intricately worked . . . . The whole is as seamless in its artistry as it is moving in its emotional investigations." --Times Literary Supplement

"[A] powerful story . . . . a fascinating study of how people deal with difference" --Financial Times

"[A] tour de force . . . be prepared for surprises on every page." --The Dallas Morning News

"[R]ich and risky . . . . A deeply humane book, a spectacularly exotic subject." --New York Times Book Review

"[Q]uietly devastating . . . . [T]akes a subject that by now may look stale . . . and gives it back its rich and tragic color." --New York Magazine

"Gorgeous . . . . [A] work that affirms the human heart's resilience even as it reveals its darkest prejudice." --Newsday

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