Yamen Manaï

“Now they’re telling us how to talk and dress, but soon they’ll tell us how to think. What will be on the agenda for tomorrow?”

Yamen Manai is a Tunisian author who now lives in France. His book won the Prix Comar d'Or and Prix des cinq continents awards. This has now been translated into English. I read this book for my read around the world challenge. As part of this, I like to look up a few facts about the country I am reading about. Tunisia is a small country located at the northern tip of Africa along the Mediterranean sea border, facing the islands of both Sardinia and Sicily. The southern part of the country is desert, part of the Sahara. The Indigenous Berber (Amazigh) population was converted to Islam by Arab invaders in the 7th century. Tunisia became part of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century and then became a French colony in 1881, before gaining independence in 1956. The official language is now Arabic, with Islam being the predominant religion, and the population consisting of 67% Tunisian Arab, 26% Bedouin Arab and the Amazigh (Berber) making up 1.6% of the population. The Jasmine Revolution, which occurred in Tunisia in 2011, protested against corruption, poverty, and political repression, and forced President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to step down and flee to Saudi. Similar protests spread throughout North Africa and the Middle East and were known as the Arab Spring.

This book is a cleverly written allegory. The setting is not mentioned specifically but appears to be in Tunisia around 2011-2015, after the Arab Spring uprising. Sidi is tenderly devoted to keeping his hives of bees until one day they are destroyed by a mysterious invading group of giant hornets. Meanwhile his tiny rural village of Nawa has been similarly invaded by a band of crusading, campaigning religious fundamentalists, the Party of God, running for power in the next election. The writing is clever, gently cynical and wise. An interesting, worthwhile read.… (altro)

Set in a fictional North African country just after the Arab Spring, The Ardent Swarm follows small town hermetic beekeeper Sidi in his quest to save his "girls" after a violent attack on his beehives leaves one entire colony decimated.

Following both Sidi and his bees and the fate of the country as it moves into fundamentalism after "democratic" elections, the novel illustrates how chaos affects communities.

While the secondary storyline of the rise of the Party of God to power (through nefarious means) is interesting and frightening, the real heart and life of this story lies with Sidi and his journey to protect and save his precious children.

I learned more about bees than I ever thought I'd want to know and I found myself absolutely mesmerised by their machinations and the complexity of the workings in a hive. Sidi's love and care for them was poignant and his odyssey, which finds him moving far outside his comfort zone, kept me engrossed.

If you would have told me before I read this that I'd get teary eyed about a bunch of bees, I'd have laughed but I did and I admit it with no shame. The Ardent Swarm is a highly readable and beautiful little parable and I can happily recommend it.… (altro)