Afterlives

Afterlives, Abdulrazak Gurnah’s 10th novel, was published in 2022, a year after he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is also known for the critically acclaimed Paradise (1994). Afterlives is a work of historical fiction that tells the story of a disparate group of a half-dozen colonial-era Tanzanians living in the seacoast village of Tanga. Gurnah, himself Tanzanian, who fled Zanzibar when he was 18, returns to the common topics of his previous books in this novel: the oppression of occupied people, the futility and horror of war, and the unrequited yearning of the afflicted. Gurnah introduces a cast of characters, each of whom has survived trauma from which they rise to build new lives. Praised by numerous reviewers and critics, Afterlives was a bestseller in the United States.

This guide uses the 2022 Riverhead Books hardback copy.

Content Warning: In his description of the war, Gurnah alludes to atrocities and unprovoked violence committed by military groups throughout the narrative. There are also references to miscarriages and depictions of child abuse and sexual harassment.

Plot Summary

Khalifa is the son of an Indian businessman and an African woman.