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Raucous story of a rogue mining town

Friday December 09 2016
tram

Human greed, sleaze and exploitive relationships come to life in Fiston Mwanta Mujila’s novel, Tram 83.

Human greed, sleaze and exploitive relationships come to life in Fiston Mwanta Mujila’s novel, Tram 83.

The story revolves around two characters who are reunited after a decade apart. Requiem, aka the Negus, is a former soldier who now lives by thievery and conmanship.

His university friend, Lucien, is an honest but struggling writer, who recently arrived after escaping censorship in the “Backcountry.” They make an unlikely pair, not least because they were both in a relationship with the same woman.

In this depraved, corrupt community where dog meat is regularly consumed, Requiem chases the next dirty deal and enjoys the female offerings at Tram 83. Lucien attempts to revive his theatre script for a Swiss publisher called Malingeau who has just come into town. Not one to miss an opportunity, Requiem tries exhorting money from Malingeau, an old adversary, for the rights to stage the play.

The idealistic Lucien manages to stay above the attractions in the bar but somehow gets entangled in Requiem’s plot to make a raid on Hope Mine. Into the mix comes the Railroad Diva, a fair complexioned cabaret singer whom every man lusts after, however she only has eyes for the indifferent Lucien.

This is a fresh portrayal of the old genre of unachieved post-Independence dreams and African development gone awry. Chugging along at a brusque speed, Tram 83, which is translated from French, also reveals the inner life of many African cities.

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However, the plot is puzzling and it was confusing trying to understand who the first-person narrator is. After a while the lengthy lists and repeated phrases became wearisome, and the end was an anti-climax. It is a male-oriented book with lascivious scenes, crude talk and plenty of references to massive breasts and women’s buttocks.

But nevertheless, the way in which Mujila paints this chaotic state, its colourful inhabitants and the heady drama in Tram 83 is remarkable. The language is emotionally intense at times, with excerpts of poetry and a musical style that reflects Mujila’s love of jazz.

This is the first novel of Mujila, 35, a renowned playwright and poet who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and now resides in Austria. Tram 83 won the Etisalat Prize for Debut African Fiction in 2015, the Grand Prix SGDL for a debut novel in 2014 and was longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize.

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