"Frère d'âme" David Diop

DAVID DIOP, "FRERE D'AME"
Frère d'âme is a war-themed novel. You can also find psychological elements in it, thanks to which the story seems more complete, the hero's attitude easier to understand, and thus the whole is interesting.
The book tells the story of a young Senegalese - Alfie Ndiaye. The man fought on the French side during the First World War, which he did not want to go. He enlisted for a friend who after the war wanted to be someone big and important. Fate, however, wanted differently and already in the first chapter we see that Mademba dies in agony and, although he asks Alfa for relief in suffering, he can not get to kill a friend, what he utters himself to the end of the book. The Senegalese is initially considered a hero, a brave soldier, but he himself can not forgive himself for failing to do his "plus que frère" at such a moment. With time, he becomes brutal, and people start looking at him like a madman. Quite a large role is played by seven severed hands of killed enemies, which Alpha carries with him. When, after the war, he goes to Dr. François, in the form of pictures, because he does not speak French, he tells his story. From now on, we discover the life of an Alpha from before the war. We see him leave his mother, who went to look for her family, how he was adopted by the Mademba family, and his father regretted it. Together with the protagonist, we experience the first love elation.
The past of the man and the post-war period are intertwined, but they still form a coherent whole.
One by one, we get to know different faces of the Alpha. A desperate friend who can not alleviate the suffering of Madembie, a brave, though brutal soldier of the French army, an abandoned child who wants to find a mother, a faithful friend and a tender lover.
The first-person narrative allows you to better understand the history and to understand the feelings that torment the Alpha, as well as its behavior. The language of the novel is simple, just like the hero who is not educated. Form reminiscent of the main character's confession, as if the man wanted to absolve himself from his deeds.
I think that 'Frère d'âme' is a novel worth reading. It touches topics that we do not think about everyday. Moral problems faced by a soldier, his perception of the world, as well as the influence of the past on the present. All this can be found in this novel.