Interested in joining? The Book Club meets the second Thursday of each month from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm, meeting room 2. We’ll talk over the book “Paradise” by Abdulrazak Gurnah.

The book chosen for this month’s discussion is “Paradise” by Zanzibar-born British writer, winner of the Nobel prize in literature 2021, Abdulrazak Gurnah. A coming-of-age historical fiction novel that illuminates the harshness and beauty of an Africa on the brink of colonization. Sold by his father in repayment of a debt, twelve-year-old Yusuf is thrown from his simple rural life into complexities of pre-colonial urban East Africa, a fascinating world in which Muslim black Africans, Christian missionaries, and Indians from the subcontinent coexist in a fragile, subtle social hierarchy. Then, just as Yusuf begins to comprehend the choices required of him, he and everyone around him must adjust to the new reality of European colonialism. Through Yusuf’s eyes, Gurnah depicts communities at war, trading safaris gone awry, and the universal trials of adolescence.

Copies of this book are available at the check out desk, while supplies last.