Kouroussa

Kouroussa is a town that is next to east central Guinea, it is placed somewhere next to the Niger River.

The population of Guinea is around 150, 000 people and the main language in this culture is french. Guinea is a place where they trade agricultural items such as; onions, rice, peanuts and cotton.

The religions that are practiced in the town and Islam and Mohammedans.

Guinea were also good at construction of many things back in the day and on going today to, many of the things that were being produced were used as decoration and were placed to make the community a more aesthetic place.

In Guinea their many different cultures, tribe and traditions.

Another important part of the culture was music and the beauty of drums and other instruments, in Guinea they love to celebrate and whenever there was a celebration, their had to be music. Many festivals and such took place in Guinea which included dancing, singing and enjoying throughout the events.

Book Review

I would give this book 4/5

It's a beautiful portrait of words about his life and growing up and learning.

Laye captures the wonderful things of his life, he shows a depth of the community, traditions, cultures and society.

Each chapter was a chapter where you learned something new about him, and with each chapter you felt as if you, yourself had watch him grow into a man.

Laye highlights his transitions from being a boy into being an adult and shows you all the things that happened in between.

I enjoyed the book because I know that someday I would be able to relate, because we all grow up and we have to let go at some point and its hard, but we still go through with it and accept new challenges that come our way and with every experience comes a lesson from it.

Chapter 12 - France

The end of the book

yes the book has finally come to an end

And as for Camara he is done from school, feeling as if he had accomplished so much, he has certificate, finally.

As Camara returns home, he was then surprised to hear that he has been offered a scholarship to France!

His mother was frightened and scared of the fact that her son would be leaving again and his father had said that it wasn't going to be for long and his son will be back.

Camrara ends up deciding to go to France because it was a great opportunity however his mother hate the fact that he is going to leave her, how could he do such a thing twice?!

However his mother accepts it and starts to cry as he departures, his family is sad that he's leaving but happy for him, it's a bittersweet moment.

Camara ends with Marie asking him if he'll be back and he said yes, he will be.

Chapter 11 - for check with love

This chapter wasn't like the last chapter its way different, i was surprised and i was sad.

The chapter started off with Layes visiting home, and his mother had changed things up in his hut to create and enviroment that to be European. However as her son Camara did things that hid mother did not aprove of bringing girls in his hut. Camaras hut is close to his mothers and his mother expects to bond with her son and other women are distracting him from the important women who will always be in his life. Camara is now at an age where things annoy him and his mother was one of them because he is now a man and he is responsible for his own actions.

This takes us back to chapter 8 where it was a bittersweet feeling moving into a new hut and getting new clothes and being detached from his mother and now he finds his mother to be controlling, and annoying. Also this brings back his mothers feelings towards her son and how he had grown up so fast that she is not ready to let go yet, she feels as if this is still in little boy and she will always feel this way deep inside.

Also in this chapter Layes friend Check had gotten sick and Camara had seen that he was growing sicker and sicker, however Check was sure he was fine and was in denial. Medicine had failed him and his friend passed away passed away and Camara had nostalgic feelings and started to remember things about their childhood.

Chapter 10 - Marie

As I opened the pages for this chapter I noted that all of the pages are blacked out AGAIN! And theres an envelope with a paper that includes the events of chapter 3.

And here is what the letter said:

dear journal

I like her, a lot. School has changed for me, I feel as if ever since Marie came into my life, things have changed for the better. Marie inspires me, she is beautiful. My family tease me however accept my relationship and she has a wonderful place in my heart. Her strong character and amazing personality made her one my favorite women in my life along with my mother of course. She is like my guide to this road I came here to follow and with her here with me, I feel as I she is guiding me on the right path, the path that I came her to pursue. Marie has taken up most of my time, but I'm okay with that she take as much time as she wants, i wouldn't mind because around her i smile and i feel good. we do many things together and i enjoy that i really do… oh marie Marie Marie

Anyway I have amazing news, after three days of horrible exams I was one of the seven that passed, I was the first!!

Marie and good grades?

Yes this is the life.

- Camara

Chapter 9 - Endless

Reading this book has created a vision in which I know that somewhere along the road I will relate to, this book is about growing up and learning and everything that come along with it, from joy to pain, laughter and tears.

This chapter shows Camara leaving his family and going off to study in Conakry.

Here are some of the significant events that occurred;

• When leaving his mother provides him with food and her best wishes + love
• His mother also gives him a bottle and asks him to have a sip everyday in the morning
• His father had held his hand and had said goodbye, Camara cried because he felt heartbroken.
• (About Camaras father, page 141) "But his very presence, his kindness — and even more the fact that he was holding my hand — destroyed the last vestige of courage of this place. He understood" - This quote shows how much his father means to him.
• He said his farewells to many of his family members and his friends and the people in the society.
• When he got to Conakry he was fascinated by the nature and the different style of nature one that he hasn't seen
• Camara gets homesick when he gets there, however his uncle try's to make him feel like home.
• Laye talks about his education and first day of school
• School year passed by slowly

The chapter ended with the following passage;

" The school year passed slowly, very slowly. It seemed endless to me, as endless as the interminable rains that beat down for days and sometimes for weeks on the corrugated iron roofs. As endless as my interminable sickness. Then by a strange coincidence which I cannot explain, I got well just as the school year ended. It was high time. I was choking, bubbling over with impatience. . . . I set off for Kouroussa as if for the promised land."

This shows that his educational life was slow and that he had now returned back home for vacation.

Chapter 8 - A Man

This chapter for me was a very strange chapter, due to the fact that I'm a girl and that this chapter had talked about his transition into becoming a man.

At some point in this chapter I felt a bit uncomfortable reading about circumcision of a boy but then it just became something that I had to accept and understand.

The chapter starts out with his final year in school and now he had to move on and he had to grow up and finally become …

a man

Camara was now going to go through the biggest even in his life, which is the circumcision. This was the step towards Layes manhood, and it was a big deal to him and the society. The circumcision is a life changing event and Laye had mixed feelings about it, it was more of fear and a bittersweet feeling, because know he is dependent and he holds responsibilities for his own responsibility. This event was the next step up from Konden Diara, because this even is a more life changing event and a big step in his life. as he said on page 112;

"This festival was unlike others. Although it was supposed to be entirely joyful, there was a gravity about it that other festivals did not have, a gravity arising from the fact that the event which it commemorated was the most important event in life; to be exact, the beginning of a new life"

Camara had stayed up at night because the thoughts of growing up and becoming a new sort of person, one who know must deepened on himself was a scary thought and also the thought of getting circumcised and how that might feel.

Camara was afraid and needed the will power to get through, as the next day approached it was time for him to finally become a man.

After the circumcision the mothers would get to see their sons from a gate and his family was waiting for him to great him.

After a few weeks he had went back home from the concession, his family was waiting to great him.

Camara is now a new man.

He now has his own hut.

And he has new clothes, new man clothes that his mother had left for him in his hut.

His mother had a sat look in her face, this foreshadows his mothers emotions towards her son growing up.

Every mother see's her son grow up, and time flies, and things change, however this is life and Camaras mother had given me the feeling that she wasn't ready to let go, she wasn't ready…