Fiction (excerpts) | Italian | Somalia/Italy
November, 2019Il comandante del fiume is the coming-of-age story of Yabar, an eighteen-year-old, second-generation immigrant dealing with the post-memory trauma of the Somali civil war; uncovering secrets about his absent father, destructive clan divisions, and Italy’s colonial past; and coming to terms with what it means to be black in Rome. This particular excerpt, which I've titled "Flunking Out and Overflowing," is sourced from a few different chapters, and centers on the theme of school and Yabar's relationship with his "sister."
- Hope Campbell Gustafson
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