Practice your reading skills and comprehension with our intermediate French book club: Les Navigateurs de la Littérature. This group meets the second Wednesday of every month from 7pm – 8pm. Each meeting focuses on a different book, so both returning readers and newcomers are invited to attend. During meetings, we discuss the plot of the book, review what we did and did not like, and explore any questions that members may have. Everyone also selects a favorite excerpt to read aloud and to bring to the conversation. The discussion will be in French!

Look for our flyer at the Alliance with upcoming dates and books. This event is free and open to the public! You do not need to be an AF member to participate in our book clubs.

This month’s selection is : Petit Pays de Gaël Faye

Synopsis:

Set in Burundi from 1992 onwards, ten-year-old Gaby tells the story of his life in a comfortable expatriate neighborhood in Bujumbura. Gaby’s life with his French father, Rwandan mother and little sister Ana, is something close to paradise and these are carefree days of laughter and adventure. Our narrator’s sheltered upbringing leaves him oblivious to the increasing tensions between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority (to which he, through his mother, belongs). As neighboring Rwanda faces the outbreak of civil war and genocide, which spills over into Burundi, the innocence of Gaby and his group of friends is shattered. Blending tragedy and humor, Petit Pays is a tribute to not only a dark chapter in Africa’s past, but also the bright times that came before.

For more detail, read this review.

Purchase Petit Pays at our French Corner Bookstore at 227 Colfax Avenue North. Email Brenna today to check in on how many copies we have available!