The story begins, \u201cSuddenly the lights went out\u201d\u2014and readers are plunged into the dark of night. The first-person narrator gathers the courage to ask their girl companion questions: \u201cDon\u2019t you think there\u2019s something really beautiful about people?\u201d \u201cWhat do you think can fit in a person\u2019s heart?\u201d The conversation between the two ebbs and flows, punctuated by the blinking light of a distant airplane, the intermittent appearances of the narrator\u2019s grandmother, and the barely there touches of young lovers. \u201cKiss me. Just once.\u201d They tell stories, share truths, and spin webs of wishes. A translator\u2019s note provides context: This dreamlike evening takes place in Luanda, the capital of Angola, near the end of a decadeslong civil war that\u2019s referenced in passing by the two main characters. Miller-Lachmann does a remarkable job of making this rich piece accessible to an English-language readership. Ondjaki\u2019s poetic prose draws an achingly potent picture of two young people reaching for each other during a sudden moment of possibility, while the white text on the black pages and Gon\u00e7alves\u2019 rough, white-on-black illustrations help create an immersive experience. As the best art does, this collaboration makes a very specific story\u2014two young people, one night\u2014feel universal.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The story begins, \u201cSuddenly the lights went out\u201d\u2014and readers are plunged into the dark of night. The first-person narrator gathers the courage to ask their girl companion questions: \u201cDon\u2019t you think there\u2019s something really beautiful about people?\u201d \u201cWhat do you think can fit in a person\u2019s heart?\u201d The conversation between the two ebbs and flows, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}