Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Foreign Words

Foreign Words

Alexakis, Vassilis
Waters, Alyson

Paperback

Literary Fiction

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 0975444417
ISBN13: 9780975444412
Publisher: Autumn Hill Books
Published: Apr 1 2006
Pages: 228
Weight: 0.70
Height: 0.56 Width: 5.80 Depth: 8.48
Language: English
Awards: IndieFab awards
Crossing countries and continents, this narrative follows a son lost for words over the death of his father. Unable to write the phrase My father is dead in either his native Greek or his adopted French, he heads for Africa to undertake the learning of Sango. Traveling across both borders and time, he examines his past, his family history, and the colonial and political ties of his homelands. While at first he does not know why learning a new and uncommon language has become vital to him, he comes to discover that the new language enables him to easily write of his father's passing. But as he truly experiences Sango--meets its speakers, travels where it emerged and has struggled to survive--his intimacy with it grows, and he is once again unable to utter the telling phrase. Meditating on language, loss, and the power of words to express or constrain human emotion, this tale of speaking, living, and letting go is filled with delicate suspense, humor, and honesty.

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