A llah is Not Obliged, the final work by renowned African author Ahmadou Kourouma, is the story of 10-year-old child-soldier Birahima as told in the child’s own words. Although the tale is a fictionalized account, with it comes the unsettling suspicion that it nevertheless lies very close to reality. Kourouma’s young narrator speaks with a childish simplicity tinged by a very adult cynicism. For instance, he tells us that, “‘Humanitarian peacekeeping’ is when one country is allowed to send soldiers into another country to kill innocent victims in their own country, in their own villages, in their own huts, sitting on their own mats.”

C hina is often viewed with anxiety and uncertainty, particularly in a world with one superpower. The physical and cultural divide between China and the US can mask experiences which are common to each society. Today, a growing tension exists in China between a burgeoning individualism and an entrenched entitlement insisted upon by the state. In Cries in the Drizzle, Yu Hua explores this tension during the time of the Cultural Revolution. The result is a charming novel that is poignant, comical and universal.