Golden Boy
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
“Harrowing but ultimately redemptive…the murder of Tanzania's albinos is a real and horrific phenomenon of the past 15 years, a cold fact that makes the fictional events in ‘Golden Boy’ more moving and consequential than those in any dystopian young-adult chase-drama.”
—The Wall Street Journal
*"A riveting snapshot of one Tanzanian boy who makes himself matter."
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
*“Readers will be haunted by Habo’s voice as he seeks a place of dignity and respect in society. An important and affecting story.”
—School Library Journal, starred review
Thirteen-year-old Habo has always been different—light eyes, yellow hair and white skin. Not the good brown skin his family has and not the white skin of tourists. Habo is strange and alone. His father, unable to accept Habo, abandons the family; his mother can scarcely look at him. His brothers are cruel and the other children never invite him to play. Only his sister Asu loves him well. But even Asu can't take the sting away when the family is forced from their small Tanzanian village, and Habo knows he is to blame.
Seeking refuge in Mwanza, Habo and his family journey across the Serengeti. His aunt is glad to open her home until she sees Habo for the first time, and then she is only afraid. Suddenly, Habo has a new word for himself: Albino. But they hunt Albinos in Mwanza because Albino body parts are thought to bring good luck. And soon Habo is being hunted by a fearsome man with a machete. To survive, Habo must not only run, but find a way to love and accept himself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sullivan's standout debut spotlights the quest of 13-year-old Habo, an albino ("zeruzeru") struggling to survive in Tanzania, where albinos are both reviled and prized; some even believe that their limbs possess magic and are willing to kill for them. The narrative begins in the small village of Arusha, where Habo, his mother, and siblings are starving. The family decides to immigrate to the city of Mwanza, in hopes of finding stability. In raw, candid prose, Sullivan conveys Habo's learned shame and the violence that his family encounters as a result of their poverty and perceived difference. Habo's sense of liberation is almost palpable when an elderly, blind sculptor trains him as an apprentice and begins to show him the meaning of unconditional love. Weaving in Kiswahili words and phrases, Sullivan presents a nuanced view of Tanzanian culture and its entangled economic circumstances, while writing vividly of the country's landscape. Though the novel is horrifying in parts, Habo's tender interactions with those he loves combat the sense of lurking dread that, most often, takes human form. Ages 12 up.
