Book Review | Human Love

Andrei Makine is a Russian-born French author. In 1987 he went to France on a teaching exchange programme and asked for asylum. He stayed on and was determined to become a writer.  Writing in French was not an easy task but he succeeded.  He became well-known with his fourth novel, Le Testament Francais, translated in English as Dreams of My Russian Summer.  This went on to win two top French awards, the Prix Goncourt and the Prix Medicis, the first work in French literary history to win both prizes.  He also publishes other books under the name of Gabriel Osmonde.

In his novels Makin explores the redemptive forces in humans that enable them to survive and overcome violent conditions.  His acclaimed novel, Le Testament Francais, probably his best work yet, speaks about the survival of the protagonist's family amidst the hardships of Soviet life.

The story in Human Love (translated by Geoffrey Strachan) is narrated by a nameless, young Soviet agent who encounters a young Angolan revolutionary, Elias Almeida, while they are held imprisoned on the border between Angola and Zaire.  We are told about the many experiences of Elias in different parts of Africa, Cuba and Russia.  The two men keep intermittent contact over decades of war in the African continent.  Elias goes though coups and counter-coups in the 70s and 80s as Africa is engulfed in proxy wars by the Soviet Union and the US.

We are not spared any of the intrigues and horrors of war: acts of rape, greed, corruption and murder are recounted in gruesome details.  What saves this novel from being a harrowing account of the brutality of man to man is the fact that Makine believes that the world can be different and that men of good will can still forge a better world.

The protagonist Elias, a professional revolutionary, is an idealist.  Despite all his terrible ordeals and a clear awareness of what is going on around him, he still believes in fighting for a better world, where every one can find love and beauty.  All along he is asking 'If the revolution doesn't change the way we love one another what is the point of all this fighting?...Will this change the way we understand and love our fellow human beings?' Even if events show that the answer is no he still persists in fighting for his ideals for a better world.

Love is what sustains Elias throughout his encounters with countless acts of butchery by colonialists and by Africans.  He falls deeply in love with a woman from Siberia and though separated from her, the thought of her keeps him going, in spite of adverse conditions. It is this love and the image of his mother, when as a child he 'found the world's perfection in the crook of her arm' that keeps him alive.

These are the only tender moments in an otherwise very dark novel.  It is as if the author is saying that human love, (after all this is the title of the novel) is enough to obliterate all the violent chaos, suffering and greed amongst which people have to survive.  But is it so?  Does it redeem the horrors inflicted by humans on other humans?

Makine is good at expressing lyrical, wistful moments as when he describes the sojourn of Elias and Anna to Siberia while on a  visit to her mother, but this and other brief episodes, are in sharp contradiction to the harsh realities of what is happening around them, and in which they are also actively involved.  Makine keeps repeating several times throughout the novel about the saving grace of human love; when in reality, suffering and greed seem to prevail.

It prompts one to ask: What is Makine trying to say? Are political revolutions pointless if not accompanied by a change in personal relations between men and women?  Is Makine too much of a romantic idealist? History shows that revolutions and political movements in many instances did achieve valid results, even if human love is what it is.

I hope readers will not be misled by the cover. This is a dark tale coming from the heart of Africa. It is worth reading for it gives much information on the political history of modern Africa, but as a novel it is somewhat disappointing. Not surprisingly, Le Testament Francais, is still deemed to be his best work so far.