cote d’ivoire

as the crow flies

by Véronique Tadjo

This lyrical book by Véronique Tadjo, is about love in all its various forms. The love of another person, the love of a country, love for a stranger, a parent, a lover. The layers of love, which all have potential loss on the other side, but that her characters are willing to risk for the chance to love and be loved.

Tadjo seems to be telling the story from a removed, observant point of view, but then pulls her readers right into the mind and awareness of a character, so close, you can hear their heart. The book is a collection of vignettes all experienced from a different perspective. The back covers describes the book as traveling like a bird in flight, over a landscape of story, anecdote, memory, allegory, myths, and fables. Sometimes it almost reads like poetry.

At the beginning she promises us this untethered journey into and out of love.

“Indeed, I too would have loved to write one of those serene stories with a beginning and an end. But as you know only too well, it is never like that. Lives mingle, people tame one another and part. Destinies are lost.”

I actually loved the rise and fall of this book, the gentle journey like riding a river of words. It was translated from french and I wonder and am in awe of the artistry that is required to take one language and reproduce not just the story, but the lyricism of the writing, in a whole new language.

Tadjo opens AS THE CROW FLIES with this invitation:

If you want to love

Do so

To the ends of the earth

With no shortcuts

Do so

As the crow flies.