I haven’t enjoyed a big fiction read like this in a long time. The dictator of the African nation of Aburiria seems to be a composite of his peers in the real world, Mobutu being the most recognizable to me. It’s a social and political tale that is chock full of strange metaphors and blatant parodies. I’m sure much of the cultural context passed me by, but I feel like I absorbed a lot as well, and enjoyed doing it. It did leave me puzzled about who or what the narrator might be, but that may very well be intentional.