Pilgrims Way cover art

Pilgrims Way

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Pilgrims Way

By: Abdulrazak Gurnah
Narrated by: Ashley Zhangazha
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About this listen

 Bloomsbury presents Pilgrims Way by Abdulrazak Gurnah, read by Ashley Zhangazha.

By the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature

‘Demands to be read and reread, for its humour, generosity of spirit and clear-sighted vision’ Evening Standard

‘Gurnah zooms in on individual acts of violence ... and unexpected acts of kindness’ Daily Telegraph
________________________

Demoralised by small persecutions and the squalor and poverty of his life, Daud takes refuge in his imagination. He composes wry, sardonic letters hectoring friends and enemies, and invents a lurid colonial past for every old man he encounters. His greatest solace is cricket and the symbolic defeat of the empire at the hands of the mighty West Indies.

Although subject to attacks of bitterness and remorse, his captivating sense of humour never deserts him as he struggles to come to terms with the horror of his past and the meaning of his pilgrimage to England.©1988 Abdulrazak Gurnah (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction World Literature Witty England Scary

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Critic reviews

"Exile has given Gurnah a perspective on the 'balance between things' that is astonishing, superb." (Observer)

"Gurnah is a master storyteller." (Aminatta Forna, Financial Times)
All stars
Most relevant
The audio of this novel unnecessarily beeps out one particular word, even when it is part of a compound word, making it confusing to listen to in some places. The beep is loud and annoying. It is also a perversion of the author's wishes. Gurnah's novel is about immigration, exile, and racism, so understandably was important for the author to represent the racist language of some characters.

I have listened to recordings of six of Gurnha's other novels and none of them has this censorship (or, at least, they didn't at the time I read them, I haven't gone back and checked if they have been 'updated').

If recordings of rap songs using the N word can be made and sold, I don't understand why this novel, which has the word in the printed version, cannot be recorded faithfully.

Can the press please either stop doing this or mark the recordings with a warning that the recording is censored. This is NOT unabridged, because it censors the author's words.

Abridged by censorship in the audio version

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It’s a slow book, beautifully written and narrated, credible and shocking. I chose it because I was ignorant of this author, and I’m glad I did but it’s not my usual kind of book.

Credible account of everyday racism

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