SOURCE: A review of Les Méduses, ou les orties de mer, in World Literature Today, Vol. 58, No. 2, Spring, 1984, pp. 310-11.

Below, Carrabino compares Les Méduses, ou les orties de mer to a detective novel.

Within twenty-four hours, two friends, Elenga and Muendo, die. Their third friend, Luambu, is found comatose between the two friends' graves, yet he appears and disappears, much to the dismay of the people. André Sola, supervisor of the C.F.C.O. where Luambu was employed, goes through great pains to uncover the mysterious death of the two friends. Obviously, there are two versions of the story: the story told by the "civilized people," who blame the war, and that told by the villagers, who delve into the world of magic to explain the evanescent presence of Luambu—a sorcerer who is solely responsible for the death of the two friends. There...