Return to the Enchanted Island

A young man is thrown from his privileged childhood in Madagascar into Paris and the fullness of modernity in Ravaloson%E2%80%99s sensuous reimagining of a Malagasy myth. Ietsy Razak lies awake during sleepless nights at home in Madagascar, thinking about his past. He has always been blessed by the wealth of his family, but also by his namesake: Ietsy, the world%E2%80%99s first man according to Malagasy mythology. However, money and faith in the power of this origin story cannot spare him from being kicked out of his Jesuit secondary school for doing drugs on campus. Ietsy%E2%80%99s father sends him to Paris to finish his education, but instead of studying, he succumbs to the charms of Parisian nightlife. He also discovers that his dark skin influences his every interaction as he experiences racism and also a false solidarity with those who were "drawn to him because of the color of his skin but who didn%E2%80%99t have a faraway place to hang their hopes like he did." Ietsy loves too deeply, seeks too hard to be accepted, and clings always to his nostalgia for home%E2%80%94where he, inevitably, must return. In this fresh rendition of the familiar prodigal son tale, Ravaloson mines his Malagasy roots to weave together a florid narrative filled with trenchant descriptions of the legacy of colonization and globalization. (Nov.)