Good Morning Comrades
SynopsisPlot
Luanda, Angola, 1990. Ndalu is a normal twelve-year-old boy in an extraordinary time and place. Like his friends, he enjoys laughing at his teachers, avoiding homework, and telling tall tales. But Ndalu's teachers are Cuban, his homework assignments include writing essays on the role of the workers and peasants, and the tall tales he and his friends tell are about a criminal gang called Empty Crate which specializes in attacking schools. Ndalu is mystified by the family servant, Comrade Antonio, who thinks that Angola worked better when it was a colony of Portugal, and by his Aunt Dada, who lives in Portugal and doesn't know what a ration card is. In a charming voice that is completely original, Good Morning Comrades tells the story of a group of friends who create a perfect childhood in a revolutionary socialist country fighting a bitter war.
Story
About this book
Set in Luanda in 1990, Good Morning Comrades follows Ndalu, a twelve-year-old boy growing up in Angola during a period of socialist governance and civil conflict. Ndalu's daily life looks ordinary on the surface: he jokes with classmates, dodges schoolwork, and swaps stories with friends. But the details of that life are shaped by the political moment. His teachers are Cuban, his school essays concern workers and peasants, and the rumors circulating among children involve a gang called Empty Crate that targets schools.
Ndalu's world extends beyond the classroom. At home, the family servant Comrade Antonio unsettles him by insisting that Angola functioned better under Portuguese colonial rule. His Aunt Dada, who lives in Portugal, has never heard of a ration card. These contrasts sit alongside Ndalu's friendships and small adventures without being explained away. The novel is told in a voice shaped by a child's perspective, where political reality and everyday play coexist without sharp boundaries.
Ondjaki, an Angolan writer born in Luanda, draws on a setting where Cuban teachers, ration cards, and shifting political loyalties form the backdrop to an otherwise recognizable childhood. The story is situated at a point when that world is already beginning to change around its young characters.
