As human souls, we share the commonality of living, loving, grieving, healing, and of course dying. Our paths determine how much we partake of each sector. Well, not the dying. That sector includes us all. The difference, however, is how fast we succumb to the dying. In the end we all cease to exist but some souls perish before they leave the human world. Circumstances can cause us to give up. The war veteran injured during service can sometimes do no more than frolic in the post traumatic stress; the young mother who has lost her child to street violence can sometimes do no more than frolic in the past and die in the future without her child; the young rebel who fights against the unfair and brutal treatment of his people, hangs in a prison cell-is brutally beaten-and wanders for many years starving and uncertain of any future without pain and maltreatment can frolic in his misfortune or.......
People write books to record a period in time-to send a message-to inspire others to move past their limitations-to leave something behind. Djaffar Chetouane writes to further his cause and to let us know there is an afterlife. Upon reading excerpts from Donkey Heart Monkey Mind- I was taken. I took the journey from each prison, from each beating, from each hardship to each survival story, to each tiny victory to the transformation of body and soul.
I feel more alive then I have ever felt. Humanity reveals itself in this tale. Bravery becomes a metamorphosis. Djaffar moves from death to life in a fit of will and dexterity.
Donkey Heart Monkey Mind will not only leave you in awe but will move you to make more of yourself. The trivial matters of your despair will turn to ash and fuel a new existence.
Books take us to a new place. You may have not chosen to come here but you will be glad you came! Buy this book and tell your friends. Count your blessings and move toward your dreams.
Kat Hibbard
Author of Bullets:
Growing Up In The Crossfire
Readers Comments
What has stuck with me about the book...
The passages on the escape from prison have a compelling clarity and immediacy - they're really a metaphor for a lot of the key elements of the rest of the story - the protagonist's essential solitariness, the struggle to survive in a variety of hostile environments, the role that the random kindness of strangers plays in his life.
The ways in which we want to know more about the character but are prevented from doing so by the first-person voice, and how that reinforces the way the character protects himself from the world and possibly from himself - the most fully developed relationships he has in the book are with strangers, and his sense of his own impact on others is pretty absent, which feels like a way he protects himself too. This can be frustrating, but it also keeps the story interesting, as we keep looking for that breakthrough, that "why" that would help explain who he is in the world.
The immediacy of the love for the land in Algeria - that concrete sense of it as a physical place where people are rooted, even if their relationship is one of struggling against it or with it to get it to yield what they need. In contrast, the protagonist's travels in Europe and the US have more of a sense of him floating above rather than being rooted in his experiences, and I think this reinforces a really important idea in the book about "home" - you are where you're from no matter how long you're away from it.
-- Ceil Tilney
The only thing that really matters is that each person finds their own voice, and writes from that place. I thought your writing was amazing. You seamlessly transitioned from your story to the history of the country you were traveling through, and then back to the story. That was quite incredible. I enjoyed that very much. The history of the country became the backdrop for your personal journey. Without the turmoil of the region, your story would not exist. And it is a story that had to be told. Maurice doesn't think anyone else has told that story. That makes it important. Yes, it is your story and your bones ache to tell it, but it is also the story of the region - a story of good people and bad people fighting over land that has been in dispute for centuries. You gave voice to the land. The land has not had a voice about what has happened on it, and you did that.
--Mary Williams
"Djaffar, Your Book in summary was so heartfelt and although tragically, (it happen for a reason) in order to obtain the wisdom for share to the masses. Still, I'm truly sorry this happen to you. But, appears through it all, you are still able to, see the Beauty, Feel Joy, find Peace, Love and Wisdom. This, all of Divine Guidance. Proof we need to Trust our Divine Guidance while feeling it will Strengthen our Awareness of our Alignment and Connection with our Divine Source, God. With this said, I sent your info (via email) to over 350 ppl. Just know, I look forward to reading your Biographical Book, as it's sure, this compelling story shall touch the hearts of all that share your story and evoke the wisdom of the ages. Stay strong and God bless..."
Judy Alaine Garland