The Last Flight of The Flamingo (ISBN 1852428139)

Not as good as his other books:
I am a great fan of Mia Couto's books. I love how he is able to take you deep within the social fabric of life in Mozambique this book however I felt fell short. The story is a little confusing and in many parts, pointless it is only at the conclusion of the book you have any idea of what the story was realy about. Unlike his other novels the characters have no appeal nor does the story have anything distinct to make it stand out from his other books; it is almost as if he was running out of ideas with this one. The horrific wars that took place in Mozambique have been largely overlooked in the West especially the aftermath, a country scared by mines. Something which makes Mia Coutos books all the more powerful. Try, voices made night. A collection of short stories some of which almost follow the same lines of this one but a whole lot better.

Not a mystery, and certainly not a detective novel:
As a crime novel fan as well as a follower of current events in Africa, I was searching for a mystery written by a non-English-speaking African writer, when I stumbled upon The Last Flight of the Flamingo. My urban library system catalogued it as a Detective novel, so I was overjoyed at finding it. But I hadn't read very far into it before becoming utterly bored and irritated. It reads a bit like other African novels I've read, too many of which strive for surrealism while achieving only meandering & verbose confusion. There is no real "mystery" in this novel, only some unexplained deaths; and there is no detection, despite one of the characters being a UN "investigator." Massimo Risi, however, conducts no investigation, and the deaths are "explained" near the end of the book by the sudden, unsupported assertions of the town whore, who is not positioned to have access to this explanation. Only because I am compulsive about finishing what I begin, was I able to complete it \oby forcing myself to read a few pages a day\c. I wonder if Couto's short stories might be worth trying, and the stage plays made from them might be interesting; but I really think he might be a poet who has chosen the wrong format. Or perhaps he should try painting?