No Heaven for Good Boys by Keisha Bush

No Heaven for Good Boys
by Keisha Bush
⭐⭐⭐

Set in Senegal, No Heaven for Good Boys sheds light on the disturbing cruelty and abuse that young boys, known as the Talibe, must suffer and endure. The Talibe are young boys taken in by respected Marabouts, or holy men, whose purpose is to teach the newer generations the beliefs of the Koran. Marabouts are not always kind, righteous people, however, and many Talibe end up starved, abused, m*lested, and sometimes even k*lled. The Talibe are forced to roam the streets, begging for money from civilians for their supposedly holy masters. 

In No Heaven for Good Boys, we follow six-year-old Ibrahimah who, after being accidentally left by his family on a beach, is rescued by a man named Marabout Ahmed and is forcefully taken from his parents in order to pay back the debt that his saving has cost. Ibrahimah and his cousin Etienne fight for their lives daily in the city of Dakar, begging for money, food, and gifts for their Marabout, in a desperate hope of avoiding his merciless beatings. 

Truthfully, this is one of the more disturbing books I've ever read. The perspective shifts from time to time, but we mostly experience life through the eyes of six-year-old Ibrahimah. To see such abuse and cruelty through a child's eyes is really heartbreaking. I understood the author's intentions behind using Ibrahimah's age, especially because this story is a nightmare come true for so many boys. Ibrahimah's is a real story, one that many young boys suffer through. I am very impressed with Keisha Bush's ability to write something this cruel and actually have the ability to finish it.

Despite how important it is to shed light on this issue, I only rated this three stars because of the ending. I know that, when portraying real life issues, in an effort to emphasize the severity of the problem, authors will write ambiguous endings to avoid a "happy ending." Typically, I enjoy vague endings, but there are some stories I believe NEED hope, this narrative being one of them, and unfortunately, for me, there was simply no hope in this book. After witnessing all of Ibrahimah's suffering, I really wanted to witness his liberation as well.

Overall, this book is addressing a very real and serious issue that more people should be made aware of. As a story, however, it was very disturbing and triggered a feeling of perpetual suffering. So, with that said, if this story interests you, please be aware of the content warnings because there are definitely many of them!

- trigger warnings - child cruelty, child ab*se, death, p*dophilia, m*lestation, r*pe, s*xual assault