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Sign up todayBingo’s Run
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Learn moreFor fans of Dave Eggers, Teju Cole, and James McBride comes this extraordinary novel of morality and the redemptive powers of art that offers a glimpse into an African underworld rarely described in fiction.
Meet Bingo, the greatest drug runner in the slums of Kibera, Nairobi, and maybe the world. A teenage grifter, often mistaken for a younger boy, he faithfully serves Wolf, the drug lord of Kibera. Bingo spends his days throwing rocks at Krazi Hari, the prophet of Kibera's garbage mound; "lipping" safari tourists of their cash; and hanging out with his best friend, Slo-George, a taciturn fellow whose girth is a mystery to Bingo in a place where there is never enough food. Bingo earns his keep by running "white" to a host of clients, including Thomas Hunsa, a reclusive artist whose paintings, rooted in African tradition, move him. But when Bingo witnesses a drug-related murder and Wolf sends him to an orphanage for "protection," Bingo's life changes, and he learns that life itself is the "run."
A modern trickster tale that draws on African folklore, Bingo's Run is a wildly original, often very funny, and always moving story of a boy alone in a corrupt and dangerous world who must depend on his wits and inner resources to survive.
James A. Levine is a world-renowned professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic who travels around the world working with street kids. He has won more than fifty major awards in science and gives lectures to humanitarian groups around the world. Levine is the author of The Blue Notebook.
Peter Macon is an Emmy Award–winning actor. He has spent three seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and has had roles in various films and television shows, including Dexter, Law & Order, Without a Trace, Supernatural, and The Shield.
Reviews
“James A. Levine is a deeply gifted writer who reaches into the dirt, sweat, and diesel of modern-day Nairobi and introduces us to a young innocent whose adventures are unforgettable. Bingo’s runs between joy and death, laughter and sorrow, survival and redemption, will make you feel like cheering.”
“Bingo’s Run is one of those rare books that infuse a potentially difficult subject with intimacy, tenderness, and humor. Social commentary, gritty comedy, and pure cinematic adrenaline meet in an utterly compelling novel with a voice all its own.”
“Levine sets much of his latest in Kibera’s back allies and slums, but he doesn’t dwell there. By telling the novel from the perspective of this charming teen grifter, Levine makes his story feel substantial while also quite fun, significant even as the pages turn themselves.”
“Bingo is a fascinating and inimitably likable character. Levine, a Mayo clinic professor of medicine and well-known child advocate, excels at telling his adventurous, comic, and realistically gritty story with humor but not with pathos, successfully addressing the harsh and sometimes tragic story of a child at risk.”
“A delightful entertainment. And Bingo is a captivating protagonist…By its end readers will want to adopt him themselves.”
“A phenomenal street kid from the slums of Nairobi is the narrator of this second novel, a fable with realistic underpinnings…Levine has found just the right voice for Bingo, an upbeat survivor mired in corruption yet still capable of redemption…Bingo will win hearts.”
“Bingo’s Run manages to read like timely news and high adventure at the same time. Levine’s main character, Bingo, is an underage drug runner, hardened orphan, and hustler extraordinaire. He’s also funny and wise well beyond his years. The rousing story of Bingo’s evolution is matched only by Levine’s portrait of modern-day Nairobi, both child and city depicted with real flair and affection.”
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