Tram 83 does an excellent job of capturing the seedy underbelly of Congolese society, where colonialsim is ongoing albeit in a different form, and where everybody is out for themselves, either trying to survive or get ahead , regardless of who or what they need to exploit along the way. It's not big on character development or plot, but the atmosphere is perfectly captured. I really liked the writing style, particularly all the repetition with or without variation, but it won't be for every reader.