Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A new translation of Beti's 1954 work, this novel chronicles a young African man's coming of age in a country barreling toward capitalism. Banda is young and headstrong, with dreams of making his fortune in the large city of Fort Negre, Haiti. Before taking this leap though, he is committed to his ailing mother's final wish of seeing her son married off. To marry the one woman his mother doesn't expressly disapprove of, Banda must hand over a princely sum to her father-a dowry that depends on his ability to sell his crop of cacao beans. But after the crop is rejected by white officials in nearby Tanga, Banda, running out of time, must find another way to come up with the money. The latter half of the novel follows Banda's desperate attempts to thrive in an environment over which he has no control. Beti's prose is rendered through Banda's manic consciousness-a stoic yet emotive interior monologue that betrays the conflicted nature of Banda's character and environment. The book includes Beti's essay on Francophile African literature and offers a unique insight into the colonial African experience and its literature. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A persuasive, even gripping study of a spiteful, nave character, from Cameroonian writer Beti (1932-2001). Though written in the third person, we spend an uncomfortable length of time listening to the grinding logic of protagonist Banda's grudges. Banda (no last name) is from the village of Bamila. His father is dead, his mother dying. Banda travels to the nearby city of Tanga to sell a year's worth of cacao to the Greeks. Set in the 1930s, it appears as if Greeks control the colonial economy. While this may be the case, we see the world from Banda's perspective and receive Banda's version of events. Coming from a part of the country that requires he pay a future father-in-law for his daughter, he cannot marry without money, and he cannot bear to disappoint his mother, to fail yet again. When the sale does not go as expected, Banda begins to ruminate, to plot. Banda meets Odilia, a young woman from another part of the country, at a bar. Odilia needs help; her brother Koum is in serious trouble with the colonials. Whether Banda's decision to help Odilia and Koum reflects his better judgment is debatable. The book's conclusion is unexpected and amounts to a failure of Beti's--not Banda's--nerve. The book includes "Romancing Africa," one of Beti's many essays, and a useful introduction by translator Higginson; while recognizing the book's historical importance, he equivocates about its quality. "A strange destiny: to always suffer." This book explores that truism from a singular, compelling perspective.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
