A Long Way from Douala

August 1, 2021
Jean, an 18-year-old Cameroonian, confronts the threat of terrorism, police corruption, and his awakening sexuality as he searches for his older brother. Twenty-year-old Roger has run away from home in the southern city of Douala, hoping to become a soccer star in Europe--and to escape the beatings of his fanatical Christian mother in the aftermath of his boozing father's death. Owing to his scholastic success and gentler disposition, Jean (who narrates) is Mama's boy. But torn between his raging mother and resentful brother, he's been living in a constant state of anxiety and doubt that only intensifies when he tries to catch up with Roger before he manages to leave Cameroon. In light of Boko Haram attacks, unsavory street characters, and the mostly Muslim northerners' deep-seated hostility toward Christian southerners, the road north is paved with danger. Equally scary for Jean is his attraction to Roger's friend Simon, who accompanies him and whose nakedness in one scene causes "this horrendous throbbing in my chest, and especially down there...I beg for God's forgiveness." There's a lot to unpack in this short novel, but Lobe leavens his dark political themes and cultural commentary with a breezy narrative style, entertaining pop-culture references, and off-color humor: A train traveler is subjected to a strip search by police, who discover the "big thing" he appears to be hiding in his pants is his amazing "plantain." Jean's fixation on and nasty comments about female body parts is less humorous, even if they are a manifestation of his feelings of weakness and self-doubt. This is the Geneva-based Lobe's first book to appear in English, and it should open the door to more translations of his work. An entertaining, decidedly offbeat coming-of-age story.

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