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Chronicling the beauty and turmoil of a rapidly changing Cameroon
Chronicling the beauty and turmoil of a rapidly changing Cameroon
2000s: Through the voices of Anna, a matriarch living out her final days in Paris; Abi, Anna’s thoroughly European daughter (at least in her mother’s eyes); and Tina, a teenager who comes under the sway of a militant terrorist faction, Boum’s epic is generous and all-seeing. Brilliantly considering the many issues that dominate her characters’ lives–love and politics, tradition and modernity–Days Come and Go, in Nchanji Njamnsi’s vivid translation, is a page-turner by way of Frantz Fanon and V. S. Naipaul. As passions rise, fall, and rise again, Boum’s stirring English-language debut offers a discerning portrait of a nation that never once diminishes the power of everyday human connection.
Cameroon
Cameroon, or more officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Due to its strategic position at the crossroads between West Africa and Central Africa, it has been categorized as being in both.
“The weariness of life sets in and takes root when we realize that we are the flesh that feeds a history we’ve had no hand in writing. Unable as we are to align our lives to the rhythm of the world. We are at the center of a heartbreaking tragedy, caught in the dark axes of the stars and we have no control over our bleak mornings.”
Boko Haram
Boko Haram is an Islamic sectarian movement founded in 2002 in northeastern Nigeria. Since 2009 the group has carried out large-scale acts of violence.
Destination/Location: Cameroon Author: Hemley Boum Departure: 2000s
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