Cameroon: Your Name Shall Be Tanga by Calixthe Beyala
Thoughts: A criticism I read of this book is that everything seems fogged. It’s hard to differentiate actions, thoughts, people, events. But the times I’ve spent in places that are poor, things are in a fog. If you have no money, then each day is like the day before it. Capitalism is the progression of buying new things, replacing old things, wanting for more. If you take away the ability to procure new objects, then there is no progress. Everything stops and hazes over like a house full of dust. I don’t know if you can criticize the way it is to be poor when that is just the way it is.
It’s not a novel you really have to read for plot. It’s translated so the language is already altered. You can kind of pick it up and put it down at arbitrary spots; it doesn’t really matter the order things happen. Progress just seems to stop.
Rating: 3.5/5