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Summer is for finding new novels to love. And I’m pleased to introduce Poor Christ of Bomba, a novel by the Cameroonian author, Mongo Beti, to Brittle Paper readers looking to spice up their summer reading list with African titles.

The novel’s airy, flirty, and comical take on sex and 1930s Cameroon makes it such a relaxing summer number.

Pay no attention to critics who’d have you believe that Mongo Beti’s 1956 novel is an allegory of colonialism. Trust me when I say the novel is actually about sex.

{Buy book HERE.}

THE LAZY SYNOPSIS:

It’s the 1930s in a southern Cameroonian mission. A French priest called Father Drumont takes a 15-day trip into the interior to revitalize backsliding church members in the region of Tala.

His modest entourage is made up of two Cameroonian fellows—Denis and Zachariah.

Denis is a young priest who has never had sex. Its his diary we are reading.

Zachariah is the official cook.

There is a third (unofficial) member of the entourage—Catherine the vixen. She is always dressed in bright colored and floral patterned frocks. She tails the party from village to village and ends up in Zachariah’s bed every night.

Denis is a complete oaf when it comes to carnal pleasures. So it takes him a long while to realize that Catherine is the cause of the creaks and moans coming from Zachariah’s room every night.

But as Denis soon finds out, Zachariah’s affair with Catherine is part of a bigger scandal that involves Father Drumont and the many girls in his prenuptial boarding house. How is it that a boarding house full of girls become infected with syphilis? 

THE HOOK: 

Let me interest you in what I think is the longest sex scene in an African novel—the scene during which Catherine takes up the challenge of deflowering our dear Denis.

African novelists tend to be tight-lipped about what their characters do in bed. They prattle on and on about other things but suddenly fall silent when it comes time to talk about the S word.

Thankfully this rule doesn’t apply to our beloved Beti. The scene, drawn out over 8 pages, is explicit enough but also comical.

{Buy book HERE.}

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The featured image is by South Africa artist, Karin Miller. Check out more of her gorgeous images HERE. Via African Digital Arts.