A Long Way from Douala: A Novel. Este artículo no está disponible.A Long Way from Douala: A Novel

Bursting with local color, this hilarious, heart-warming coming-of-age tale follows two friends on a raucous journey across Cameroon as they grapple with grief, sexuality, and dreams of Europe.

After their father’s death, Jean’s older brother Roger decides he’s had enough of their mother and their city and leaves to try his luck with “boza”—crossing illegally into Europe—in the hope of becoming a soccer star abroad. Aiming to catch up with Roger before he reaches the Nigerian border, Jean enlists the help of the older Simon, a neighborhood friend, and the two set out on the road. The bus trip north nearly ends in disaster when, at a pit stop, Simon goes wandering in search of grilled caterpillars. At the police station in Yaounde, the local cop tells them that a feckless boza is not worth police effort and their mother should go and pleasure the police chief if she wants help!

Through a series of joyful, sparky vignettes, Cameroon life is revealed in all its ups and downs. Issues of life and death are raised, but Max Lobe recounts events with remarkable humor and levity.

Max Lobe was born in Douala, Cameroon. At eighteen he moved to Switzerland, where he earned a BA in communication and journalism, and a master’s in public policy and administration. In 2017 his novel Confidences won the Ahmadou Kourouma Prize. A Long Way from Douala, his latest novel, was published in 2018 to rave reviews in Switzerland and France. He is the founder of the Genev’Africa program, which promotes literary and cultural exchange between French-speaking Switzerland and Africa. He lives in Geneva.

Ros Schwartz is an award-winning translator of more than a hundred works of fiction and nonfiction, including the 2010 edition of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince. Among the francophone authors she has translated are Tahar Ben Jelloun, Aziz Chouaki, Fatou Diome, Dominique Eddé, and Ousmane Sembène. In 2009 she was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and in 2017 she was awarded the John Sykes Memorial Prize for Excellence by the UK-based Institute of Translation and Interpreting.