Reviews

Boy! by Ferdinand Oyono

axepig's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

barbarabarbara's review against another edition

adventurous informative lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

laury_nama's review against another edition

4.0

 La première moitié a été frustrante à la lecture. On suit Toundi un jeune autochtone qui est boy chez des blancs. Il est bien évidemment victime de racisme et de d'abus physiques mais on a jamais son ressenti. Il ne fait que relater la vision et l'avis de ses maîtres blancs sans remise en perspective des coutumes. On a même parfois l'impression qu'il approuve cet ordre général tellement il adule ces blancs. La culture de son peuple est tournée en dérision et suscite du dégoût mais jamais il ne le critique ou l'a défend.
Dans la deuxième partie par contre, on a un Toundi clairement plus âgé et qui est dans une phase de désillusion, il ne s'émeut plus de rien. Il n'apprécie plus ses maîtres mais ne fait rien pour changer sa situation. Ce qui détonne complètement avec le Toundi qui avait décidé de son propre chef de quitter ses parents lorsqu'il était jeune, à cause de la maltraitance de son père.

C'est un roman tranche de vie sans prétention de rebondissement. 

samsam123's review against another edition

5.0

I just finished this book, and should probably wait to write a review, but wow! This book does such a good job of emphasizing the hypocrisy and abuse laden in colonial power. In so few pages, this book casts a magnifying light on the everyday humiliations and violence that fills up the experience of colonialism. The choice to have a houseboy, this middle figure of sorts between Europeans and others, is such a clever device. The book is peopled with these African middle figures, so to speak, who are workers or lovers to Europeans. They negotiate and work their way through circumstances, and we get a picture of the many strategies and ultimate failures of these efforts. Alas, from the very start we know Toundi’s fate. Moreover, the book also depicts the hierarchies of European life in the colony and the sort of tensions and dramas that run through it. Issues of race and gender run through this novella in a way that is crafted with such deftness. Bravo!

christinanielsen's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

emma_reads_a_lot's review against another edition

I didn’t want to rate this since I read it for class... this book is fine, and I get why we read it, but I don’t know that I’d recommend it to anyone else. Very meh, but talk about a cliffhanger at the end!

extemporalli's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this novel by Oyono, my first - I'm probably going to look for more of his work. I think the part about this novel that struck me the most was that while it managed to be sad and subtle, in terms of storyline and characters (esp the white characters), it combined that sad, quiet, subtlety with these casual little asides of brutality.

Spoiler

And then he (the white master) kicked me in the shin and I went flying, etc. Or he casually trod on my foot as I was doing up his shoelaces. Etc. You know, just another day in the life of a houseboy.

This isn't related to anything else, but I just want to put here that I often think about something my friend once said about 12 Years A Slave, about how unconvincing and weakly liberal it was that they had Solomon strung up in the yard in full view of the slaveowners' house. The violence would have been more removed, she said. I take her point, but a novel like this - written by a contemporary of colonialism - makes me more convinced than ever that she's wrong. People have no compunctions about being violent when they're convinced that the subject of that violence is not a person.

readermonica's review against another edition

4.0

I'm having a bit of a hard time rating this one. Toundi's story is troubling but engaging. The things that Toundi accepts as just a part of life as a black boy in Cameroon during this time period is sad and frustrating. The malice and pettiness that impacts Toundi's daily life from a young age made me want to grind my teeth just reading the descriptions. The story is told well but the ending is pretty abrupt. There is more that I would have like to have gotten in order for the story to come full circle. I kind of understand why it ended the way it did because Toundi was unable to continue the diary, but man I would like to have gotten the last leg of the journey for Toundi. Yet, I am very glad to have read this story. Full review to come.

judesbookcorner's review against another edition

3.0

Overall I thought this was very well written and that the development of Toundi as he grows older. The style of writing changes in parallel with his life which I thought was really clever. I think the book lacked character development but that was not the point of the novella. I gave this three stars because enjoyment is the most important thing when reading and I wasn't gripped on the story. I had to read this for one of my modules for uni and it was definitely good at fulfilling the purpose of detailing the Colonial household. I wouldn't read it again, but for such a short book I thought it gave a good insight into the colonial household.

pandora_1's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

3.5