A review by blessing_aj
These Letters End in Tears by Musih Tedji Xaviere

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Beautifully written and devastatingly evocative. It would be a mistake to disregard the warning in the title because these letters really do end in tears, as well as anger and frustration.

Set in Cameroon, against the backdrop of political tension between the Francophone and Anglophone speaking parts and at a time when the anti-LGBTQ legislations has complicated the lives of queer people living in the country; Bessem, a thirty-something year old professor begins her quest to find her wife Fatima who has been missing for a number of years. 

Through the letters that make up this novel, Bessem takes the reader on this quest as well as back in time, to her past to experience the pivotal moments of her life before Fatima, during  their relationship, at their separation and the aftermath.

The storytelling in this novel is outstanding. To read it is to understand this. Somehow, Xaviere managed to capture the challenges that various classes of queer people have to deal with in Cameroon, whether they are open about their sexuality or not.

Despite holding a contrary opinion for the better part of the book, I think that the decision to have told this story in the first person narrative, was spot on, because it takes the reader through a range of emotions and brings us right where the author wants us to be, by the time she makes her big reveal at the end.