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sam_bizar_wilcox 's review for:
So Distant From My Life
by Monique Ilboudo
Dry, but clean, prose, translated from the French by Yarri Kamara, effectively captures the yearning of Jeanphi flee an unnamed, francophone West African country.
His plan to move to Europe is supported by an older white philanthropist, Elgep; but when a glance reveals Elgep's attraction to Jeanphi, Jeanphi begins to question his own sexuality. His denial about his attraction to men becomes an interesting throughline, obliquely connected to his rootless desire to flee his home country, then to return. Monique Ilboudo, the author, is perhaps most famous as a human rights activist in Burkina Faso, and this novel--her first translated in English--effectively interrogates questions about migration, the right to leave and the reasons to stay, and sexual freedom.
His plan to move to Europe is supported by an older white philanthropist, Elgep; but when a glance reveals Elgep's attraction to Jeanphi, Jeanphi begins to question his own sexuality. His denial about his attraction to men becomes an interesting throughline, obliquely connected to his rootless desire to flee his home country, then to return. Monique Ilboudo, the author, is perhaps most famous as a human rights activist in Burkina Faso, and this novel--her first translated in English--effectively interrogates questions about migration, the right to leave and the reasons to stay, and sexual freedom.