Scale Boy: An African Childhood

by Patrice Nganang

An extraordinary chronicle of youth that evokes the paradoxes of modern Africa—complex, contradictory, and full of conflict, tragedy, and joy.

Patrice Nganang, the acclaimed author of Dog Days, Mount Pleasant, and, most recently, A Trail of Crab Tracks, which was a 2022 New Yorker Book of the Year, writes about his vibrant, animated youth in Cameroon, a period of upheaval and change in the country’s history and in his life.

Scale Boy is a memoir that brings great brightness and joy to the tumultuous years of discovering oneself and one’s community; though there are moments of danger and confusion in his story, Nganang aims to present a new vision of a young Black African man’s coming-of-age.

Genres: Memoir

434 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 20, 2026

Reviews

[fede]

I was looking forward to reading this book, but sadly it didn't end up working for me. After finishing These letters end in tears by Musih Tedji Xaviere (and loving it), I was excited to start reading more stories set in Cameroon. I've read about 33% of this memoir and I've reached the point where I don't feel any type of excitment when picking it up which is a telltale sign that I'm not enjoying the book at all.

I was intrigued by the premise of this memoir. There are some interesting ideas in here, but the focus on details and history sometimes made it hard for me to follow the actual storyline. I did not vibe with the writing style. This might very well be a 'me problem', maybe I stumbled into this book at the wrong time. In any case, this was a miss for me.

Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the Advance Copy. All opinions are my own.

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can understand if some readers are confused by this memoir--it is, so to speak, an inside job. But written by a political exile living in the US, so the outside perspective is also present, wise, sharp, and reassuring. This unique memoir is a polyphonic, multilingual, multicultural, historical reflection on the unfolding of the nation of Cameroon from the mid-19th century, and then more closely, 1970-1984, through the eyes of a child. Not an easy feat--to bring the self, a city, and the history of a nation together in a single piece, but it works. (For those who become impatient in the midsection of the book, I beg you to push forward.)

There are some compelling images here. The trope of the traveling "scale boy" who provides weighing services across the city of Yaoundé. The pressure cooker of the car mechanic shop where the boy is an apprentice, brimming with ethnic competition and even at times, hatred. The library filled with old colonial archives and books where the boy educates himself. The back alleys of Yaoundé neighborhoods, with the Marigot (stream) running through, enlivened by crazy men, spirits and gods.

For me, someone who has spent considerable time in Cameroon, the cultural and language lessons on the Bamileke/ Medumba were welcome. I was especially riveted by the third section where we get a chilling, first-person witness account of the events of the failed coup d'état on April 1984 and its aftermath, including genocidal conflict in Yaoundé neighborhoods. By the end we understand how brave Nganang has been, and continues to be as a truth-teller of the nation, and as he rightly says, "Caretake of the Republic." It's simply heartbreaking.

Scale Boy: a humanistic, poetic, fearless work that should be read by everyone who cares about Cameroon and Africa in general.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scale Boy by Patrice Nganang is a vivid memoir of childhood, growing up in Yaoundé, Cameroon, during a time of political tension and social change. The book centres on the young Patrice, who takes a job weighing people on a street scale, both from economic necessity but also from a desire for independence. I was interested to learn that such an occupation even existed! Through this experience, and through his discovery of books and storytelling, he begins to develop the imagination that will shape his future as a writer. Nganang brings his childhood to life with honesty, and rich detail. He writes about family, work, school, and the complex atmosphere of a country shaped by colonial history and dictatorship. The writing combines personal memories with larger themes of identity, education, and the power of literature. It offers insight not only into one boy’s upbringing but also into the cultural and political reality of modern Africa. Overall it’s a memorable coming-of-age story, and you do feel for Patrice and his struggles, but at times I felt I was reading a history or sociology text book rather than a memoir and that stopped me fully engaging with Patrice.

[Erin Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read an early ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley. While I enjoyed Patrice Nganang's writing overall, I found the book a little hard to follow at times. I occasionally got lost in the details, and certain sections read more like a history textbook than a memoir—which isn't technically bad, but it did affect my engagement with the story.

[Lydia Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was a book that I truly wanted to love, but it fell short of my expectations. Having never read Patrice Nganang's work before, I wasn't very familiar with his writing style, so this was new. A lot of history is weaved into the storytelling of this book, which was great, but sometimes I felt like I was reading a history or sociology text instead of a memoir.