The Poor Christ of Bomba

by Mongo Beti, Gerald Moore (Translator)

In Bomba the girls who are being prepared for Christian marriage live together in the women's camp. It is not clear whether the girls have to stay in the women's camp for such long periods for the good of their souls or for the good of the mission-building program. Only gradually does it become apparent that the local churchmen have also been using the local girls for their own purpose. Other titles by African writers from Waveland Ba, So Long a Letter (ISBN 9781577668060) Emecheta, Kehinde (ISBN 9781577664192) Equiano, Equiano's Travels (ISBN 9781577664871) Head, The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales (ISBN 9781478607601) Head, Maru (ISBN 9781478607618) Head, When Rain Clouds Gather (ISBN 9781478607595) La Guma, In the Fog of the Seasons' End (ISBN 9781478600251) Marechera, The House of Hunger (ISBN 9781478604730) Mofolo, Chaka (ISBN 9781478607151) Ngugi-Mugo, The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (ISBN 9781478611318) Nwapa, Efuru (ISBN 9781478611011) Oyono, Houseboy (ISBN 9781577669883) Oyono, The Old Man and the Medal (ISBN 9781478609582) p'Bitek, Song of Lawino & Song of Ocol (ISBN 9781478604723) Plaatje, Mhudi (ISBN 9781478609575) Rifaat, Distant Views of a Minaret and Other Short Stories (ISBN 9781478611288)

Genres: Africa, Cameroon, Fiction, African Literature, Religion, Novels, France

219 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

Reviews

[Stephen Durrant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of considerable power and complexity from the pen of Cameroon's greatest modern writer, Mongo Beti (1932-2001). The complexity comes in part from a "naive" narrator, a young African who is utterly devoted to a French priest and is inclined to view the latter in an idealistic light despite the gradual revelation of the sordid reality the priest has unwittingly facilitated. The character of the priest, filtered through this distorting narrative vision, is difficult to evaluate. After struggling obsessively for twenty years against local African traditions of polygamy and sexual license, he begins to doubt his own power to transform lives and even comes to question the entire colonialist enterprise. Nevertheless, the priest remains an extension of colonial power and metes out vicious beatings "to get the truth" from young women his mission is supposedly nourishing and protecting. And the truth he extracts is devastating: a brothel has been operating out of his mission for years with the collaboration of his most "faithful" aids. Unwittingly he has established a structure that feeds the very habits he so roundly condemns. Alternating between blindness and insight, cruelty and tenderness, the priest remains an enigma. Beti seems to be saying that this "good man" is still a part of the colonial apparatus and quite naturally uses his prerogatives as a wielder of harsh authority, which most natives simply do not dare to challenge. This disturbing novel is a must read for all who wish to come to terms with colonialism and the peculiar role of the Church in the projection of "White" power.

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I didn't get it at first. Beti introduces us to a very annoying (to say the least) European missionary in Africa, who's full of believes and rules and punishments and scary stories, to prevent his black parishioners to go to heaven. Moreover, the story is narrated by a 13 years old boy, very keen on catholicism, who follows the Father around the Tala Country during his last pilgrimage from village to village. Through his eyes, the Father is a saint. Through my eyes, the Father is a colonialist with no respect whatsoever for the local culture (and no willing to get to know it).
But as you go on reading the characters start to change. Slowly, at first. The Father himself has doubts about his mission. And they travel in a circle, from Bomba to Bomba, visiting villages and living christianity in a peculiar way. But the scandal is awaiting in Bomba, the heart of such christian life, and erases 20 years of the Father's life.
You know who really pays the price of such scandal? Women, of course. The father puts them into the hands of a person of trust and this person sells them, trades them, blackmails them. He doesn't feed them, nor clean them, nor shelter them, as he's supposed to. And when the scandal occurs, the women are also caned because they didn't report the abuses (or, if they reported it, no one believed them).
It's unfair. It's an unfair tale of unfair colonization.

[Lukerik · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book with some serious flaws. Let's not be shy: the tone is often off, things are stilted, the dialogue is ropey and the psychology of the characters sometimes unconvincing. Some, but not aall of this may be due to the translation. Despite this it's fast-paced and always interesting. It's a satire and a condemnation of colonialism and the associated human rights abuses.

Our protagonist is one Father Drumont who has come out to Cameroon to covert the natives but has subsequently committed a series of crimes against his parishioners. He has also run his mission as a business and denies the sacraments to the poor. He is the poor Christ of Bomba. This is poor as in 'low quality'. I believe the play on words works in French too. For the previous three years he has refused to minister to his flock but decides now to put in three weeks' work. I think this is a reference to the three years of Jesus' ministry. There are lots of these correspondences between Drumont and Jesus but they're opposites or perversions of what happens in the Gospels. I'm sure there are more than I noticed, but I'm not that familiar with the New Testament. It's intellectual things like this that carry you through the novel. It's a political novel. Beti has his head screwed on politically… ie, I agree with him. I understand the Catholic Church had the novel banned. If I hadn't agreed with him I think I might have found the novel unreadable because due to the faults outlined above, the politics stick out above the parapet of the novel.

I understand it's a work of some importance in Francophone African literature. Perhaps of greater importance as a work than it's good as a novel, but still enjoyable.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to be informed about French colonialism in Africa, this is a good book for you. If you want a satisfying literary experience, not so much. The content is great, the form somewhat lacking.

[Ruby Peers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting book which explored concepts of colonialism, religion, sexuality and race.
The book is narrated by Denis who is 14 and has a great respect for his reverend father (Father Drumont) who is a white French man, Denis accompanies him on a tour of surrounding towns to spread Christianity to rural Africans.
Denis is presented as naïve, which comes through clearly to the reader through his account of what transpires throughout the novel.
Christianity in this novel is presented as a tool of social control, particularly on women.
The book detailed raw stories on how male Christian leaders sexually exploited women in camps that aimed to prepare women for “pure”marriages.

Further into the novel, Denis falls with infatuation for a girl he meets along the tour, Catherine. Denis depicted her at times as the devil but subsequently as someone who is “angelic” and innocent. This highlighted the religious turmoil Denis faced when his sexuality was challenged as a young Christian boy, but also the attitude towards women at the time.

Overall, the book was extremely insightful to oppression and sexuality in many forms.

[Mark Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor indeed! Meaning pathetic. This book puts meat on the bones of the dead missionaries and the ugly treatment given Africans. For decades now we have heard more of the truth of how Christian missionary work did not succeed as intended but rather the opposite, causing harm. This author from the Cameroon creates a fictional account of one such mission and portrays the various ways Western values corrupted the African ways of life. Held with contempt, Westerners had the power and money to force natives into their own image, meanwhile exacting suffering and misery. A must read for all those who think highly of Christian missions or the Western influence on the African continent.

[a.rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was a v strange book

[Mike Clinton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neutral reaction to this novel, neither engrossing nor without appeal. The narrative flows well enough, and the plot keeps the reader interested in how matters unfold, although hardly engrossing or distinctive in voice. The narrator, Denis, describes the disintegration of an African mission as a tour by the veteran priest of the neighboring villages leads to his disillusionment and indirectly to revelations that convince him of the futility of imposing European culture on Africans and his own complicity in disastrous colonialism. Although he becomes involved more directly in events at one point in the novel, Denis is genrally a naive and passive witness to events; the only characters of some flickering interest are the veteran priest, Fr. Drumont, and his cook, Zacharia. Beti provides some insight into the priest's development in the novel, but Zacharia doesn't receive the kind of penetrating attention one would like, especially given the clearly complex relationship between him and the priest. I'm willing to give "Mission to Kala", Beti's most well-known novel a chance, even though I wasn't particularly moved by this one.

[Suresh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be very interesting in giving some idea of interactions between white missionaries and black Africans. It's the kind of book that doesn't just give you everything you want to know up front, but is like a curtain that opens slowly only gradually revealing the true nature of things as they are. Initially we are forced to take the author's point of view in all things and act imagine that Father Drumont is almost a living god and dislike the machinations of Zacharia, but as time goes on we begin to see Father Drumont's shortsightedness, Zacharia's droll wit and understanding of the true nature of things, and the author's own naivete. We are led to see the result of Father Drumont's misguided policies, though well-intentioned they may have been. The kicker is at the end Drumont doesn't really try to do anything to remedy the situation but goes on his merry way leading a reader to question his dedication to the Africans in the first place, while the colonial administrator brings doom to the author's village.

[Jesse Morrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a familiar image of African writers in 1950s and 60s, the main character is a young innocent boy (like Ngugi's Njoroge in "Weep Not Child" and Oyono's Toundi in "Houseboy"). The boy has grown up as a leading servant to Father Superior Drumont of the Catholic Mission of Bomba.

Through a tour of bush churches with the father, he learns of misuse of the girls at the sixta by their supposed teachers and handlers; the indiscretions of other Africans serving the Father; the contradiction the Father sees between his mission and that of the French secular rulers; and, his own puberty and new maturity.

At the end we are left with the young boy questioning the future. Like Oyono and Ngugi, Beti leaves us to wonder at the future of an independent Africa. One that is run not on the morals of pre-colonized tribal tradition, but one that has inherited the bastardized Western institutions left by the colonizer (the "Gatekeeper State" as Frederick Cooper calls it in Africa Since 1940).

[Baklavahalva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suspenseful, complex, intelligent. An incredible handling of dialogue and styles; the doctor's report at the end destroyed me. A story of one choir-boy's coming of age in a mission in Cameroon in the thirties of the past century (of course the book, being French, includes the scene of his deflowering by an older woman), and also a story of terrifying abuse involving women who work at the mission. The priest running the mission, and our young protagonist's platonic and parental crush, has to face polygamists, a sorcerer, jealous wives and husbands, a colonial administrator addicted to alcohol, chieftains, new capitalists ("We thought your religion was going to give us your power; now we know it's the money that gives power"). I read the book in French.

[☯Emily Ginder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very readable book about a Catholic missionary in Cameroon. It shows the problems of colonialism in the Africa and the corruptness of the Catholic church. The book is written from the viewpoint of a teenage boy, Denis, as he travels with the top ranking Catholic leader throughout the countryside surrounding Bomba. The white missionary totally misunderstands the African culture with tragic results. I was appalled at all the "wickedness" that existed at the mission with appalling indifference of the officials. I felt sorry for the abused African women who were misused by both the white and black men. This book is an eye-opener to a different culture which is turned onto its head by French colonizers and their missionaries.

[Bbrown · Rating 3 out of 5]

The narrator being a largely passive character in this book, the main character in practice is Father Drumont. Unfortunately the narrative never conveys a clear picture of what Father Drumont is like: is he the type of priest we would be lucky to have more of, as the opening suggests, or is he a priest who is dangerously ignorant to things occurring right under his nose, as the ending revealed? Is he kind and charitable, or does he harangue the Christians for church dues and beat women to get them to speak? All of these features are present in Drumont, and while it might have been Beti's intention to show the contradictions and mixed role played by the white power structure and the church in Africa, in practice it means that as a character Drumont feels muddled.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mongo Beti was born in 1932 in Cameroun and received his college education in France, where he ultimately settled. He is known for his satire against colonialism in Africa.

The Poor Christ of Bomba is narrated by a naive boy serves and adores the Father Superior of a mission in Bomba. Both the boy and, eventually, the Father, learn a great deal about what is going on in the shadows, first on a tour the Father takes through the area around the mission and then back home. The naive narrator's account is particularly fine as he describes without understanding the train wreck that is coming, and we see his gradual awakening into confusion and grief.

[K's Bognoter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Klassisk camerounsk roman fra 1956 om den kristne kirkes og missionærvirksomheds mere eller mindre velvillige meddelagtighed i den europæiske kolonialisme i Vestafrika. Interessant allerede i kraft af sin status som vestafrikansk klassiker. Den er sådan set også velskrevet og oversat til flydende engelsk af Gerald Moore. Når alt det er sagt, så er den også lidt til den tunge side, ikke ligefrem en page-turner. Jeg skulle mere end 100 sider ind i romanen, før jeg syntes, at den kom rigtigt i gang (og det er immervæk langt inde i en roman på i alt kun 219 sider).

Læs hele anmeldelsen på K's bognoter: http://bognoter.dk/2018/02/24/mongo-b...

[Eratta Sibetta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Written from the perspective of a thirteen year old boy, the narration and dialogue was very well presented. Often hilarious and thought provoking, it gave me a lot to think about and I dare say, since Africa has digested the religions of western nations, I expect to see a sea of change in how the stories of Africa as an emerging nation will shape the literature of many nations to come.
I enjoyed this book immensely!

[Kara · Rating 2 out of 5]

The poor Christ of Bomba would not be a good choice for you to read if your closed minded. Especially if you're very religious. This book exposes things in the Christianity sytem that would get many very furious. Although some in this book strongly oppose the ways the Bomba churche system is ran. Many praise it, or choose different religions.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. I thought it was an interesting take on Christianity's role in colonialism, while remaining a readable and intriguing story. The only thing I felt like I was missing was a little more insight into some of the characters.

[Jessica Marquis · Rating 3 out of 5]

From a literary standpoint, this is unimpressive. However, as we discussed extensively in the capstone course for which I read this book, Beti's handling of Denis and his psyche is quite fascinating.

[LaRéus Gangoueus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un très bon roman. Des personnages engageants. Un contexte très particulier dans le cadre d'une mission catholique en plein coeur du pays camerounais pendant la période coloniale. Roman à thèse. Du grand Mongo Beti

[Chebe]

The Poor Christ of Bomba

[Chidinma Nwagbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly captivating and humorous work..

[Artyom Yakovlev · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Poor Christ of Bomba” is an epistolary novel presented in the form of a road diary, but the language representation of the central character doesn’t correspond to his personality — I would describe it as pathetic and sterile, though I had to read the English translation and I assume the original French text might be better in that regard.
I would certainly recommend it to those interested in the history and culture of Cameroon, its surrounding area, and its remote, obscure villages. While certainly interesting from the sociological and cultural standpoint and enlightening so far as the history of religious missions in Central Africa is concerned, it didn’t do much for me as I felt the story to be overly didactic and predictable. I knew pretty much from the start where it was heading; Mongo Beti’s artistic presentation of the world is bi-polar, where bad is always bad, and good is always good.
On the other hand, the novel certainly has its strengths and good moments. Some of those will make you chuckle, if through tears. Others are deeply disturbing and strikingly violent. The philosophical and political fundamentals that the story deals with are worth considering: the close interaction between an authoritarian state and a church, the real mission of religion as a weapon of colonialism and totalitarian regime, put by Beti into Father Drumont’s mouth and expressed gradually through the progression and development of the character. The grief of the Christian people over the departure of the Father, who can be seen as a total failure as a missionary and the origin of all evil seen in the story, is characteristic of oppressed citizens lamenting their tyrant’s death, so the novel, when looked upon at a larger scale, is much more serious than it may seem at first glance.

[Basel · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this satirical novel by the Cameroonian author Mongo Beti, The Poor Christ of Bomba examines the effects and aspirations of European Christian missionary missions in Cameroon, working as an allegory to what went on, and goes on, with many different religious missions around the world. The novel tells the story of Father Drumont, a white French catholic missionary in Cameroon during the 1930s, as told from the perspective of his black local servant Denis. Father Dumont embarks on a journey in East Cameroon in order to preach the Bible and speak out for monogamy and, yet he keeps on being confronted with the local population's attachment to their traditions, and, most of all, always seeing him and reminding him, to his incomprehension, of what he is: A white European with a colonial heritage. It is a good novel, easy to follow, and offers an important portrait to how colonialism works even though its proponents truly believe that what they're doing is good for the local societies.

[Moushine Zahr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book I read from author Mongo Beti of Cameroon. In this novel, the leading narrator is a teenage African boy choir from Bomba while the leading character is the White French priest. The story is set in the 1930's in Bomba and land of Tala in Cameroon. Both characters take on a 2 weeks journey across the jungle to meet the African tribes that were "christianized" years earlier. However, the journey is a contiunous series of deceptions for the French Priest who had spent 20 years there in vain.

The book can be considered part critical part satyrical against the "christianization" of African countries seen historically as integral part of colonialism. The story reveals how there were similarities between the actions of "Church" in Africa and the "colonial administration" and even "partnership" between them.

[Iñaki Tofiño · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnifique critique du colonialisme européen et du rôle des missionnaires comme agents de l'empire en Afrique. À travers la voix d'un jeune boy de la mission catholique de Bomba au Caméroun le lecteur découvre la misère morale provoquée par la christianisation et les doutes du prête protagoniste, qui se rend compte de l'artificialité de son travail parmi une culture complètement différente à la sienne.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for my African literature class and I really enjoyed it! I think it is a great book to understand the impact of colonialism and Christianity on Cameroon. It is told in a diary form which I think lends itself to a very interesting story. Although it is a very important and interesting story, I found myself at some points becoming confused and the pacing was a little bit slow towards the middle. Overall a great read! Solid 3.8/5

[Grace Crema · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is truly remarkable and eye-opening, offering a vivid depiction of the realities of colonization in Africa and the impact of Christianity during that era. It was assigned during one of my college courses, and it's a must-read for gaining a deeper understanding of what colonization and the spread of Christianity truly entailed.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was for a class, and me and my thick skull didn't realize it was satire until past pg. 150, even though it literally says it on the back of the book. But when I realized it was satire, it was so much more educational and enjoyable.

[Melvin Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author applies narrative techniques in the best way. It has the best plot and the author's criticism of the Father and the Christian religion as his intention is one of the best ideas for a novel. I definetely recommend it