عميان بافيا السبعمئة

by Mutt-Lon, بسنت عادل فؤاد (ترجمة)

هي صفحة أخرى منسية من تاريخ القارة السمراء؛ وقائع ثم تناسيها و تجاهلها عمدا؛ لأحداث مهولة حدثت في عام 1929. أثناء تولي الدكتور "يوجين جاموت " رئاسة البعثة الطبية الدائمة لمكافحة مرض النوم، ونتيجة خطأ طبي من أحد أطباء الوحدة الطبية للقوات الاستعمارية في الكاميرون، يبدأ السكان الأصليون في فقد أبصارهم؛ يصابون الواحد تلو الآخر بعمى لا شفاء منه، حتى يصل عدد المصابين إلى سبعمئة أعمى...

وكمحاولة لنزع فتيل الغضب والتمرد الذي أصاب القبائل هناك، وجعلهم يقومون بإحراق المركز الطبي، ومحاصرة معسكر المسؤول الإداري الاستعماري لمدينة بانيا، يرسلون الطبيبة "داميان بوردين إلى قلب الحدث المشتعل، في رحلة رهيبة أحداثها متتابعة لا تنسى..

هي رواية عن المرض والسحر والتمرد والثورة والحب والأمل، صاغها ببراعة غير عادية "مون لون" في محاولة لتأريخ جزء منسي من تاريخ بلده.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Cameroon, Africa, Historical, African Literature, Thriller

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2020

About the author

Mutt-Lon is the literary pseudonym of author Nsegbe Daniel Alain. His first novel, Ceux qui sortent dans la nuit (Those Who Come Out at Night, 2013), brought him critical acclaim when it received the prestigious Ahmadou Kourouma Prize in 2014. Les 700 aveugles de Bafia (2020), published in English as The Blunder, is his third novel and the first to be translated into English. He lives in Douala—Cameroon’s most international and cosmopolitan city—and speaks English fluently.

Reviews

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

**Publication Day**

The presence of the French, as colonists in early twentieth century Cameroon, was a time of local unease and suspicion. African sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis), caused by the bite of an infected tsetse fly, was rampant. As the disease spread, a French military doctor, Eugene Jamot, was sent to Yaounde to develop a strategy and treatment plan. Jamot's preventive mission included establishing a network of mobile units to diagnose and treat sleeping sickness. The medical protocol developed required that a patient receive an injection of tryparsamide, a derivative of arsenic, which was toxic even if proper guidelines were followed. The natives were "skeptical of the White Man's medicine." They had reason for concern.

In the Bafia subdivision of Cameroon, without clearance from Dr. Jamot, Dr. Monier, a junior colleague, altered the vaccine protocol by increasing the dose of tryparsamide three fold in an attempt to control resistant cases. Although many recovered from sleeping sickness, over 700 Cameroonians became blind. Unfortunately, Dr. Jamot owned "the blunder". The subsequent death of a prominent chief and his eldest son, precipitated the view that blindness was a plot orchestrated by the white colonists. The health center of Bafia was destroyed...the personnel vanished. "...it was interesting...there were patients who owed their sight to the negligence of a native nurse [who stopped providing treatment], even though that might ultimately cost them their lives."

How might the chaotic environment be prevented from escalating into a full scale war? Esteemed Chief Atangara agreed to mediate if his niece Edoa, the only trained Black nurse, was safely escorted back home. Dr. Jamot enlisted the aid of Dr. Damienne Bourdin. Disguised as a nun, Damienne travelled through the jungle with two companions. Nama was the interpreter. Ndong, a Pygmy, dressed solely in an animal hide loincloth, wore an amulet, as a so-called "invisibility cloak". Through the jungle, Damienne was on high alert..."fear of ending up on a spit." She soon appeared scantily clothed!

Edoa, the nurse, had learned how to think outside the box. "What I learned from our differences was the most important part of my education-I met religious, non-religious and pagans of both races...cultural effervescence...after a few compromises to balance out racism and tribalism...".

A memorial to French military physician, Eugene Jamot was erected in Yaounde, Cameroon for his contribution to the prevention of sleeping sickness in the early 1920's. On the 75th Anniversary of his birth, a Cameroonian Postage Stamp was released. I highly recommend this work of historical fiction.

Thank you Amazon Crossing and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know what to make of this. If it were written by a white person I would just think it was unintentionally racist. It's written by a Black Cameroonian, though, and the publisher says it's satire...ok...but what does it mean to call a novel a satire when it's about a real historic tragedy, and when, at the same time, the writing sounds something like a cross between a badly overwritten Edwardian novel and a Tarzan screenplay? Is the stilted writing part of the satire? A fault of translation? Something else?

"The truth would come out but for now he had more urgent worries in his mind."

"Hate-filled black faces burst from the huts."

"The villagers froze and all eyes converged on the white woman...then a wave of servile smiles soon reassured her."

"Were it not for her pygmy guide, she may have ended up six feet underground."

"Slender half naked young girls jumped and danced unselfconsciously while muscular boys stared intently at the white woman."

So.

I have the same feeling I have sometimes at a contemporary art exhibit where the work makes no sense until I read the liner notes that explain its political context and its artistic intention.

[Andy Weston · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the 1920s, a French Army doctor named Eugène Jamot set out to fight sleeping sickness in Cameroon, which had gone from German to French colonial control not long before. His campaign appears to be succeeding.
Without his knowledge, one of his field units has for months been administering a triple dose of the primary treatment: tryparsamide, an arsenic derivative, which, when given at such concentrations, can have severe side-effects. In Cameroon’s Bafia region, the toll comes to at least seven hundred cases of partial or complete blindness.
Damienne Bourdin, a French doctor and the book’s protagonist, arrives in Cameroon shortly after Jamot has discovered the ‘blunder’. Local leaders have made the connection too, and with racial tensions flaring, Jamot charges Damienne with the almost impossible task of calming the crisis, preventing inter-tribal conflict, and a situation that would mean the..

rejection of doctors that could quickly blow up into a rejection of the White Man altogether.

Mutt-Lon writes with a sensitivity to the local people and yet with directness and humour. It is satirical, and despite that the events are described with care and never trivialised. It is short and yet complex, perhaps too short; key and fallible characters would benefit from fuller descriptions, and though the difficult history of colonial and inter-tribal prejudice is touched upon, we are left wanting more. Having said that, it’s a bluntly and informative piece of forgotten history, about which I now feel better informed.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a 3.5 read for me

thoughts coming shortly

[Ritu Bhathal · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book based on a historical event, but with a fictional twist.
Mutt-Lon has taken the little-known pandemic of Sleeping Sickness that swept Cameroon in the early 2oth century and its subsequent mishandling by a white doctor and added his own flavour.
We follow the story through the eyes of another white doctor, female, Damienne Bourdin, who is sent to help ease tensions in the villages where it has become apparent that the incorrect treatment by one particular doctor has resulted in many natives getting better from the pandemic, but ending up blind.
Reading fiction that has been translated is always hard, as the passion that comes through the native tongue of a writer is tough to replicate in other languages, however the translator has done a pretty good job of giving a true feel for the story and the characters.
There is a little jumping around within the story, in terms of the present and the past, and sometimes points of views are a little erratic, but, once I got into the story, I really wanted to know what happened at the end, and whether everything was resolved!

[K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trigger warnings: racism, violence, xenophobia, death, colonialism, medical malpractice, death of a child (in the past)

Well, that's Cameroon crossed off my Read Around the World list in a short little package. I kind of wish that the translator's note at the end about the actual events that inspired the story had been at the beginning because I kind of struggled to get my head around what was happening at times. I tried Googling it, but just ran into the hero worship of Jamot that the author describes.

Anyway. It's an interesting insight into colonialism and Cameroon in the 1920s, caught between two colonial powers. But I don't know that I'll be in a hurry to seek out this author again.

[〰️Beth〰️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a fascinating read and wished for more of the story. I always enjoy new aspects on "forgotten " episodes of history.

To refer to the true medical malfeasance this story is based on as a blunder is a true understatement. The majority of the book is set in late 1929 in French colonial Cameroon but there are flash backs to the mc's life in France prior to her deployment to Cameroon and it is bookended 30 years later when she returns.

I won this from a GR giveaway and I am so happy to find a new author. This is his third novel and the only one translated into English. Looking forward to reading more from him.

[Jeatherhane Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I'm just not a big fan of satire, at least not this type. I am really interested in the historical story, but the writing style didn't do it for me. I think if you liked Catch-22 or Kurt Vonnegut you might like this one. This is another one of those situations where it would be really nice if there were preview samples on NetGalley.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before doctors understood the causes of and developed reliable treatments for the disease, African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) outbreaks could kill hundreds of thousands of people. Because the disease is caused by parasites in the tsetse fly, efforts to control and hopefully eradicate the disease involve controlling the population of the fly and treating patients as soon as possible. The course of dealing with sleeping sickness hasn’t run as smoothly as my quick background might make it sound. Mutt-Lon’s satirical novella, The Blunder, takes its inspiration from an actual historical incident. Mutt-Lon uses the real blunder and its aftermath to shine a light on colonial racism and paternalism and tribal conflict...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.

[Lali · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars- rounded up. This was an interesting read. This is a short, historical fiction novel based on true events set in Cameroon in the 1920's. A white doctor takes liberties with the procedure for treating an epidemic of sleeping sickness, and causes a wave of blindness in the patients who received his treatment. In the aftermath of the violent anger by the local population as a result of the medical blunder, Damienne, a white doctor, is sent on a politically sensitive mission to retrieve the niece of the region's most prominent Chief from the village where the upheaval started. As we follow Damienne on her adventure through the jungle, guided by the resourceful Pygmy Ndongo, we learn of the events that lead to the medical blunder and the possible repercussions for the stability of the country, and also see how Damienne's own prejudices and biases shift as she travels further from familiar territory and must depend on the knowledge and traditions of Ndongo and other native people she encounters.

I liked the overall arc of the story, and I appreciated the author and translator notes at the beginning- not only are readers given context for the outdated, racist language, but are also guided towards paying attention to how the language is used over the course of the book. I did feel like the pacing was very uneven- I really enjoyed the adventure tone of Damienne's journey, but then we would get flashbacks to her personal history, or the background of a character she was introduced to, and it was a bit info-dumpy for my taste. I thought the information we gleaned in these instances was relevant, but was not smoothly integrated into the events of the story. Overall I liked the translation, but I did notice some moments where there were some modern-isms, or very formal speaking language, that felt a little out of place. This was not a consistent issue, so I wonder if this came from an attempt to emphasize the voice of certain characters- to give a distinct tone to characters who were speaking their native language, a second language, what their education level was, etc,

I really liked how the plot served as an allegory for the lasting effects of colonialism- how even the most well-meaning people who try to "help" are still hampered by their unseen biases, and can cause long-lasting unintended consequences among the local population. I also liked that periodically we would get perspectives from some of the native characters that would serve as a contradiction to the assumptions by white characters.

[Gretchen Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

As an historian with a PhD in Latin American history, I know perhaps more than your average person about the history of imperialism. With that said, Africa is not my specialty so I enjoyed learning about a specific incident that I'd never heard of before. I also appreciated the author's inclusion of the warning that racist commentary was meant to represent the European characters' perspective and not his own. I further enjoyed that two of the three main characters were women, and strong, interesting ones at that.

The main frustration I had with this book is that the story is mostly told, rather than shown. Major plot points are learned through long, unrealistically long, monologues by characters that have been in Cameroon longer than the main character. Some of the details feel extraneous and not part of a natural conversation. Had the story been told through multiple POVs, and had we seen these things happen through other characters' eyes, it would have been easier to get sucked into the story and feel as if you were there. This also could have allowed for a bigger presence of the fascinating character Edoa.

One point that is neither positive or negative is that the translator mentioned that the story was humorous. In my opinion, it didn't come off as funny at all. I suppose the author was writing with an ironic tone but I definitely wasn't rolling in the aisle.

Overall, this is an interesting story from a promising author. Work on dialogue and description would improve it.

[Paméla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trente ans après avoir passé dans la forêt camerounaise trois semaines les plus éprouvantes de sa vie, en 1963, une Française revient visiter les protagonistes noirs de cette affaire, toujours vivants, à qui elle doit sa vie.
En 1929, cette médecin religieuse des troupes coloniales venant de Marseille, Damienne Bourdin, est envoyée par le médecin Eugène Jamot (dont une biographie existe aux éditions Karthala, par ailleurs) au coeur de la forêt de la zone de Bafia, au Cameroun, pour exfiltrer une infirmière de grande valeur, Edoua, princesse d'un clan africain rival retenue en otage suite à une émeute. Depuis quelques mois en effet, une épidémie de cécité ravage Bafia, où furent prodigués des soins intensifs contre la maladie du sommeil par le personnel soignant blanc aux remèdes certes efficaces mais douteux. La tension entre les Africains et les Français est palpable, ainsi que celle des alliances interdites entre Africains, et avant que tout ne s'embrase, il reste une expédition qui pourrait peut-être, entre deux femmes de tête qui se respectent et se comprennent, réussir à apaiser la situation. Ou non.
Tiré d'une affaire réelle, quoique tout à fait méconnue, Les 700 aveugles de Bafia permettent à l'auteur camerounais Mutt-Lon, dont c'est ici le second roman, de déployer un récit narratif prenant, sensible et sobre. Composé en flash-backs imbriqués, sans effet de manche ni cabotinage de style, le roman se dévore pour l'intrigue sans doute plus que pour sa psychologie, dont on sent qu'elle n'est pas le principal moteur de l'écrivain. Pas de thèses, pas d'interprétation, mais des faits et des femmes et hommes éprouvés, retranchés dans leurs limites physiques et mentales, des descriptions suffisantes pour évoquer mais qui n'épuisent rien, pour la restitution aussi fidèle qu'il l'a pu d'un épisode complexe, aux coupables difficiles à cerner, aux ressorts multiples.
Bref, une chouette lecture d'aventure et d'histoire, palpitante et réaliste, mais qui laissera sur sa faim les amateurs de grande plume et de psychologie fouillée.

[Tefla Al Qurnas · Rating 4 out of 5]

اول رواية اقرأها في حياتي تمنيت يكون فيها وصف اكثر للمكان والمشاعر و الروائح 🥹💓

قصة مختلفة بأحداثها وتفاصيلها.. تتكلم عن البعثة الطبية للكاميرون وكيف البعثة واجهت الناس بمعتقداتهم ورفضهم للبيض انهم يعالجونهم واعتقادهم بأن البيض جايين علشان يبيدونهم

خطأ طبي من طبيب بالحملة تسبب في عمى ٧٠٠ شخص وهذا الشي سبب مشكلة، و أكد للأفريقيين ان البيض غرضهم الابادة واخذ اراضيهم

الترجمة للاسف تعيبها شوي

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cameroon - Historical fiction about the French doctors in the 1930s who accidentally blinded hundreds of people using an unproven treatment for sleeping sickness. This book is all over the place, but that could be because I was working long hours and falling asleep while reading.

[Nick Wisseman · Rating 3 out of 5]

In her translator’s notes to Mutt-Lon’s novel The Blunder, Amy B. Reid describes the book as both a “critique of the racism that undergirded France’s colonial mission” in Cameroon and “a friendly poke at readers” that uses “boisterous humor” to remind of us of “our own, very present, human imperfections.”

I’m not sure all the promised comedy carried over to the English version—either that, or I missed most of it—but I did appreciate Mutt-Lon’s layered depiction of the intersections between imperialism, race, and gender.

The bulk of the story takes place in 1929, a time when, as Mutt-Lon relates in his author’s note, “Cameroon was a territory under control of the League of Nations … with Great Britain and France administering separate parts of the former German colony and serving as de facto colonizing powers.” In the French sector, doctor and historical figure Eugène Jamot is leading an effort to combat the sleeping-sickness epidemic devastating the indigenous population. His campaign seems to be succeeding.

But unbeknownst to him, one of his field units has for months now been administering a triple dose of the primary treatment: tryparsamide, an arsenic derivative. When given at such concentrations, the side effects can be severe. And in Cameroon’s Bafia region, the toll comes to at least seven hundred cases of partial or complete blindness.

Damienne Bourdin, the book’s protagonist, arrives in Cameroon shortly after Jamot has discovered his underlings’ “blunder.” Local leaders have made the connection too, and with racial tensions flaring, Jamot charges Damienne with averting further crisis by forestalling a looming tribal war. It’s a farcically tall task. (And from a thematic standpoint, probably intentionally so.)

Damienne has a medical background, but the rest of her past provides little relevant experience or history of competence. Her interpreter quickly abandons her. And the other men she meets—French and Cameroonian alike—are more likely to objectify her than help her cause.

She’s not prejudice-free either. Like nearly all the white characters in the book, Damienne is (initially at least) convinced of her supremacy. She sees her native guide as “primitive,” she’s surprised to find no Africans “with a bone through their nose,” and she has a deep-seated fear of “seeing hate-filled Black faces burst from [their] huts.”

Yet Mutt-Lon takes care to illustrate that there are also “ethnic hierarchies at play among the local people, with the Bantus seeking to assert their superiority over the Pygmies.” Not everyone in the book is unfortunate enough to suffer from physical blindness induced by medical malpractice, but no one is free of blind spots.

Damienne eventually recognizes some of hers. But others remain. At the end of the book, she still judges the doctor as a “great man” worthy of the statue that stands in front of the Ministry of Public Health in Yaoundé (Cameroon’s capital). But Mutt-Lon also suggests that Jamot was well aware that even lower levels of tryparsamide can cause optic neuritis. “The population doesn’t need to know this,” Jamot tells Damienne earlier on, “but with normal dosages, one expects to find one or two cases of blindness per hundred patients in each subdivision.” That hubris—assuming he knows best and doesn’t need to explain the treatment’s risks to his non-white patients—ultimately undermines his otherwise transformative accomplishments.

I found The Blunder’s nuanced deconstruction of this “savior” mentality particularly effective. Other aspects of the 151-page story felt rushed and could have used fleshing out. But what’s present is extremely readable, a testament to both Mutt-Lon’s skillful prose and Reid’s deft rendering of it into English (potential loss of humor aside). I also enjoyed learning a bit of forgotten history. Worth a try.

(For more reviews like this one, see www.nickwisseman.com)

[Sarah Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book by its medical background it is the story of the chain of events started when treatment of fly carried sleeping sickness in 1920s Cameroon goes wrong and although patients were cured of the disease the drug they are injected with causes a large portion of patients to be blinded .Of course it is about far more than this ,the author cleverly uses the incident to look at race relations at that stage in history both through relations between black residents and the French White Colonialist rulers and the equally prevalent not always casual racism between different black populations .The pigmy guide for example is universally looked down on by all but his emotional intelligence and local knowledge is clear
Setting the book in 2 time periods 1929 and 30 years later allows these historical relationships to be shown without having to use the lens of current day sensitivities .Both author and translator make this clear in their forwards and after pieces which set some of the context of the story
This is a short book but beautifully crafted ,the author uses the female doctor character to dig more deeply into the back stories of the people she meets ,something that might have not read so clearly of the lead were a man .I did find this interesting as a female medic myself I think it would not be as common to have women doctors at that time on history if they had been British rather than French .None if the colonial leaders she meets seem in the slightest bit surprised to be coming upon a young woman doctor on the middle of the African countryside
There are some rather jolly hockey sticks chase scenes which read like something out of an Enid Blyton novel or Tarzan and Jane film ,definitely exciting but not so realistic .
The title was interesting ,if such a medical malpractice were to happen nowadays it would be seen a a serious incident and the whole think would involve the press and lawyers .By choosing the word Blunder the author trivialises the episode ,it is clear that the effected individuals were not going to be told about why they had turned blind and the authorities were doing their best to brush it under the carpet .The colonial paternalism inherent in this is obvious to modern readers .The author chooses not to delve too deeply into this leaving the reader to make their own minds up
The author has an easily read prose style which is translated seamlessly by the translator of the novel .The author uses Mutt Lon as a pseudonym he is from Cameroon this is his Third novel
II was fortunate to be sent a copy of this book by its publicists FMCM Associates as part of a book blog tour ,the book is published by Amazon crossing on July 12th

[Narayani Manapadam · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is no specific reason as to why I picked this book up. I did it on impulse.

Gut feelings don’t always help. Read on.

Plot

A young Damienne Bourdin sets off to Cameroon at the behest of Dr. Eugene Jamot, who is helping the natives by eradicating sleeping sickness. However, a ‘blunder’ causes blindness in most of the cured people. Will the white woman succeed in her mission?

Review

The novel travels through various timelines. It begins with Damienne returning to Africa in search of Ndongo, the pygmy. The story then goes backwards to document the protagonist’s mission while tracing her origins in the form of flashbacks. Truth be told, the jumps did nothing to engage my interest.

I felt the language to be drab, almost on the lines of a documentary. Maybe the essence was lost in translation. Also, a Google search told me that the novel is a satire. I am still trying to figure out the satirical elements between the various times.

The character arc of Damienne is satisfactory. Initially, she reeks of privileges only a white woman possesses. However, she is able to cast aside her prejudices and look at things from another lens. The writer also steers clear of stereotypes. As a result, there is a simmering tension even amidst the black men from different tribes. Ndongo comes across as an adorable character, although I would have liked to read more about his interaction with Damienne.

I am not sure if Dr. Jamot must be revered or vilified. The book does nothing to encourage us to do the latter, although the author’s introduction clearly talks about the blunder. The author’s point of view also confused me. Is he taking sides with the tribes? Or does he believe that the French doctor was innocent? In an attempt to appear neutral, did he make Edoa the root cause of the revolt? I found myself quite repulsed reading those segments. It is a fact that grave atrocities have been committed by the colonisers in poor countries. But I failed to sympathise and empathise with anybody except a few natives.

I am not sure about the translator here. Has she been able to capture the essence of the original? As I read the novel, it never felt like I was listening to a black man’s voice. And I am normally a sensitive person who cries and laughs with the characters.

Overall, the novel proved to be a disappointing read.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won the epub version of this book through a giveaway hosted by goodreads- thank you Goodreads! I had not previously heard about this book at all, but seeing it under new releases and it being about real historical medical malpractice immediately had my attention.

What I learned about the real event that happened was both fascinating and upsetting, even as the very tongue-in-cheek satirical retelling of the story did make me giggle nervously. There is a lot here to be uncomfortable with, but such is the purpose of satire and of trying to spread awareness about a medical blunder that represents so many of the worst parts of colonialism.

Coming at this from a white, american, english-speaking perspective, as a nurse myself, I felt as if there was a lot about this story that flew over my head. Tropes and storytelling tricks from the French-Cameroon author that flew right by me and went unappreciated. This is entirely a problem of me, and not at all of the book itself.

The storytelling framework and pacing is not quite like anything I've seen before. It almost feels like a play, or like an episodic serial, in the way the action happens in fast-paced spurts between long monologues about backstory and events. The bulk of the action between dialogue is taken up by descriptions as well, which makes me feel as though an archetype is being presented that I don't recognize. Which made this a fun challenge in trying to figure them out.

The use of Damienne as the narrator was clearly a very deliberate choice because she is neither the most interesting character here, nor the one I most wanted to root for. In fact, she rather made things worse several times over and did not act like a hero. Those who did act as heroes, well, did not quite get what they wanted. But if they did, this would not be the tale of how French missionary doctors blinded 700 of their patients by misusing the treatments designed to save their lives.

Delighted that this book was translated into English, and something I will want to revisit someday after I have a greater grasp on french archetypes and satirical forme.

[JKC · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a fable of sorts, which they tell you at the end. More of a novella than a novel. Based on historical records, with fictional characters set into the story. I learned a bit about sleeping sickness and "the blunder" that took place. Not as much as I was thinking I might - yet maybe all there was to learn. Depending on when you grew up, you might also find this fable reminiscent of those prurient stories of old that capitalized upon the cliche' of a black or indigenous man lusting after a white woman. It's used here I think in part to mimic that old trope (which now that I was reminded of it, has been gone from mainstream US literature for awhile (not gone from history, of course - as in recent news we had the story of the black man falsely accused of attacking a white woman). So, it's a quick interesting read. I think the machinations of the writing are subtle and intentional, for which I give credit due.

[Pilar · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐3.5
Mutt-Lon tells the story of Dr Damienne Bourdin, a woman doctor who is sent to Cameroon in the ending 1920's in order to aid the fighting of sleeping sickness led by the famous Dr Eugene Jamot. The true historical background is rich and exciting and well done to Mutt-Lon for that. However, I feel like much of the story is introduced, but left behind (such as Dr Monier, who was the actual responsible for the Blunder, but who we barely see in the story). There is also a sense of rush, which makes sense, when the main character is in a rushed mission, however I would appreciate more details in the story and reading at a slower pace.
I did enjoy reading the book, Mutt-Lon has a fun way of describing stressful events and even though there are some really serious matters in his book, we don't feel so heavy after reading it.

[Makayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy of this book from a giveaway here on goodreads, so thank you for that.

I thought this story was quite interesting. I've always enjoyed historical fiction and this one has been added to the list. We get to know the main character and her journey through a reflection of her past and flashbacks of even further events within that story. I appreciate the depth of this method and how it created links and empathy between characters as the story unfolded.

This medical blunder was a regretful event, but a great inspiration for a life-changing story.
Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a good story or historical fiction.

[Tammy Killingbeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. It was originally written in French, so you have to keep in mind that it is a translation and words don't flow beautifully. The translator did a pretty good job explaining the thoughts the author was trying to portray.

It's fast paced, it's a little scary, and it does talk about colonialism and racism of 100 years ago. I was interested in the culture of that part of Africa and how they viewed technology and change. I wouldn't give it a 5 star because it had a little of "hollywood" happening with the characters were doing things that would only happen on a TV screen.

[Kefranks · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging fictional account of actual tragic events in Cameroon. The writing is straight forward, draws the setting vividly, has fairly decent character development and employs varied points of view, which adds interest to the evolution of the plot. I recommend it to those who want an accessible entry into historical events in Cameroon, and maybe it will spur a deeper dive into learning the history of other countries. The subject is also relevant in this -- dare I say, post COVID-19 -- era where we witnessed opposing views on whether we could trust the vaccines that had been developed to treat the virus.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a pretty straightforward narrative of historical fiction. The writing is readable and while there are a few moments of character exposition dump, it's not bad. Obviously it engages with colonial history and the characters' thoughts/words/actions are written in that context, it shouldn't be confusing even if it is unpleasant. Initially I thought the metaphor and commentary were quite obvious and the translation notes unnecessary, but skimming reviews I guess not? Anyway I enjoyed this, mostly for some information about an event I knew nothing about, presented in a very readable, sometimes humorous, sometimes troubling way.

[The Sassy Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐

This was an interesting quick read that I enjoyed a lot. It's a short historical fiction novel based on true events that happened in the 1920's in Africa with a fictional twist. I had a few issues with the pacing at times, especially when the plot went into an information dump and really brought the story to a stand still. The worst was with Edoa. This is a translation of a french(?) novel, so perhaps the issue could have been because of that. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Overall though, it was a quick read that kept me entertained throughout.

**ARC Via NetGalley**

[wangari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great novel

The Blunder beautifully meshes a historical incident and fiction . It felt very real and each character alive. I have a lot of feelings about this book since it was set in French West Africa during the colonial period and the racism was rampant . Some parts of the story were just so uncomfortable I needed a break. The blunder is a Tuskegee event type that is not talked about. I read this in one day.

[Peter Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really struggled with this book. As a few other comments have noted, the satire just didn't land and made me feel like I was missing a lot of context which the author (or the translator) didn't provide.

Maybe two stars is a harsh score and may be more a reflection of my own ignorance, but I almost gave up on this book and reading through to the end didn't offer anything extra so it was a miss for me.

[Ashish Rastogi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating fictionalized narration of true events from 1930s Cameroon. Straightforward language and a steady pace keep you glued. The strength of character of the female doctor as she navigates the escalating strife in the African country comes out vibrantly. This could well be read as a mystery.

[Daniel Polansky]

An English nurse journeys into the heart of an unsettled colonial Cameroon, trying to fend off war brought about by the blinding of many of the natives as an unintended effect of vaccinating for sleeping sickness. Dimly based on real events, this is an excellent work of historical fiction, an engaging narrative wrapped around a broader commentary on the time in question..

[Leann · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5