Houseboy

Houseboy is written in the form of a diary kept by the Cameroonian houseboy Toundi, an innocent, fascinated arid awed by the white world, the world of his masters. When the head of the Mission, to whom he is devoted, is killed in an accident, Toundi becomes the ‘boy’ of the local Commandant. His dream is all of advancement and improving himself, and to do this he studies his new world closely – too closely. Gradually his eyes are opened to its realities, and in the end, this leads to tragic consequences because the Europeans cannot endure the gaze of the man they have destroyed.

‘. . .Mr. Oyono’s sophisticated wit stings like a mosquito and he underwrites his story with real craftmanship.’
 – Eve Burgess, Punch. –