ISBN 9789956616619
Pages 254
Dimensions 203 x 127 mm
Published 2010
Publisher Langaa RPCIG, Cameroon
Format Paperback

The Crabs of Bangui

by Linus Asong

Every man lives for himself, using his freedoms to attain his personal aims, and feels with his whole being that he can at any moment perform or not perform this or that action…The higher a man stands in the social scale, the more connections he has with others and the more power he has over them, the more conspicuous is the predestination and inevitability of every act he commits. Upon this philosophy, a former banker, Hansel Bolingo, suddenly finds [or makes] himself the regional representative of a Chinese firm that deals in crabs in Bangui. This catapults him into a position of instant wealth. His mouth-watering affluence draws immediate attention while his hypnotic powers cause hundreds of [not-so-honest ]citizens to clamour for shares from which he builds up a huge fortune. But he soon discovers that he cannot deceive everybody all the time.

Book Preview
Paperback
£29.70

Review

The Crabs of Bangui is a hoax, one more proof that there can be no end to the ingenuity of crooks. But in it, Asong is more than usually visual, clipping chips of people, places and emotions for our ocular and sensual experience. His penetration of the human heart, motives and thoughts in this monument of human gullibility is so accurate you wouldn’t think this is only a story. It unfolding with relentless pace, consistently entertaining this tale is a triumph of the imagination.”

Ntangnyui Patrick Tata, Literary Critic

About the Author

Linus Asong

Linus Asong was born in the South West Region of Cameroon in 1947. With a combined B.A honours in Education, in 1980 he entered the University of Windsor in Canada whence he graduated with a terminal degree in Creative Writing. He holds an M.A and a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Alberta, in Edmonton Canada, and is presently Associate Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at Ecole Normale Superieure Bambili (University of Yaounde 1). Until his death in July 2012, Asong was a stand-up humorist, a consummate portrait painter, an accomplished literary scholar, and a celebrated prolific writer with over a dozen novels to his credit.